After years of kids enduring toxic stress, trauma, anxiety, depression and suicidal ideation – we are in dire need of concrete solutions to move us all towards resilience...our light at the end of the tunnel!
Watch Mona Delahooke, PhD, international speaker, award-winning author, and expert in infant and toddler mental health for over 30 years for this dynamic keynote session! She’ll translate the latest neuroscience research on resilience and seamlessly weave it together with real-life case studies to provide new practical strategies to empower resilient parent-child-therapist relationships.
You’ll learn to transform the way you co-regulate with parents and their children through:
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Kids today are so glued to their devices, can’t cope with real life…everything makes them anxious!
Anxiety continues to be on the rise, and prolonged anxiety often fuels depression, especially in kids born in 2010 and beyond (Generation Alpha) taking the form of avoidance and contributing to the early development of Generalized Anxiety, Social Anxiety, Persistent Depressive Disorder, even Agoraphobia.
So how do we break through the digital barriers surrounding today’s kids in order to combat their anxious avoidance, prevent depression and promote healthy, real-world engagement...
In this recording, view child anxiety expert Dr. Steve O’Brien for a timely presentation on treatment strategies for connecting with anxious kids immersed in virtual reality. You will acquire rapport-building tips for fostering connection and develop interventions designed to promote engagement rather than avoidance in anxiety-ridden children. You’ll also learn how to assist frustrated, disheartened parents struggling to relate to their device-obsessed kids. This powerful 90-minute session will equip you with practical knowledge and tools for increased confidence and competence for addressing the needs of today’s anxious youth.
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In this recording, Pat Odgen PhD, with 45 years’ experience in body-oriented psychotherapy and Bonnie Goldstein PhD, with three decades of specialized child, adolescent and family and parent psychotherapy, share the risk factors and warning signs of suicidality in children and adolescents and make clear the significance of the “somatic narrative”— the ongoing process of body-based, implicit, nonverbal behaviour — in both assessment and treatment.
Recognizing the therapeutic challenges and transformational moments that arise when working with these complex issues, they’ll draw upon the wisdom of the body to promote change.
Drs. Ogden and Goldstein will clarify the dynamic interchange between non-verbal cues and verbal reports when addressing suicidal thoughts. Physical indicators of helplessness, hopelessness and despair will be explored, along with how to address these emotions using body-oriented interventions.
Case studies that illustrate Sensorimotor Psychotherapy interventions with suicidal children and adolescents will be shared. You’ll learn new mindfulness based, somatic interventions to enhance self-regulation skills and develop resilience in the face of the intense emotions that fuel suicidality.
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As clinicians working with youth of any age and with any scope of need, it’s essential that you understand the five key elements of emotional intelligence and how critical regulation is to help children co-regulate.
Watch Kellie Doyle Bailey, MA, CCC-SLP, MMT/SELI, and Christopher Willard, PsyD, as they guide you through emotional regulation and specific mindful practices to build connections and relationships with young clients in therapy. You’ll learn:
This session inspires, but more importantly empowers you with the tools you need to offer emotional intelligence and mindfulness practices to help the young people you work with!
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It’s no secret our children and teens are struggling - a national state of emergency has been declared around their mental health. As clinicians and educators working with kids, we see that they are overwhelmed, more reactive, and not using their coping skills.
View Janine Halloran, LMHC and author of the bestselling Coping Skills for Kids Workbook and the new Coping Skills Flipchart for a presentation focused on things we CAN do. She’ll share the positive impacts of SEL and making children feel known, seen, and heard. Janine will also teach a variety of coping skills to:
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In this recording, S. Kent Butler uses his personal story to speak truth about the effects of privilege on his own mental wellness and resolve, while sharing best practices for removing culturally biased barriers. Described by his audiences as authentic and real, “RAW: *Realism * Authenticity * Wisdom” was developed as a presentation during a moment of intense reflection of his life and an even deeper meditation related to the state of the world, “RAW” highlights how clinicians can successfully balance counselling and self-care with social justice advocacy. This session provides counsellors with insights, wisdom and encouragement on how to intentionally get into “good trouble” as Anti-Racist co-conspirators fighting against injustices on a global scale and working proactively on behalf of the kids in their lives.
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Discipline has often been a sensitive topic within many communities of colour. To spank or not to spank? How do cultural implications influence our thoughts concerning where we draw the line between discipline and abuse? Parents are bombarded with messages concerning positive and gentle parenting - what do these terms mean and why are more parents of colour considering sparing the rod when it comes to raising children.
View childhood experts Brittany Prioleau, PhD and Claire Cronin, PhD as they dive into the cultural, psychological, and historical contexts of corporal and physical punishment and its effects on childhood behaviours. They’ll share parenting attachment styles and their direct influence on disciplinary behaviours. During this recording, you will learn:
This session covers hot button issues you don’t want to miss!
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Over the last 20 years, I witnessed the acts and aftereffects of children, adolescents, and adults who mutilate their bodies to express overwhelming emotions. I have often wondered what hurt could cause such destruction and isolation of the self. At a time when these individuals need to be most connected, they perpetuate disconnection through self-injury, which others often perceive as horrific. I have also witnessed how mental health providers and families respond to self-injury with shame, disappointment, horror, and helplessness.
