Online Learning Courses
Learn From The Comfort Of Home
The TCA Online Learning platform offers on-demand CE programs to support the professional development needs of professional counselors across a variety of work settings. TCA members receive a preferred rate of $25 ($50 for non-members). The online course catalog contains a variety of program topics and new courses are always being added ensuring that programming is up-to-date and informative.
Adverse Childhood Experiences
ACE Study and Questionnaire: The Beginning of Healing From Trauma and Childhood Adversity
Program Summary: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) can have profound life-long implications well into adulthood, causing physical and mental problems. The determinants of traumatic experiences in childhood include child abuse, neglect, household dysfunction, the death of a parent, and significant mental health impairment of a parent or primary caregiver. Over 70% of children have experienced three or more adverse experiences by age six (Clarkson Freeman, 2014). The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study has extensive research that shows a correlation between those who experienced adversity during childhood and poor physical and mental health conditions in adulthood.
Attachment, Betrayal Trauma, and Shame: Somatic Healing Approaches
Program Summary: This program will include the most recent findings in research and professional literature on betrayal trauma, shame, attachment, and relational somatic interventions, definitions of betrayal trauma and shame, definitions and types of attachment, a description of impact of betrayal on functioning and indications for trauma- and stress-related disorders, personality disorders, dissociative disorders, and substance-related disorders, a discussion about the role of the body in betrayal trauma and shame and body-oriented interventions, a discussion about the role of the nervous system in betrayal trauma and shame and body-sensitive interventions, relational roadblocks to working with betrayal trauma and shame in therapy: avoidance, resistance, fear of abandonment, fear of rejection, cutting-edge somatic approaches to working with betrayal trauma and shame that are integrated with cognitive and affective 'traditional' counseling approaches, the role of the therapist in forming a strong therapeutic alliance that serves as a catalyst for recalibrating the nervous system of the client, embodying inner resources to move from shame to resilience, agency, and empowerment, social justice considerations of working with this approach, PowerPoint presentation, Brief experiential exercises, Case example, and a Group discussion.
Child and Adolescent Counseling
Creative Strategies for Counseling Tweens and Teens
Program Summary: Many counselors try to approach tweens and teens as mini-adults. They are not, and they usually will not respond favorably to a question-based approach. In this session, the presenter will focus on major developmental differences in teens' brains as well as some unique social considerations for counselors working with this population. Creative and innovative strategies for building a therapeutic relationship and providing effective-brain based strategies will be presented. These include expressive and play-based therapies, sand tray, music, photography and other techniques will be introduced to the participants. The presentation will include PowerPoint, live demonstration, experiential activities, and take away ideas.
Reporting Child Abuse and Neglect: Recommendations for Educators, Supervisors, and Clinicians
Program Summary: Each year in the United States, over seven million children are referred to child protective services (CPS) agencies (Toth & Manly, 2019). Though ethically mandated to report suspected abuse or neglect (ACA, 2014; ASCA, 2016), there are differences in reporting behaviors depending on the training received and the type of abuse. For example, Ricks (2019) found that 50% of school counselors have never received training on reporting child abuse and neglect to the proper authorities. Further, the type of suspected or alleged abuse impacts whether a report is actually made (Ricks, 2019; Tillman et al., 2015). Lastly, much of the extant literature is quantitative and focused on school counselors. Wanting to glean a more comprehensive look with reporting child abuse and neglect to authorities, the presenters conducted a phenomenological inquiry about practitioners' lived experiences. Sixteen counselors from a variety of backgrounds including school counselors and licensed professional counselors shared their experiences. Data analysis yielded results centered on transparency concerns, struggling with evidence of abuse, understanding what is reportable, empathy for child protective services workers, and positive collaboration. Results of this study will also be discussed in context of extant literature. Further, participants shared a number of recommendations regarding training experiences and supervision that can be fruitful for attendees in this content session.
