Wednesday, June 22, 2022

2:00 - 6:00 PM

Breakout Session 1 & 2

Diversity and Multicultural Track | Ethics Track
Ethics Update: The Counselor's Political Survival Guide
Presented by Aaron Norton, PhD, LMHC, LMFT
This program was designed to educate counselors on the relationship between counselors' political beliefs and values, ethical codes, and clinical practice, providing an overview of research on counselors and political beliefs and tips counselors can use to work effectively with clients (and colleagues) of varying political ideologies.

The 2020 presidential election landed alongside a global pandemic and civil unrest connected to racial injustices, creating a trifecta of stress and potential trauma. The American Mental Health Counselors Association’s 2020 Code of Ethics calls upon clinical mental health counselors (CMHCs) to maintain objectivity (I.A.1); to take care of our own mental health so that we can be centered for our clients (I.C.1.h); to understand the role of our beliefs, values, and biases in our clinical work while seeking to better understand our clients (I.C.1.m); and to refrain from discriminating against our clients for their political beliefs (I.C.2.c). This is particularly interesting given that the counseling profession is less politically diverse than the clients we serve, with only 15-to-25 % of counselors identifying as conservative. How do we handle situations in which our clients bring politics into the therapy room? How do CMHCs advocate for sociopolitical causes on one hand while remaining objective on the other? How do respond when our own colleagues, co-workers, friends, and family members view things differently than we do? Within the context of a society that is politically polarized, how do we maintain balance and self-care so that we can be an anchoring presence for our clients? Drawing from the presenter’s research on the relationship between the political ideologies of counselors and their clinical practice, this training was designed to equip you with tools to address these challenges. Attendees will also complete a brief measure related to learn more about their political biases.