Self-injury typically begins in early adolescence but can become more frequent over time. As documented self-injury occurrences have significantly increased in recent years, all mental health professionals, nurses, teachers and support staff are equally at high risk of their own feelings of PTSD, depression, hopelessness, compassion fatigue and burn out.
This recording is an inspiring exploration of the impact that self-injury has on individuals, their families, and service providers. Through expressive activities and discussion this session aims to raise support for us as well as the individuals and families we serve at a time when they often feel the least connection to others. Weaving between the literature, stories from experience, and experiential exercises, the goal is to facilitate self-expression, creative problem-solving and increased therapeutic rapport. This session also aims to support the professional to create strong plans for their own wellness and resiliency while working with such an impactful issue.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a legacy of increased poverty and widening inequality. Children and youth are disproportionately impacted by poverty, making up 33% of all impoverished individuals. Living in low-income households has been associated with poor health, emotional dysregulation, and increased risk for mental health problems. After viewing this recording, you will learn play therapy clinical practices to support improved emotional regulation in academic, social, and community settings among children and youth living in poverty.
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1.5 million youth in the U.S. are grieving the loss of a parent or significant person in their lives. As we continue to experience communal, and personal associations to the pandemic, gun violence and racial and economic upheaval, these losses will continue to grow and change our communities. The times call for professionals to respond to their own loss histories, assess and integrate impact of this intersection of contexts, and to make room for more concrete, intentional responses to client and community needs.
As professionals, it is important to understand the dynamics of this unique experience so that we can offer support that is relevant, youth focused, culturally aware, and sensitive to individual and community grief needs. This fun, (yes, fun!) and experiential digital recording will offer a new lens to view work with loss and young people, and their unique walk and perspective on grief. Content to include activities, focus on cultivating peer, and community support, virtual therapeutic alliance building, inclusive and resonant facilitation skill building and family based-, group and individual processing considerations.
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There has never been a time in history when educators have felt such overwhelming levels of stress, burnout, and exhaustion!
High levels of accountability and so many demands on your time it can feel like the endless tasks and expectations can deplete all energy leaving you with little left.
Still, we depend on you to be a positive guiding force in our children’s lives – often playing simultaneous roles as educator, parent, mental health counsellor, and caring friend. For you to fulfil these vital roles, it’s abundantly clear that you need to develop resiliency both inside and outside the classroom.
In this recording, view Lisa Baylis, MEd, teacher, counsellor, facilitator, and author of Self-Compassion for Educators: Mindful Practices to Awaken Your Well-Being and Grow Resilience as she shows you firsthand how to be kind and loving toward yourself and how to prioritize and sustain your well-being through self-awareness and self-compassion.
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Anxiety and OCD will show up, and after the past year, anxious cracks have become chasms for many anxious families.
It’s common for clinicians to get caught up in content (what kids worry about) instead of focusing on the how and why of anxiety --all the more detrimental with a missed OCD issue!
In this recording, Lynn will show you how (and why!) to sidestep this content trap and move away from all-too-common elimination strategies.
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For children adopted from birth or those who have experienced multiple foster care placements - their internal world is highly complex and ambiguous, from a child who remains with their family of origin. The foster and adoptive experience is considered adverse and traumatic.
By the time they are adults, they have endured separation from their birth family, adapted to a new family, grappled with fears and fantasies, questioned their identity, and need support navigating the lifelong search for self, “who am I and where do I belong?” If their “inner world” is left unacknowledged, this can cause lasting emotional, psychological, and behavioural issues.
View Jeanette Yoffe, child therapist who specializes in adoption and foster care derived from her own experience of being adopted and moving through the foster care system, as we delve into the “internal world” of adopted and foster care kids.
In this training you’ll familiarize yourself with new and imaginative ways for working with traumatized children and their families by utilizing Interventions to facilitate attachment, bonding and building strong families. Learn how to foster engagement and connection with the children you work with and gain unique strategies to help kids express anger, regulate affect, manage grief and loss...and assist kids in creating a new narrative to reorganize their internal world.
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Over 107,000 people died of drug overdoses in the US in 2021 – the most in any year!
Over 80% of adults with substance use disorder (addiction) began using substances when they were children or adolescents.
This is unacceptable.
We are on the front lines helping children and adolescents navigate the difficult road to adulthood and independence, so understanding what substances they may use, and how to help them is key to reverse our yearly deaths due to drug use.
Watch Paul Brasler, MSW, LCSW, who has over 25 years of experience working with children, adolescent,s and adults in inpatient and outpatient settings. He is widely regarded as a teacher who understands how to connect with people with substance use disorder and co-occurring disorders. View Paul in this recording as we examine current trends in substance use among minors, and ways we can help children, adolescents, and their families impacted by SUD.
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In this recording, view Preschool Play Therapist, Amy Nelson, as she reveals a detailed blueprint for designing effective tele-play sessions with children 3 to 5 years old through the interactive powers of the green screen.
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In an increasingly unpredictable world, kids are more anxious than ever. But for those with ADHD, worry and fear can increase their agitation, distractedness, and impulsivity. Fortunately, there are effective techniques that can help them change their relationship with worry and avoid the pitfalls of negative thinking. In this recording, you’ll get insights into how kids honestly think and feel about having ADHD, which informs the practical tools you—and their parents—can use to better help them improve executive function skills and reduce stress.
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