Sex, Lies and Adolescence: Helping Families and Teens Navigate the Age of Sexting
Program Summary: Many pressures of teen social development are considered developmentally normal, and yet others such as sexting can be considered harassment, bullying or even illegal. Situations where sexts were unwanted or coerced were more highly correlated with mental illness such as depression, anxiety, symptoms of stress and lower self-esteem. Knowing these side effects, it is important for mental health professionals to navigate these situations with appropriate interventions and care. Many sexting events are considered pornographic in nature, lending them to consequences attributed to this type of viewing. Some believe pornography viewing to be beneficial, and others ascribe to the harmful effects found in viewing porn, such as poor mental health, less sexual satisfaction, lower rates of condom use, and initiation of sex earlier in life. These perspectives have each their own use, but need to be explored in order to determine their functioning within the sexting behaviors. Although teens are not typically developed enough in their teenage years to understand the long-term effects of sexting, nor do they have the decision-making skills to navigate these types of interactions, it is crucial that education increases with parents, teens, educational institutions, mental health providers, and other stakeholders. It is essential to help teens and parents understand the harmful nature of their blemished digital footprint. This presentation will prepare counselors for these conversations with adolescents and their parents by detailing the traits, mindsets, and mental health needs of the sexting generation.
Technology and Sex Trafficking: Implications for Practice
Program Summary: Sex trafficking continues to be one of the leading criminal industries in the world. Children and adolescents are the population most sought after by traffickers. In addition, technology has become the driving force behind the sex trafficking industry. This program is based on original research which identified key areas of sex trafficking vulnerability in children and adolescents. Participants in this program will learn about the central tenants of sex trafficking and identify diverse individuals who fit the vulnerable populations. They will learn about the connections between various technology platforms and the sex trafficking industry. Participants will be able to conceptualize prevention methods, cultural implications, and best practices that can be applied to the clinical or school setting. Experiential activities will be used to foster a collaborative learning environment. Collaboration between participants will be used to develop ideas for prevention, which can be utilized in their work environment.
Counselor Supervision
Creating a New Normal for Multifaceted Practice and Supervision in a Post COVID-19 World
Program Summary: This workshop will incorporate discussion of best practice for a multidimensional clinical practice, including face-to-face and various forms of online/distance therapy. A time to elicit feedback from attendees based upon experiences during the COVID-19 quarantine will be integrated. An exploration of the challenges and benefits of distance therapy will be highlighted. Attendees will hear about the impact of the quarantine on students and their perceptions of distance therapy and supervision. A multidimensional therapeutic practice should include appropriate learning experiences for interns at the Master's and temporary license levels. Attendees will discuss how to incorporate distance therapy into the training process for interns and counseling students, and how to evaluate knowledge and skills for telehealth. Finally, an exploration of distance supervision best practices will be presented and discussed.
Creative Supervision Techniques: Enhancing the Art of Clinical Supervision
Program Summary: The purpose of clinical supervision is to provide supervisees with the knowledge and skills necessary to provide ethical, competent mental health counseling to those in need. Bernard and Goodyear (2014) suggested the purpose of clinical supervision is the facilitation of supervisee professional development and the safety and protection of the supervisee's clients. Supervision is both evaluative and supportive in nature and supervisors are responsible for providing ongoing feedback to the supervisee regarding his or her growth. In order for supervisee evaluation and feedback, which leads to ongoing growth, to be effective, the supervisor must develop a safe, nurturing environment where the supervisee feels supported and heard (Graham, Scholl, Smith-Adcock, & Wittmann, 2014). Effective supervision provides opportunities for the supervisor and supervisee to explore the areas of clinical competence, case conceptualization, and professional obstacles that may get in the way of effective counseling. Creative approaches can assist the supervisee in gaining a deeper understanding of their role as a counselor at both a personal and professional level. There are a variety of creative interventions that can aid the supervisor in facilitating supervisee growth. This session will address several creative interventions that can be used in clinical supervision. The presenters will provide (a) an explanation of the purpose and rationale of each intervention, (b) how the intervention will aid the supervisor in guiding the supervisee toward increased growth or evaluating gatekeeping concerns, and (c) short demonstrations of the different interventions.
Supervision and Ethical Dilemmas
Program Summary: The session will begin with an overview of the definition of supervision and the roles with which supervisors need to be familiar. Major supervision traps and supervisee games will be discussed. Using case studies and role plays, supervision traps and supervision games will be identified. Following the discussion, the presenters will use case studies and role plays to help the audience to identify the traps and games. Discussion will be encouraged, and handouts will be provided.