2:00 - 3:30 PM	Breakout Session 1
	Substance Use and Co-Occurring Disorders Track 12 Step CBT for Treating Substance Use and Co-Occurring Disorders Presented by Jeffrey W. Garrett, Ph.D. LPCC This presentation will focus on the effectiveness of 12 Step CBT for treating Substance Use and Co-Occurring Disorders. Participants will learn theoretical concepts, clinical skills, and the empirical evidence that demonstrates the effectiveness of 12 Step CBT for SUDs/Co-Occurring Disorders. The purpose of this presentation is for participants to learn the theoretical underpinning and the associated methods and techniques of using the evidence-based approach, 12 Step CBT, for treating Substance Use and Co-Occurring Disorders. The integration of 12 Step Facilitation and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy has found support in the literature and the presenter will provide an overview of the results of two studies (2007, 2018) conducted at the Recovery Council in Waverly, Ohio. Participants will learn theoretical concepts such as the 12 Step CBT Model of Addiction and theoretical propositions such as the importance of a warm therapeutic relationship using Motivational Interviewing, the impact of cognitive, biological, spiritual, cultural, and social factors that may enhance treatment outcomes. Participants will also learn 12 Step CBT techniques including working the 12 Steps and how to strengthen peer support systems, as well as cognitive and behavioral techniques including cognitive restructuring, guided discovery, collaborative empiricism, the ABC's of Emotion, disputing irrational beliefs, behavioral experiments, progressive relaxation, breathing exercises, meditation, structuring counseling session according to the 20/20/20 rule, identifying and rating moods, the belief hierarchy, modifying assumptions, changing unhealthy core beliefs, identifying cognitive distortions, and developing an all purpose coping plan for relapse prevention for treating SUD's with Co-Occurring Disorders. The presentation will highlight assessment instruments that counselors can use to measure change over the course of treatment including the Addiction Severity Index Multimedia Version (ASI-MV), the Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II), the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and the Recovery Interview (RI).
	Diversity and Multicultural Track \| Advocacy and Leadership Track Allies And Collaborators: Building Relationships Through Social Action Presented by Melody Gamba, LMHC, BC-DMT This workshop explores and embodies personal identity and authentic relationship building as the foundation to working from a collaborator mindset for social action. We invite participants to lean into the discomfort of examining their own cognitive dissonance and shift closer to the anti-oppressive collaborator that they aspire to be. This workshop builds upon racial identity, unrealized bias, privilege and challenges participants to examine their rules of engagement when building relationships. The research discussed will support the core concept of building relationships in order to foster community dialogue, bring awareness to racial identity, and create more empathetic and compassionate communities necessary to lay the foundation for social action and anti-oppressive allyship. Through self-reflection, embodiment and expressive arts experientials this workshop investigates how applying Knapp’s Relational Model in conjunction with the Oppressive Action Model may strengthen collective liberation while dismantling the helper/beneficiary model to support equitable and just social change.
	Advocacy and Leadership Track Counselor’s Role To Diminish Mental Health Symptoms With Mandated Clients Presented by Jordan M. McCoy, MA, LPC Mental health concerns with mandated clients continues to be an issue that has yet to yield effective ways to manage. This presentation attempts to acknowledge current services and using ecological perspective and multicultural competencies to guide counselors to provide effective services. Mental health concerns within the offender population continues to be an issue that has yet to yield effective ways to manage. The United States holds the most incarcerated people in the world (Wagner & Bertram, 2020). With over 1.5 million people incarcerated, at least 23% of them experienced a mental illness (Cox et al. 2017). With more than 600,000 inmates being released every year, working with mandated clients has a high probability for the counseling profession (Department of Justice, n.d.).This presentation attempts to acknowledge current services and provide additional insight into how using the ecological perspective and multicultural competencies can guide counselors to provide effective services when working with mandated clients.
	Children and Adolescents Track \| Crisis Counseling Track Suicidality: Having the Conversation Presented by Sonia Erlich, LMHC, MA, MFA This presentation will look at the rise in suicidality and contributing factors, including those unique to the current public health crisis. It will examine best practices to equip practitioners to assess and respond to suicidality. Facilitated discussion will explore language choice, risk aversion, client-centered and culturally responsive approaches. Suicide is among the top ten causes of death globally, and for every death to suicide, there are 15 to 20 reported attempts (Banerjee, Kosagisharaf, & Rao, 2021). Rates of suicidality, which is a broader term, inclusive of passive and active suicidal ideation, suicidal plans and suicidal attempts, have increased in the United States and specifically among youth over the past decade (Twenge, 2020). According to the Center for Disease Control, the numbers of emergency room admissions for suicidality spiked by 31% during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in increased need at a time when hospital beds are scarce. Prevention and intervention are possible on the direct care level, but the principles that guide care must be supported by larger programs and institutions. Institutional reinforcement not only supports the practitioners working within systems to provide high quality care but expands the capacity to manage this critical public health issue (Korczak et al, 2020). This workshop will teach current trends in suicidality, including contributors that are unique to the current pandemic. Participants will build knowledge around the drivers and mediators of suicidality, to understand the etiology of the principles that guide effective responses. This will lay the foundation for skill-building toward effective client-centered, culturally-responsive care that elicits disclosure and promotes healing. Learning these skills will help practitioners foster therapeutic alliance at a time of acute stress. Finally, practitioners will learn to advocate for systems-level changes that support this approach to care.
	Diversity and Multicultural Track \| Trauma Assessment and Treatment Track Identifying And Assessing For Intimate Partner Violence In Black Communities Presented by Jasmine Parker, LPC Black women are being victimized by intimate partners at high rates. Counselors are lacking the skills and confidence they need to intervene and build working therapeutic relationships. The following presentation discusses how to identify and assess for abuse utilizing the ecological framework and the multicultural and social justice counseling competencies. Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a major phenomenon happening to majority of women in the United States, affecting approximately 41% of Black women (Lacey et al., 2021). There is limited research on how to react and counsel survivors. Mental health counselors should be collaborating with clients to guide interventions and assessments for changing and promoting healthy behaviors. Counselors are lacking the skills and confidence they need to effectively intervene. Conceptualizing Black women from an ecological framework is necessary to provide adequate services and build a working counselor-client relationship. The following presentation discusses how to identify and assess for abuse utilizing the ecological framework and the multicultural and social justice counseling competences (MSJCC). According to Bronfenbrenner, the ecological framework provides the context for four systems (microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, and macrosystem) (Sabbah et al., 2017). Counselors should take advantage of this framework to reframe human behaviors as it is influenced by environmental and individual factors (Sabbah et al., 2017). The MSJCC’s are set in place for counselors to be aware of how the intersection between dynamics of power, privilege, and oppression effect the counseling relationship (Ratts, 2016). Black women face several barriers when it comes receiving mental health treatment. Help-seeking behaviors are influenced by race and gender, effecting how often Black women pursue counseling services. Counselors need to prepare to intervene and assess clients for safety, suicidality, and access to basic needs. Counselors are responsible for staying up to date on best practice for treating and assessing Black women suffering from IPV.

