Past Trainings

Decolonizing Supervision: An Approach Rooted in
Ancestral Wisdom

This workshop offered an in-depth exploration of the supervisory process, answering questions about risk and liability while preparing attendees to excel in clinical supervision. The workshop focused on bottom-up approaches and the decolonization of clinical supervision, aiming to foster a more inclusive and equitable environment.

Attendees gained insights on how to:

• Grow their skillset in clinical supervision.
• Protect their license from supervisee mistakes.
• Teach supervisees what they need to know AND hold them accountable.
• Ethically turn supervising into a profitable addition to your counseling practice.
• Create a comprehensive informed consent contract for supervision.
• Develop a strong supervisory alliance that mitigates common challenges.
• Navigate the complexities of delivering difficult feedback.
• Address issues related to struggling or unethical supervisees.
• Provide supervision that makes a lasting impact for future generations and a move towards collective liberation!

Attendees walked away with practical tools and techniques that they could immediately apply in their supervision practice, all while contributing to a more equitable and responsive supervisory framework!

Embracing the Body: A Gestalt Play Therapy Approach to Body Image Culture⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣

This workshop explored how the perceived standards of acceptable bodies in culture, including differences in size, abilities, skin tones, and gender, create an impact on clients mental health beginning at a young age. The aim of this workshop was to create an awareness of these cultural differences within the playroom, analyzing how these differences mold the clients experience of the world and their needs for self. As the workshop utilized a Gestalt Play Therapy to approach these topics with clients, participants engaged in experiential ways to support clients to understand and nurture their bodies to move towards change for the clients.

Cultural Opportunities with Latine Children in Play Therapy

As the Latine population grows, play therapists have more opportunities to work with Latine children and their families across multiple therapeutic environments. This workshop explored cultural considerations and opportunities that play therapists have when working with the Latine population and Spanish-speaking clients. Attendees shared personal and professional experiences to better understand Latine children in play therapy. Additionally, as a group, attendees deconstructed current play therapy practices to centralize the cultural needs/healing of both Latine children and their family system. As systemic racism and discrimination limit clinicians' ability to “be with” clients, attendees engaged in dialogue regarding anti-oppressive practices both inside and outside of the playroom.

Doctors Corner: Psychotropics 101

As many of us serve as the primary point of contact for clients regarding medication management, navigating the mental health system, and advocating for their needs with prescribers, it's vital to be knowledgeable in this area. With one in five Americans currently using mental health medications, psychotropics remain highly prescribed in clinical settings. Clients receiving therapy may often inquire about their psychotropics with their therapist. Having a foundational understanding of psychotropics can empower providers to address these queries effectively and guide our community back to their psychiatric prescribers, when necessary. Moreover, we delved into ways to engage with clients who may be hesitant about medication management by reducing the stigma around treatment.

Machismo! Dealing with Toxic Masculinity

Toxic Masculinity is a pervasive issue that continues to cause suffering, affecting men, women, and non-binary people. It is made even more complicated when Toxic Masculinity is interwoven into cultural beliefs and practices. This workshop provided counselors with the skills and information necessary to identify Toxic Masculinity in individuals/family systems along with how to challenge those beliefs. Additionally, we discussed what to do when Toxic Masculinity seems to be an integral part of someone’s cultural identity and how to challenge it without dismissing their culture. Learning to identify Toxic Masculinity and how to address it is a crucial step in challenging patriarchal systems.

Attendees came away with a deeper understanding of what Toxic Masculinity is, how so many people fall into this belief system, and the harm it can cause to those who hold it and the community as a whole. Additionally, they learned more about the patriarchal systems that perpetuate this belief system. Skills on how to challenge Toxic Masculinity were covered, providing clinicians with methods of addressing the harm caused by these beliefs.