Criminal Justice
Systems Thinking in Correctional Settings
Program Summary: To achieve the learning objectives, presenters will use didactic presenting and group discussion. Presenters will first introduce a brief overview of systems thinking including examples. Next, presenters will apply systems thinking when working with clients in correctional settings. This will include how to conceptualize systems in a correctional setting and to see the client as part of the larger system. Such conceptualizations involve thinking beyond family beyond and to see systems around the client such as the unit, facility, or criminal justice system. Lastly, presenters will discuss how systems thinking can inform the work of counselors working with clients in correctional settings. Audience members will be asked to participate in discussion.
Elementary School Counseling
Google for Guidance: School Counselors Staying Connected
Program Summary: Technology in schools is increasing, and with the recent school-from-home that swept our state and nation, school counselors have had to adapt to using technology in ways they may not have done before. Mason, Griffith, and Belser state that 'Technology, when used with intentionality and purpose, can expand the school counselor's reach and efficiency in serving all students, and increase access to resources, thus contributing to overall student achievement' (para. 1). However, both ACA and ASCA ethical codes mandate that school counselors also practice technology while maintaining confidentiality. How can school counselors do this? This session will cover how school counselors can use the Google for Education suite to manage the numerous tasks within a comprehensive school counseling program.
Ethics
A Complete Review of the Updated LPC Rules: Staying Current on Rules Affecting your License
Program Summary: In February of 2021, TX Behavioral Health Executive Council and TX State Board of Examiners of Professional Counselors updated rules for LPCs. The new rule changes have implications for LPC, LPC-s and LPC associates. As Professional Counselors, it is our ethical and legal responsibility to stay current on new rules affecting our profession. This program will take participants through the rule changes and implications for everyday practice. The presenter will use PowerPoint, small & large group discussions, and real life case examples to accentuate how these new rules may affect everyday practice.
Counseling in Green Space: How to Manage Ethical Issues in Ecotherapy
Program Summary: By incorporating nature into counseling, Ecotherapists expand their practices to green spaces such as gardens, walking paths, forests, nature walks and other outdoor spaces (King, 2015). In doing so they no longer have the structure of the office space to contain their practice. While the inherent benefits of conducting therapy in green space can be beneficial to clients and counselors, the practitioner can no longer depend on the structure provided by conducting therapy in an office. By taking sessions outdoors there are quite a few unknowns that the therapist may encounter such as a lack of total privacy, emotional client readiness for such settings, the weather, the physical capabilities of the client, and possible unpredictable aspects of the terrain such as animal sightings.
Safeguarding Clinical Practice and Supervision Against Common Ethics Violations in Texas
Program Summary: This session provides an important view into the most frequently violated ethics codes in Texas over the last ten years, and compares the disciplinary actions against a national study of ethics violations acted on by state licensing boards across the nation. The comparison against a national sample may communicate the importance of specifics ethics codes to practitioners, supervisors, supervisees, and students. The session will include a discussion regarding how to safeguard one's practice against the most frequently violated ethics codes, with attention given to training and supervision of counselors-in-training and LPC-Interns across the state.
Grief Counseling
Working Wounded: Supporting Professional Counselors and Supervisors in Processing Grief and Loss
Program Summary: This 90-minute educational session will begin with a discussion of the unique challenges and stressors of processing personal experiences of grief and loss while serving as a professional counselor and/or supervisor. Attendees will identify and recognize challenges associated with maintaining an ethical and effective therapeutic practice in the midst of coping with their own losses, which may include experiences like professional burnout, difficulties with countertransference, trouble staying emotionally present in session, emotional numbing and disengagement, compassion fatigue, and so on.
LGBTQ
TALGBTIC Presents: Assessment, Letter Writing, and Interventions for Transgender/Gender Non-Confirming
Program Summary: What questions come up when working with a trans client? Quick run through of the basics we should all know Review ethical standards: WPATH Standards of Care version 7 The roll as the gatekeeper: Why are we put in this role and how do we navigate it? When a client asks for a letter: What are clearance letters for? How do I assess for them? How do I write a letter? What needs to be included? What type of evidence-based therapeutic interventions are recommended for this population?
TALGBTIC Presents: Counselors as Allies, a Panel Discussion on LGBTQIA+ Allyship
Program Summary: This panel will provide an in-depth discussion on current events and issues facing the LGBTQIA+ community, and how we as counselors can best respond, act, and advocate for our clients and colleagues. It will also give program attendees the opportunity to speak to other counselors about LGBTQIA+ issues they have experienced in their own professional lives, to ask any questions they have (even the embarrassing ones!), and have an open conversation in real time on how to be better LGBTQIA+ allies.