4:00 - 6:00 PM	Breakout Session 2
	Substance Use and Co-Occurring Disorders Track Modern Integrative Socratic Questioning For Supervisors And Counselors Presented by Scott Waltman, PsyD, ABPP Socratic questioning is used across theoretical orientations and is predictive of symptom change in clients and improved clinical competency of supervisees. Socratic strategies are among the hardest skills to learn. Come see and participate in an applied demonstration of a model for using Socratic questioning in counseling and supervision. Socratic questioning is used across theoretical orientations and is predictive of symptom change in clients and improved clinical competency of supervisees. However, there is some evidence that learning to use Socratic strategies artfully and competently in counseling sessions is among the hardest skills for a counselor and counselor educator to learn. Similarly, there can be challenges to using Socratic dialogue in the supervision relationship to foster clinical development. This breakout session presents an integrative, modern, and collaborative approach to using Socratic strategies in a clinical and educative context. Socratic questioning is a process of analysis (breaking things down) and synthesis (putting things back together in a new way). We’ll discuss how to apply these principles from a variety of clinical orientations. Socratic strategies are integrated with good clinical practices in a manner that is consistent with the evidence base of what constitutes effective counseling. This breakout session presents a framework for teaching counselors and educators how to use Socratic questioning to empower individuals and foster meaningful change. This framework is based on methods that have proven effective in training several thousand frontline public mental health counsellors in how to deliver high quality modern cognitive behavior therapy. Participants will be taught how to use a four-step framework for Socratic questioning both with clients and supervisees. The breakout session will include client and supervision case examples as well as demonstrations and roleplays. There will be ample opportunity for discussion, participation, and questions.
	Diversity and Multicultural Track \| Advocacy and Leadership Track Critical Race Theory As A Framework For Decentering Whiteness In Counseling Presented by Devona M. Stalnaker-Shofner, EdD, LPC, NCC This presentation will discuss Critical Race Theory as an approach to address race, racism, power, and privilege in counseling practices that are used with historically marginalized populations. It will identify the key tenets of CRT, and ways to ethically incorporate CRT into counseling for advocacy, activism, and multicultural competence. At the core of this presentation is introducing and utilizing Critical Race Theory (CRT). CRT is a theoretical and interpretive model that examines the appearance of race and racism across dominant cultural modes of expression. CRT attempts to understand how victims of systemic racism are affected by cultural perceptions of race and how they can represent themselves to counter prejudice. Counselors are aware of the need to develop knowledge, awareness, and skills in multiculturalism and social justice advocacy. Additionally, we have become more aware of the need to take an active stance against systemic racism. How do counselors develop the skills necessary to engage in this important work? Interest in social justice and advocacy has certainly increased in the counseling literature; with a clear call from scholars for professionals to engage in social justice work that goes beyond traditional models and that include intentional advocacy engagement and system-level interventions. This presentation will discuss Critical Race Theory as an approach to address race, racism, power, and privilege in counseling practices and systems that may work to silence the voices of historically marginalized populations. It will identify the key tenets of CRT, and ways to ethically incorporate CRT into counseling, clinical supervision, and counselor education curricula to effectively teach clinicians, students, and supervisors about advocacy, activism, and multicultural competence.
