There and Back Again: A Story of Hope
Trujillo is a survivor of child physical, sexual abuse and rape. These experiences created a range of mental
health disorders that made her vulnerable to further victimization and unaware
of the issues she had to maneuver on a daily basis. After undergoing an intense journey to
understand the impact violence had on her life, she began to address the
challenges she faced from Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), Panic &
Anxiety Disorders, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Depression. In these two workshops she will bring her
experience of trauma and DID into the room to help participants explore how
they may enhance their trauma-informed responses. Participants will assess how they address the
issues of trauma and DID and examine whether they could improve their responses
Explore an inside out perspective of violence
Examine an inside out perspective of
Explore protective factors for
resilience in adversity
Examine how you can help
Recovery: How to Break Down the Walls of Substance Use
Recent evidence about the
ineffective acute treatment model of substance use disorders, and anticipation
of health-care reform, has led to the development of a Recovery Oriented
Services of Care movement. The focus of
the ROSC movement is on long-term recovery and the application of Positive
Psychology during recovery services. It has been proposed that all community
agencies are stakeholders in the maintenance of individuals recovering from
substance use disorders, including all types of behavioral counselors. This
session will inform the student or counselor about the Federally-endorsed
paradigm shift and how to provide services to consumers with substance use
disorders in a manner which reflects the Recovery Oriented Services of Care.
& Suicide Prevention
1) To inform the student/professional on the
refined definition of recovery as it related to substance use disorders.
Professionals will improve their competencies and perspectives toward people in
recovery through acceptance and positive psychology.
2) Changes in
the delivery of services as proposed during this session include a change of
attitudes toward persons with prior substance abuse treatment,
improvement in the ability to facilitate consumer involvement in voluntary
communities of recovery, abandonment of terms such as “aftercare” and
acknowledge the long-term process of recovery.
Billy Lucas. Raymond Chase.
Tyler Clementi. Ryan Halligan. Asher Brown. Seth Walsh.
What do they have in
common? All died by suicide after being
bullied because they were gay or because their peers suspected they were
gay. According to research data from the
National Institutes of Health, 75 percent of Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual,
Transgender (LGBT) youth report verbal abuse and one in seven report physical
attacks. Bullying -- whether
face-to-face confrontation or via the internet -- victimizes not only LGBT
youth. In Bullitt County, Kentucky, Mark Neblett's adolescent daughter, Rachel,
took her life following cyber-stalking and death threats which began in
September 2006. Within a year, two of
her best friends in high school also died by suicide. A National Institutes of
Health (NIH) research study shows that "being bullied interferes with
scholastic achievement, development of social skills, and general feelings of
well-being." Being bullied also may increase suicide risk. Join us for a discussion about what, as professional
providers, we can do to intervene and prevent bullying and suicide among
children and young people.
1. be able
to define bullying
understand aspects of bullying addressed under Texas law
understand the impact of bullying, including risk factors for suicide
populations more vulnerable to bullying
understand and commit to intervening to prevent bullying
lasting impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences
Right Use of Power in Clinical Supervision (Ethics in Supervision)
How do we use our power as
Do our interns feel safe
enough to confront us on important issues?
How do we challenge our
supervisees to grow and gain confidence, yet safeguard their often high needs
clients, as well as the supervisees themselves?
With our least experienced
clinicians serving some of our highest need populations, how we wield our power
as supervisors has long lasting impact.
Explore your relationship
with power as a supervisor and clinician in this experiential hour informed by
Cedar Barstow’s ethical model, The Right Use of Power.
Explore your relationship
Strengthen skills for
creating a safe, therapeutic container for conflict and challenges to both
supervisor and supervisee.
Clinicians to Cope with Suicidal Clients (Ethics in Supervision)
How do we compassionately
prepare our interns and supervisees to cope with the challenges and realities
of counseling suicidal clients?
How do we create and foster
resilience in ourselves and our supervisees to survive and thrive in the face
of some of the toughest client situations?
One in five mental health
professionals will lose a client to suicide.
How can we use our power as clinicians and supervisors to prepare
ourselves and our supervisees to cope with client suicidality?