The Inclusive Couple's Couch: How to Provide Affirming Couples Counseling
Program Summary: This presentation will begin with a discussion regarding the application of ethical codes and board rules in working with LGBTQ+ couples. Next, the presenters will provide specific cultural considerations that are unique to the LGBTQ+ population and crucial for counselors to keep in mind when working with these couples. Also, participants and the presenters will review well known couples counseling theories that are easily applicable and affirming to LGBTQ+ couples. Finally, the presenters will end the session by reviewing case conceptualizations with the participants. The case conceptualizations will provide the participants with the opportunity to try out their newly learned affirming couples counseling skills.
Mental Health Counseling
Addressing the Impact of COVID-19 on Intimate Partner: Implications for Professional Counselors!
Program Summary: According to the statistic on Center for Disease Control (CDC), 1 in 4 women and 1 in 10 men have experienced violence from an intimate partner once in their life time. These numbers are alarming as there are many negative physiological and psychological health associated with Intimate Partner Violence (IPV). Households with violence also negatively distress children and increases their risks to anxious behaviors. The recent COVID-19 pandemic, constrained families to their home in major ways. Women and children dealing with domestic violence had no escape from their abusers during quarantine. Increased violence triggered due to COVID-19 pandemic may possibly contribute to the current health crisis.
An Untapped Market, Adding Career Counseling To Your Private Practice
Program Summary: 70 percent of the workforce reports job dissatisfaction, and this discontent has mental health implications for workers. Adding career counseling to an existing private practice gives counselors access to an untapped market, a different revenue stream, and a holistic approach to helping. Attendees will receive tools they can use to integrate career concerns into counseling and will become familiar with low-cost assessments that can be administered to facilitate career choice and transition.
Child and Adolescent Sexuality: Helping Therapists Address the World of Sexuality in a Developmental
Program Summary: This workshop will focus on the dynamics of assisting the child and/or adolescent caregivers in addressing sexual issues and concerns. Various models and approaches to sexuality counseling with children and adolescents will be presented. Topics to be addressed will be childhood sex play, gender development, love maps, sexual abuse, sexual fantasy, homosexuality, masturbation, and the differences between healthy and unhealthy sexual development. Most of this program will be didactic and anecdotal in nature, and is designed for LPCs, LMFTs, school counselors, and other professionals who work with children and adolescents.
Code 3: Developing Therapeutic Alliance with First Responders Through Cultural Competence
Program Summary: There is a growing awareness of mental health issues in the first responder community. This creates a demand for mental health services but these clients struggle to form a therapeutic alliance with counselors that lack first responder cultural competence. In this session, participants will increase their first responder cultural competence and learn directly from a counselor and law enforcement officer couple. Being culturally competent increases trust with the client, accurate interpretation of behaviors and mindset of first responders, reduces the possibility of misdiagnosis, and increases therapeutic success.
Lost in Translation: Challenges with Being a Bilingual Therapist
Program Summary: This program will include Ethical Codes, Ethical Decision Making Models, peer-reviewed scholarly articles related to bilingual therapists, issues related to multiculturalism, and issues related to cultural competencies.
Trauma-Focused Interventions: Implications for College Counselors
Program Summary: Many university counseling centers (UCCs) have session limits making it difficult for clinicians to use trauma-focused (TF) interventions. After a brief presentation about the presenter’s experiences using prolonged exposure therapy with student trauma victims, the audience will be encouraged to share their experiences with TF interventions on their campuses. Real case scenarios will be presented and attendees will gain insight, tools, and resources to assist trauma victims on their campuses.
When Words Are Not Enough-Sand Tray Applications Across the Lifespan
Program Summary: Sometimes, our clients need to share significant emotional content with us, but do not have the words to do so. Sand tray work can help clients of almost any age to process information, and can allow therapists to access information about clients they are unable to express verbally. Power-point and group sharing will be used to cover the basic tenets of sand tray work. We will look at a variety of possibilities for the physical tray, including portables, and review miniatures commonly used in sand tray work. Participants will be introduced to a variety of techniques that can be utilized with clients in sand tray. From the undirected sand play that is beneficial for young clients to the more directed form of sand tray work used with all ages, participants will explore a variety of trays produced by clients of all ages. Participants will review the possible questions that can be used to direct a client in sand tray work, as well as how to utilize various theoretical orientations in sand tray work. Participants will then explore various ways of processing sand tray, including scripting, photographing and post-analysis, and client verbal processing of the tray. We will look at both how to encourage clients as they build trays, and questioning techniques that can help clients to adequately process trays. Participants will view photoraphs of trays produced by clients for discussion of themes and processing techniques.
