Workshops

This session aims to increase clinicians’ understanding, comfort, and confidence in working with individuals on the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). It will cover key aspects of ASD, its diverse manifestations, and effective approaches for treatment. Optimally clinicians will feel better equipped to engage with and support this diverse and often underserved group of individuals.

Cognitive Behavioral Family Therapy (CBFT) fosters positive change by helping family members identify and modify negative thought patterns and behaviors that contribute to conflict or dysfunction. Through structured communication and problem-solving techniques, CBFT encourages individuals to recognize how their thoughts and actions affect the family dynamic. By addressing these patterns collaboratively, family members can develop healthier ways of interacting, improving communication, emotional regulation, and support. This therapeutic approach empowers families to resolve conflicts, manage stress more effectively, and build stronger, more supportive relationships, ultimately fostering a more harmonious and resilient family environment.

There are over 42 plus losses that may occur during a lifetime. Death loss being one of those. Exploring how families grieve or don’t grieve. The six myths of grief: including, “Just Keep Busy”, “Grieve Alone”, and “Don’t Feel Bad”. How unresolved grief shows up as “STERBS” (Short Term Energy Relieving Behaviors) and action steps to start “completing” (not making closure) on our unresolved grief to support healing, feeling aliveness, and a present/future that is not held back to love and live in fear of being hurt again.

This 90 minute workshop is an intermediate level training that assumes participants know basic information about trauma and trauma reduction strategies. The trainer will teach participants the steps of using a tool that assists individuals of any age struggling with attachment and other trauma issues. This tool was developed by the presenter for the treatment of traumatized families at the trauma center she founded in central Pennsylvania. The numerous trauma reduction strategies (IFS; EMDR; Narrative Therapy; Art therapy; etc.) that can be used in this tool will be identified and then the implementation of the tool will be described. A sample method of documenting this tool in sessions over time will be shared as well as video clips of the tool being used in family therapy sessions. Participants will also be given the written directions of the process of the tool.

The workshop demonstrates a digital toolkit for Career and Technical Education (CTE) to clinicians, aiming to engage and assist individuals with mental health conditions in developing a career path. Pursuing a career enhances access to resources, improves quality of life and community integration, and promotes better mental and physical health.

Drama therapy is an embodied healing art which works to make what is internal, external, always active and in relation to. In working with families, it can be remarkably effective to help find a back door, a softer way, into connection, in however big or small ways. Drama therapy and applying its core processes can do this, and because it is rooted in the body, it can allow participants and families to not just rewrite their stories, but to begin to live new stories in the here and now. New family narratives can be woven through embodied, enacted, creative expressions. In a family, the body experience is always in negotiation-how do we embody ourselves in the same space and tolerate it, find “refuge” in it no less, especially when being in the body can feel so dangerous for kids and parents carrying around so much trauma and even simply the reality of being a human in a body? Families often find relating to each other excruciating, but trudging through, acting through, playing through-however haltingly- can be the door through which we reach one another.

This dynamic and experiential workshop will highlight the use of the seven core processes of drama therapy as well as specifically use of therapeutic theatre creation as described in the Coactive Therapeutic Theatre Model (Wood & Mowers, 2024). Real lif examples and opportunities to play with one another will offer a chance to experience how these techniques integrate with the concept of interbeing in families and how we, as clinicians can hopefully create a more joyful embodied, love-filled family therapy experience.

And it will be fun!

Throughout this interactive presentation, we will be discussing many of the areas that plague the ADHD student such as, reading, mathematics, writing, listening, goal setting, note taking, studying, concentrating, memorization, test taking, procrastination, and much, much more. Each area is fraught with challenges which I will describe in detail. I will describe how easy to understand, bite size interventions can be used to overcome each challenge. And the best part is the tips in this course are specifically offered to assist the ADHD student.

This workshop aims to equip social workers with skills and knowledge to address non-visible
trauma among domestic violence survivors through the integration of anti-racist theories and
culturally responsive practices. The emphasis is on understanding how systemic racism and
cultural backgrounds influence individuals’ experiences of trauma and recovery processes.

During times of stress, particularly when your child, adolescent, or young adult is not feeling well and struggling with life and school, helping families to navigate the complexity and uniqueness of their situation is critical.

Our program seeks to help parents understand how to support their child and protect their family/family life, while also navigating – and advocating – within a complex educational and mental health system.

This presentation explores the profound impact of secondary trauma on families of survivors. Secondary trauma is the emotional, psychological, and physiological strain that arises from close proximity to a loved one’s traumatic experience. Families of trauma survivors—such as veterans, survivors of abuse, or those impacted by systemic violence—often experience secondary trauma, with unique and compounding effects for families of color.