Explore your relationship to
this challenging, controversial topic in an experiential hour informed by Cedar
Barstow’s ethical model, The Right Use of Power.
Deepen awareness of the
impact of client suicide on new clinicians.
interventions for clinician resilience.
in Resilience and Healing
Through this workshop, the
role culture can play in an individual’s trauma and healing will be explored.
Participants will examine the role that language, food, customs, status,
spiritual beliefs and other cultural realities can play in an individual’s
experience of trauma and in their healing.
Participants will explore the intertwining nature of culture and healing
and steps to take to retain culture in the process of healing.
deeper understanding of the role of culture in Trauma
Explore how this may impact healing
Explore how language, beliefs and food can
Examine how you can help
Health Care after Violence
Taking care of your health
can be a challenge for any woman. Going to the doctor, dentist, staying on top
of all the recommended screenings, making birth control and reproductive health
decisions—all of these can be overwhelming. A woman who has experienced
violence may find caring for her health even more complicated. Many survivors
of violence find it almost impossible to go to the doctor, dentist, or other
specialists… they may experience difficulties with the power imbalance, with
being physically vulnerable, with the clinical setting, or with the acts of
In this presentation Olga
Trujillo will illustrate through her own experience of violence and coping, how
she discovered the importance of becoming proactive in her health care. She
will detail the steps that she took with the health care professionals in her
life to have them partner with her in caring for her health.
Through this presentation we
will explore how advocates and other professionals who work with survivors of
violence can assist survivors with this challenge. We will also explore how it
is that violence and our coping mechanisms make it harder to actively care for
our health. We will also examine why it is so important to make sure we do.
Gain a deeper understanding of how trauma can
Explore the challenges survivors face in
caring for their health
Examine how you can help
High: Dare to Imagine the Possibilities!
It is said that a journey of
a thousand miles begins with the first step.
Many steps later, the journey continues.
Jake Pinner is a 23 year old college student with Autism, poised on the
threshold of his future. When he entered
the Preschool Program for Children with Disabilities (PPCD) in 1996, it was
impossible to know what the future held for him. Could he earn a high school diploma or go to
college? Live independently? Earn a living? Have friends? They now know the answer to a few of these
questions and are working on the rest.
Join us to hear from Jake and his mother, Jeanine, as they tell the
story of their journey together and share resources to help you plan for
your/your child’s future.
Jake Pinner, a 23 year old
self-advocate and college sophomore with autism, and his mother share their
perspectives and experiences of their journey.
Their story will strengthen your belief that with a plan, a strong team,
hard work and faith in your own ability, a diagnosis of disability limits you
only as much as you let it.
1. Identify self-determination skills.
1. Introduction of self-determination in home,
school and community settings
Review of how parents, family members, and professionals working with
self-advocate can support self-determination in daily activities.
Utilize a planning tool to assist self-advocates and/or parents to develop a
vision/goals for their/their child’s future.
2. Understand how to assist
self-advocates in understanding their disability and identifying their
interests, strengths and abilities.
Introduction led by self-advocate who provides information about his
disability, how it affects his life (learning, social, family, etc.), his
successes and accomplishments, transition/self-determination activities, as
well as dreams and goals for his own future.
3. Develop or increase
understanding and awareness of resources available to assist in
3. Review of
resources available to support/guide self- determination activities.
Includes discussion of student participation in ARD/IEP meetings, age of
majority rights and responsibilities, supported decision-making and
as an Ethical Practice in Counseling
This workshop provides an exploration on the
topic of counselor wellness and counselor self-care. The workshop topics contrast our ability to
care for ourselves with the concept of impairment in the counseling
profession. While many of us have
recognized our fellow counselors in times of distress, we are often reluctant
to examine the warning signs in ourselves or reach out to our colleagues in
distress. This workshop stresses that
self-care is not only essential to the best practice of counseling, but
required by the codes and regulations that govern the profession.
will become familiar with the professional ethical codes that addresses care of
will come to understand why self-care is essential to the practice of
will become familiar with the ways stress impacts performance and how optimal
stress can be helpful.
will learn about burnout, compassion fatigue and vicarious trauma and what to
do to effectively address them.
will learn new tools and skills to nurture and care for themselves to optimize
their work as counselors.