Overview
This comprehensive 5-day training program is exclusively designed for mental health professionals, including psychologists, seeking to strengthen their clinical expertise and practical capabilities in working with impulsivity and impulsivity-driven behaviours across both clinical and non-clinical populations.
The program has been designed to deepen clinical experience in understanding and working with impulsivity-driven behaviours across diverse populations.
Developed exclusively for mental health professionals - including psychologists, general practitioners, and allied health practitioners - this program offers a structured, research-informed learning journey that bridges neuroscience, psychology, and real-world clinical application.
Participants will move from foundational theoretical concepts through to trauma-informed intervention strategies that can be confidently integrated into every practice.
Across five carefully sequenced days, clinicians will explore the neurobiological foundations of impulsivity, the psychological mechanisms shaping self-control and decision-making, and contemporary evidence-based approached for prevention and management. A strong emphasis is placed on translation complex research into meaningful therapeutic conversations, applied skills and tailored management planning.
The program is intentionally designed to support adult learning and safe clinical translation, progressing logically from core concepts to applied behavioural domains. All content has been updated and standardised in alignment with current peer-reviewed research and contemporary professional frameworks, ensuring participants gain access to relevant, high-quality learning that directly enhances clinical effectiveness.
Event information
The neuroscience and psychology of impulsivity
This component provides an in-depth exploration of impulsivity as a multifaceted construct, examining how brain function, emotional processes, and cognitive mechanisms interact to shape behaviour. Participants will develop a clear understanding of inhibitory control, reward sensitivity, emotional regulation, and decision-making processes that underlie impulsive actions. Impulsivity is examined across a continuum - from everyday self-regulation challenges to more complex clinical presentations - equipping clinicians with a strong conceptual foundation for assessment, formulation, and intervention.
Evidence-based and trauma-informed clinical strategies
Building on core theoretical knowledge, participants will explore contemporary, evidence-based approaches to preventing and managing impulsivity. Practical strategies are presented to support improved self-regulation, strengthen coping mechanisms, and reduce impulsive behavioural patterns. Throughout this component, trauma-informed principles are integrated to ensure interventions are delivered ethically, safely, and in ways that acknowledge emotional vulnerability, stress responses, and lived experience. Clinicians will gain practical tools that can be adapted across a wide range of therapeutic contexts.
Impulsivity across real-world behavioural domains
The training examines how impulsivity manifests across multiple behavioural presentations commonly encountered in clinical practice, including:
- impulse-driven eating and binge-eating behaviours,
- binge-drinking and substance-related impulsivity,
- emotional dysregulation and anger-related behaviours,
- compulsive sexual behaviour,
- impulsive buying and financial risk-taking, and
- high-risk behaviours, including addiction-related patterns and risky driving.
Participants will explore contributing mechanisms, clinical consideration, and intervention approaches specific to each domain, supported by current research and applied case discussions.
From theory to practice: Clinical translation and management planning
A central focus of the program is strengthening the clinician's ability to move confidently from knowledge to application. Through reflective practice, collaborative learning, and case-based discussions, participants will
- integrate neuroscience and psychological concepts into clinical formulation,
- design effective, individualised management plans,
- strengthen confidence in working with complex impulsivity presentations, and
- enhance therapeutic conversation around self-regulation and behavioural change.
This applied approach supports ethical practice, clinical safety, and improved client outcomes.
Evidence-informed learning framework
The program is grounded in contemporary research and professional practice standards incorporating:
- current neuroscience research on impulsivity, emotional regulation, and inhibitory control,
- psychological mechanisms influencing impulsive behaviour and decision-making,
- peer-reviewed intervention strategies for prevention and management,
- trauma-informed clinical principles for ethical therapeutic delivery, and
- case-based learning and reflective practice for applied skill development.
Together, these elements ensure learning is rigorous, relevant, and directly applicable to professional practice.
APS CPD-Approved
This activity has been assessed against the APS Standards for CPD activities and approved for its education quality. Learn more about the APS CPD Approval process.
Target audience
This activity is suitable for psychologists, general practitioners, and allied health professionals.
Level of Learning
Intermediate. This activity is targeted to those who have some previous learning on the topic.
Professional competencies for psychology
The Psychology Board of Australia (PsyBA) have updated the Professional competencies for psychology, effective 1 December 2025. This activity addresses the following PsyBA Professional competencies for psychology: 1, 2, and 4.