Working With Clients in Correctional Settings
Program Summary: Counselors are trained and generally prefer clients who enter counseling voluntarily, have some motivation to change, and are willing to engage in a therapeutic relationship. However, many clients, particularly those in correctional settings, do not meet these preferred or assumed characteristics. Using case studies and discussion, this presentation will explore how clients in correctional settings present unique challenges and opportunities for engaging and building therapeutic relationships.
Multicultural Counseling
Ethical Documentation and Integration of Culture in Counseling
Program Summary: The purpose of documentation of client culture will be explained, to include counselor objectivity, accurate conceptualization, personalized intervention, & indicators of progress. The process of culturally relevant documentation will be outlined, to include Intake, Informed Consent, Initial Phase Assessment,Progress Notes, Assessment,Treatment Plan, and Termination. Treatment-relevant aspects of culture will be explored, including client Values, Access to Resources, Relationships, Identity, Traditions, Practices. and Language. Culture-Related Ethics and Law will be identified. Aspects of Cultural Competence will be identified including conceptualization, and application of traits/skills such as Cultural Humility, Bracketing Skills, Mindfulness, Cognitive Complexity, & Cognitive Flexibility. Recognition of the uniqueness of individual culture as multifarious will be explored. Culture will be assessed including objective affiliations and subjective experience, and assessment of cultural influence. Treatment Plan documentation steps will be reviewed including personalization of interventions according to strength of cultural influence, identification of cultural coping assets relevant to counseling objectives, identification of cultural reinforcers of presented problem. The Cultural Formulation and Integration Tool (CFIT) will be introduced and participants will use the tool to create a culturally meaningful treatment plan.
Private Practice
Assess Your Practice
Program Summary: Participants will leave with an overview of the theory and application of a SWOT analysis - a tool often used in traditional business evaluation and assessment. We will then discuss how to implement this in private practice and its function in creating strategic business goals. Part 1) Core concepts of a SWOT Analysis Part 2) Applying these concepts to your private practice or professional growth Part 3) Using this data to craft short and long-term strategic goals. Format: Powerpoint presentation, discussion/Q&A, examples from well-known major corporations, worksheets, and tools to assist with practical applications.
Building a Bad A** Business: Embracing Your Unique Counselor Identity and Building a Brand
Program Summary: In this session, presenters will address the business and ethical benefits of clarifying counselor identity. The field of counseling continues to rapidly develop, grow, and change. Counselors in private practice can feel immense internal pressure to go along with trends. Comparison to other businesses, a scarcity mentality, and shame over failures may result in counselors implementing changes to their business that inadvertently compromise their goals and sacrifice their wellness. This isn't just a business issue; it is an ethical one as well. Counselors with a clear counselor identity on the other hand, are able to filter through the noise and pressure and become strategic in their continued professional and business development. In this session presenters will discuss business concepts from Mike Michalowicz; research regarding imposter syndrome, comparison, and scarcity from Brene Brown; and strategic planning strategies from business leaders who have confronted burnout and avoided collapse. Information will be presented in a variety of formats including lecture, PowerPoint, video, interactive media, reflective activities, and discussion. At the conclusion of the presentation, participants will have techniques to determine their counselor identity and develop authentic brand messaging; a practical model to improve strategic and ethical decision making and maintain their counselor identity; and creative strategies to identify, confront, and overcome personal resistance and fear.
Effective and Ethical Advertising: What They Didn't Teach you in Graduate School
Program Summary: How can I advertise my private practice effectively without feeling like slime? It‘s a question that is frequently unaddressed by graduate programs, though many counselors dream of private practice after finishing school. This presentation will teach you the practical methods of adverting for counseling, one of the most difficult things to advertise. This presentation will outline how to develop a marketing plan, the practical methods of networking and paid advertising, and the ethics that guide advertising efforts. Participants will leave the program with a firm grasp of how to implement an advertising plan and gauge its effectiveness, preparing them to step firmly into the role of business-owner/clinician.
