Helping People Change: Strategies to Encourage, Establish, and Maintain Healthy Habits

It's not hard to know WHAT to do to be healthy, since we all know what we should do more often and less often to support our mental and physical health. However, helping someone make changes to do those things can be hard, whether it is exercising, eating healthier, reducing substance use, or minimizing negative thoughts. In this webinar, Dr. Kateri McRae will review the science of how habits are formed and maintained in the brain, as well as naming several emotional obstacles to successful habit formation. Attendees will learn brain-based strategies to help people make and maintain meaningful changes that support their health. Mixing foundational science with practical suggestions, and peppered with humor and perspective, this webinar will leave you feeling empowered to offer people small suggestions that can make a big change in how they take charge of their own health.

Published: January 2026

Format

Online Course

Credits

3.0

Instructor

Ken Bachrach, Ph.D.

Price

$ 59

Course objectives

Helping People Change: Strategies to Encourage, Establish, and Maintain Healthy Habits

  • Name and describe two principles of how habits are formed in our brain.
  • List two suggestions for making new habits achievable.
  • Describe conditions that make learning and maintaining new habits easier (and harder).

Instructor

Kateri McRae, Ph.D.

Kateri McRae, Ph.D. is a Professor and the Chair of the Department of Psychology at the University of Denver (DU). She is a cognitive and affective neuroscientist, who has studied the neuroscience of emotion regulation, the cognitive generation of emotion and emotional awareness. Her research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Templeton Foundation, and DU. She teaches graduate seminars in affective neuroscience and fMRI methods, and undergraduate courses such as a first-year seminar called, Exploring Psychology Through Theater and a community-engaged seminar course for junior and senior psychology students called, Emotion Regulation. She previously served as the president of the Social and Affective Neuroscience (an international academic society), the Director of Faculty Advising (DU), and an associate editor at the APA journal Emotion.

Course Lessons

How It Works

  • View the presentation. Classes are broken into small video segments of less than 30 minutes, so you can come and go as you please.
  • Take the quiz. Answer a few questions after each lesson before you move to the next lesson.
  • Complete the course evaluation.
  • Print your certificate and you're done!

We Make It Easy

  • Handouts from the class are available as PDF files to view or print.
  • Once you've purchased a class, you can view it as many times as you like.
  • Login with your email address and password. It takes you to your personal library/dashboard of all classes you have purchased.
  • Over 90% of professionals report being absolutely satisfied with their online experience!

Levels of Classes

All of our classes are offered at the intermediate level unless otherwise indicated. All classes are designed for experienced mental health professionals.

Test Policy

You need a score of 75% or higher in each lesson/module to move to the next lesson/module. Most people pass on their first attempt. You have up to 3 attempts to pass each module. After 3 failed attempts, you need to contact our office and we will reset the quiz for one more attempt.

Refund Policy

We offer a no-risk guarantee for our online courses. You can view any class for three days, and if not satisfied, contact PPS and we will refund your money in full. This refund offer does not apply if you have completed the class and passed all of the lesson/module quizzes.

Technical Support For On-Demand Courses

Please call 877-777-0668, Monday-Friday from 10 am - 4 pm Pacific Time or email info@psychsem.com.

Questions, Special Needs & Grievances

If you would like additional information, require special accommodations, or have a grievance, please contact Professional Psych Seminars at: toll-free phone: 877-777-0668, phone: 805-371-9443, fax: (805) 371-7443 or email us: info@psychsem.com.

On Demand Course FAQs

How long to I have to complete this class?

There is no time limit. You can take as long as you'd like to complete the class.

Can I sign-up for a class now, even though I don't want to take it for some time in the future?

Yes. Customers often do this when we are running a special, offering you a discounted price.

I lost my certificate. What do I do?

Log in to your account, navigate to the course, and view/print your Certificate.

Do I have to take the entire class at one time or can I stop and come back another time?

You can sign in and out anytime, from any computer, to continue the class. We break our classes into segments of 20 to 30 minutes. You can watch one segment and then come back later. You can even fast forward within a segment.

I am concerned about having to remember everything to take the test. Will this be a problem?

No. We ask you 2 to 3 questions after each 20 to 30 minute video lesson. Answer the questions after each lesson and save your answers. You can come back later and watch another video lesson when you have time. You don't have to remember more than one video lesson at a time. Also, most of our questions are very straight forward. You should have no problem answering them if you've watched the video lesson.

Can you print out the handouts for my on-demand class and send them to me?

No. You can view them online or print them out yourself.

My certificate won’t print. Can you help me?

Hold down the keys Ctrl + P at the same time to access the print screen on your computer.