	Integrated Behavioral Healthcare Track The CHARIS Model: The Art of Forgiveness Using a Group Process Presented by Jaye Peabody Smith, LOC, CPCS This workshop will share highlights and insights from a recent pilot study that explored the potential effectiveness of the CHARIS curriculum in the process of forgiveness. Participants will also consider barriers to forgiveness, and how a group process can provide a sacred community for those seeking psychological and spiritual healing. Six African American women from Redemptive Life Christian Fellowship engaged in a 6 week, psychoeducational group process to overcome their barriers to forgiveness. The curriculum used was called “The CHARIS Model.” This is a pilot study of the CHARIS Model, a uniquely developed psycho-educational group curriculum that addresses spiritual and psychological aspects of interpersonal forgiveness. This pilot study seeks to explore the potential effectiveness of the CHARIS curriculum in the process of interpersonal forgiveness. The study is a mixed methods approach, quasi-experimental, pre-post test non-comparative pilot study. The study examined the effectiveness of the intervention on the process of inter-personal forgiveness using the General Measure of Forgiveness (GMF) assessment tool (Law, 2008). Qualitative questions were answered by the participants at the end of each weekly group meeting to acquire participants views of the CHARIS curriculum and the study. The study shows the promising effectiveness of the CHARIS Model. Participants overcame barriers to forgiveness as indicated in the pre and post assessment of the General Measure of Forgiveness. The group process, in a church setting, provided community for the participants. Bridging together spiritual and psychological approaches significantly enhanced the forgiveness process.
	Children and Adolescents Track \| Couples and Family Track Family Systems Lens: Treating Foster Kids With Impulse And Mood Problems Presented by Nicholas E. Chalmers, M.A., Reg MFT Intern Foster children with severe behavior and mood problems can often benefit from adding a "family systems lens" to treatment. This can heal attachment wounds at the root of many problems. Learn "who to involve" in family work within the foster system, as well of the benefits of this approach. While evidence indicates that foster children have more behavior problems than biologically reared youths (Leve, et al., 2009), there is a smaller group of foster children who have a higher prevalence of placement breakdowns and disruptive behaviors such as aggression, destruction of property, and delinquency (Persi & Sisson, 2008). Causes of this problem have been noted as attachment wounds and trauma symptoms incurred from exposure to neglect and abuse. Substance abuse is also prevalent in this group. In the last 10 years, spiking mental health diagnoses has fueled an increase in problematic and dangerous behaviors amongst youth (Tkacz & Brady, 2019 and National Children's Mental Health Report Card, 2020), and is depleting resources of the current foster system. An empirically-supported practice for the treatment of trauma symptoms in children is family therapy (Saunders, 2003), however there is no consensus on how to adapt treatment to this group (Hambrick et al., 2013). Family therapy is also a notable best practice for treating adolescent substance abuse (Tanner-Smith, Wilson, & Lipsey, 2013). This presentation will serve as a primer for using a family systems lens in treatment of foster children with impulse and mood problems. Topics covered will be why a family systems lens is important for this population, how to identify appropriate caregivers to include from the perspective of safety and clinical usefulness, and what things to consider when taking a family systems perspective. Benefits of this approach includes increasing stability and healing attachment wounds at the root of problematic behaviors.
	Trauma Assessment and Treatment Track Parts Of A Whole: Ego States And Trauma Related Dissociation Presented by Katherin Langone, LCMHC, MLADC, NCC, CTP Trauma and dissociation can be incredibly difficult and discouraging for both client and clinician to work with. Ego states or parts work can help the client feel empowered and the clinician conceptualize the case in a way that lends itself to progress; thus, helping both parties move forward. It is well understood that trauma changes a person’s life entirely. What is not always understood is the best way to help our clients move past these life altering events and the impact it can have on their lives. There are times when a client may feel stuck, and the traditionally prescribed techniques just don’t seem to be working. How often has a clinician heard “This isn’t working. Nothing has changed,” and thought to themselves that this must be resistance or help rejecting behavior? In some cases, this may be true, however, another perspective is that of ego states/parts work where an understanding that in an effort to protect the client, these different parts of a whole person may be at odds. Should the clinician help the client understand how to work with these parts, the client may have more self compassion and understanding of their own journey as well as enhance their safety when used in conjunction with other suicide prevention models. By conceptualizing a case this way and providing the education to a client, the client can not only learn about themselves but accept and empower themselves in their recovery as well.

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