Professional Issues
Effectively Working with High Conflict Clients, Colleagues, or Family Members
Program Summary: High conflict people in our lives wreak havoc with our self-confidence, our emotions, and our ability to respond and manage situations. Explore the hidden dynamics of high conflict people and the high conflict cycle. Understand and learn the proven tools and strategies you need to effectively manage these individuals (and yourself as you deal with them). Discover specific skills and interventions that you can use to provide support and build resilience for yourself, your clients, or your own family members as well as how to help children/teens who struggle with the dynamics of high conflict with one or both of their parents.
Navigating Burnout, Compassion Fatigue, and Secondhand Depression within the Clinical Mental Health
Program Summary: Dr. Fox and Dr. Galloway will discuss six learning objectives that cover the range of topics of the COVID-19 pandemic, internal stressors, external stressors, burnout, compassion fatigue, secondhand depression, the impact of the pandemic, the American Counseling Association's Code of Ethics, and how they relate to professional effectiveness, self-care, and utilizing stress management techniques.
School Counseling
Texas Education Code and the Texas Model for Comprehensive School Counseling Programs: What to Know
Program Summary: The Texas Education Code now specifies that Texas school counselors institute a school counseling program that "conforms to the most recent edition of the Texas Model for Comprehensive School Counseling Programs". This session will provide an overview of the model's content. Information and ideas will be presented to support the implementation of the Texas Model in school districts.
The Bottom of the Bowl - Alphabet Soup Lessons U-Z
Program Summary: As school counselor, we know that we are supposed to deliver services through classroom lessons, but.....Low budget, lack of materials, and a shortage of time to plane interferes with most counselors' efforts to get classroom lessons done. We started creating Alphabet Soup 5 years ago for that very reason, and we have finally gotten to the bottom of the bowl. This session introduces 29 classroom lessons that incorporate the letters U-Z and allow counselors to utilize inexpensive, readily available materials to produce lessons that work.
Understanding and Interpreting Ethical & Legal Standards for School Counselors
Program Summary: This highly interactive program will challenge school counselors to evaluate how they understand and interpret ethical and legal standards related to professional school counseling. The presenter uses multiple case studies and thought provoking ethical dilemmas to encourage counselors in understanding morals, values, beliefs, and motivations that affect interpretation of ethical and legal standards.
Secondary School Counseling
Addressing Non-Suicidal Self-Injury in Students: A Collaborative Approach
Program Summary: As many as 10% of students have engaged in non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI). Students often engage in NSSI as a form of coping, to generate sensations and emotions, as a form of social communication, as a method of self-punishment, or to resist suicide. School counselors implement a two-pronged approach to addressing self-injury in schools by using both preventions strategies and response interventions. Preventions strategies can include training both faculty and students on how to respond when they discover a friend or student is engaging in NSSI. Students often turn to friends for help when self-injuring. These fellow students would benefit from education on how to respond in a helpful way and who to go to get their friend the help that he or she needs. Likewise, many faculty would benefit from similar training on how to respond. Response strategies can include therapeutically responding, completing a suicide risk assessment, collaborating and consulting with parents and faculty, and helping a student develop alternative strategies to address their needs.
Make School Counseling Easier: The Power of Involving Parents
Program Summary: Parent involvement is an essential element of both the Texas Model for Comprehensive School Counseling Programs (5th ed.) and the ASCA National Model. Their involvement allows parents to better understand how the school counseling program serves their children, helps parents become more involved in their children's education, and assists parents as they support their children in educational and career planning, including post-secondary planning. In both models, parents are listed as key stakeholders who assist in the design, implementation, and evaluation of a comprehensive school counseling program.
TEMPSC-III: Enhancing School Counselor Practice Through Job-related Performance Evaluation
Program Summary: This program provides an overview to the newly published Texas Evaluation Model for Professional School Counselors, 3rd Edition. The presenters will work with the participants to learn and utilize the TEMPSC, 3rd edition. Participants will discover how the TEMPSC was built in alignment with the Texas Model to ensure fidelity to the codified model. This program is specifically built for counselor educators, school counseling program leaders, and school counselors.
The School District Hired a Crisis Counselor, Now What!?!
Program Summary:Through an interactive, discussion based session we will explore the following: -Defining the crisis counselor role -Legal and ethical considerations in the crisis counseling role -Typical activities for crisis counselors and the development of protocols -How to incorporate prevention and coordinated health -Anticipated issues with working with a team of other counselors -Managing compassion fatigue and burnout We will share strategies and resources for individuals that are new to the role of crisis counseling in a school setting.
Virtual/Distance School Counseling Resources
Program Summary: We will be showing examples of what we have used during Remote Learning during Covid-19. We will show ways to support your students as a counselor during remote learning. By using these tools you will directly support students academic, social, and emotional learning. SEL offers a powerful means to explore and express our emotions, build relationships, and support each other - children and adults alike - during the challenging time know as Covid-19.
Social Justice
Trust and Consequences - How ICE and Other Government Agencies Have Changed the Game of Confidential
Program Summary: In this presentation one will learn about new case law as it relates to privilege access to confidential information and how recent cases have changed what has traditionally been taught in the field. The presentation will also talk about the implication for clients and mental health professionals especially those that are being detained and their rights. The presentation is important because recent case law especially when dealing with vulnerable populations have exposed how confidential information can be used against a client and what mental health professionals should be aware of when working with the vulnerable population.
Telehealth
Combat the Fear: Creative Approaches to Counseling Children via Telehealth
Program Summary: The format of the workshop will be co-counselors presenting informative research, techniques and interventions supplemented with a slide show presentation. Video demonstrations of interventions and approaches will be offered to demonstrate effectiveness of telecounseling with children. Interactive dialogue and engagement will be encouraged.
Distance Supervision: Issues to Consider
Program Summary: Many counseling supervisors are finding themselves in a new era involving virtual and distance supervision. Previously distance counseling (virtual, remote) and distance supervision had been increasing slowly until the Coronavirus emerged, now we have a new surge in distance supervision. Recent events since the pandemic accelerated the need for many counselors to make a rapid shift to depending on telehealth for providing counseling and supervision. The authors, Wilkinson and Reinhardt (2015), remind us that the ethical use of technology in counseling is not new for the American Counseling Association (ACA) gave technology a separate section in the 2014 Code of Ethics. While some states still require face-to-face supervision, other states welcome the integration of technology into the supervisory relationship (Clark & Haddock, 2015). Due to the changes in delivering virtual supervision, updating informed consents, writing supervision contracts, and creating supervision forms now necessary to avoid ethical dilemmas. In addition to updating supervision forms, other important considerations for distance counseling include considering learning styles, cultural and individual differences, and supervision skills (Stretch, 2018). A new phenomenon that many counselors have recently begun to experience is screen fatigue (Zoom fatigue). While many counseling supervisors are finding themselves in a new territory and a time of new learning, it is essential that supervisors be mindful of self-care.
Rapid Transition to Telehealth Delivery in a Pandemic - Implications for College Counselors and Coll
Program Summary: This session will begin with the panel introducing themselves and outlining their relationships with college counseling. The session will then review relevant literature regarding counseling center models, and compare/contrast how these models are expressed at a multitude of college counseling centers across the state. The rapid nature of how these models were stretched and dynamically interpreted as the COVID-19 pandemic escalated as well as ethical considerations for rapid transition to telehealth will be examined. Best practices for HIPAA compliance when providing telehealth therapy will be outlined as informed by literature. Will discuss and become aware of the different responses students have been observed to have due to the abrupt transition/disruption in traditional service models in college counseling centers, and provide best-practice suggestions informed by clinician experience and empirically supported research. We will discuss and become aware of the different responses clinicians have been observed to have due to the abrupt transition/disruption in traditional service models in college counseling centers, and will review best-practice suggestions informed by empirically supported research. We will provide a space for a talk-back on what practices could best help with clinician adjustment to inform adaptive responses to future such crises.
Telehealth in University Counseling Clinics Gone Viral
Program Summary: As a result of the pandemic, counselors have reported increased demand for services. However, some clients struggle to pay for services and have difficulty finding counselors willing to provide high quality, low-cost services during the pandemic. Additionally, some individuals struggle finding counselors who will continue offering telehealth once stay-in-place orders expire. University community clinics have the resources and personnel to bridge the gap. These clinics often have multiple counselors with different specialties and can support a diverse range of client needs. They operate as a training clinic, where in most cases the goal is student training over profit and student counselors are typically one to three semesters from being eligible for licensure when they begin their clinical sequence, thus quality care would be provided. Training students on telehealth during the clinical sequence and offering it as a part of routine services supports clients that do not have transportation, gas money, or live in the area. Currently, telehealth is being used as a temporary means for counseling; however, university counseling clinics should offer clients autonomy in choosing how they would like services to be offered. During this presentation participants will learn SMU Center for Family Counseling telehealth policies, crisis guidelines, teleplay and telehealth implications for practicum, internship sites, and university clinics.
Trauma Informed Counseling
Embodying Interpersonal Trauma: A Somatic Approach to Healing Attachment Wounds
Program Summary: This program is based on professional literature (Caldwell, 2018; Dana, 2020; Gordon, 2019; Johnson, 2018; Levine, 2014; Morgan, 2019; Rothschild, 2017; Ogden & Fisher, 2015; van der Kolk, 2014) describing recent research on social-relational trauma and somatic interventions, and their neuroscience correlates. Content includes defining 'attachment,' 'interpersonal trauma,' and 'body-centered/somatic,' and discussing the role of body and brain in interpersonal trauma. Also included is discussion of the potential impact of interpersonal trauma and indications for trauma- and stress-related disorders, personality disorders, dissociative disorders, and substance-related disorders. Relational roadblocks to working with interpersonal trauma in therapy (e.g., avoidance, resistance, shame, fear of abandonment, fear of rejection) and somatic interventions will be explored. This model facilitates client awareness of inner resources that allow movement from interpersonal trauma to resilience, empowerment, and embodied agency.
Impact of Untreated Post Traumatic Stress Disorder on Community Trauma
Program Summary: PTSD is a contributing factor for community trauma and manifested through inter-generational transmission of trauma by individuals who live in low income, urban communities. We are finding that untreated PTSD is the leading cause for Community Trauma, where the whole community is showing signs of PTSD. In this workshop we will explore the impact of untreated PTSD and it's effects on the community. Additionally, we will explore the research and learn how to conceptualize clients who are living in communities who are exposed to community trauma.
Integrative Trauma Therapy for Children: A Trauma-Informed Approach to Child Counseling
Program Summary:This presentation will focus on an integrative model that combines two evidence-based trauma treatments, Eye-Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing and Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, with the most developmentally-appropriate treatment for children (Landreth, 2012). The limited number of research studies that focus on combining play therapy and EMDR add individual pieces or techniques from one approach into the other full model with a piecemeal effect. Some researchers added play into the otherwise traditional eight-phase model of EMDR (Tufnell, 2005). Alternatively, other researchers with a predominantly play therapy approach add a few sessions of EMDR into their treatment without full integration (Banbury, 2016; Rubin et al., 2001). Similarly, the TF-CBT approach to trauma work can include some play components such as the use of puppets in the psychoeducation phase or drawings in trauma processing (Cohen, Mannarino, & Deblinger, 2017). However, TF-CBT is not considered a play therapy approach, as the basic tenets of play therapy are not integrated into this model.
Strategies for Identifying and Treating Parenting Trauma
Program Summary: Parents of children who have special needs, trauma histories or mental health challenges often report trauma from their parenting experience. In addition to typical parenting stress, they may face extreme meltdowns, medical emergencies, or ongoing threats to themselves or their families. They also often report chronic levels of high stress with low social support. As a result, parents of kids who struggle are at an increased risk for depression, anxiety and symptoms of trauma. One study showed that parents of kids with autism have cortisol levels similar to soldiers in combat and it is common for parents of kids with special needs to report symptoms of PTSD. Unfortunately, these parents are often not identified as needing therapeutic support in a timely manner and therapists may not recognize the symptoms of parenting trauma. Clinicians working with children or adolescents often report frustration that parents do not follow through on clinical recommendations. By recognizing parenting trauma and understanding the unique needs of this population, therapists will be better able to serve both parents and their children. Parenting trauma is pervasive but is unfortunately misunderstood and not always recognized. In this session, therapists will learn to identify the signs that parents they are working with are dealing with parenting trauma. We will explore how symptoms differ as the parent walks through the stages of grief and appropriate goals for each stage. We will the discuss clinical interventions for parents of clients and clients who are parents in both individual or couples therapy.
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