400 Series, Saturday, September 15, 2012 at 10:45 AM - 12:45 PM
400
Addressing Spirituality in Couples Therapy
Thomas Stone Carlson
Christine McGeorge
This workshop will highlight the importance of addressing spirituality in couples therapy. In particular, participants will learn how spirituality can be used as a resource for healing couple relationships, strengthening relationship satisfaction, and increasing emotional intimacy. Participants will also learn specific interventions associated with integrating spirituality in couples therapy.
401- FULL
So Your Client is Attracted to You, Now What?
Tommie Boyd
Jenna Wilson
Diana Giraldez
When a client becomes attracted to their therapist it can impede progress and even dissolve a formerly helpful professional relationship. This presentation provides literature and case examples of female therapists who have dealt with situations in which a client who has become attracted to them Topics will include: how to deal with client attraction through conversations about ethical and boundaries issues, ways to prevent and resolve the attraction, client and therapist vulnerabilities, and supervision issues. Case examples will be presented.
402- FULL
Therapeutic Frameworks for Serving the Servicewoman
Markie Blumer
Aubree Papaj
Laura Robinson
As more women are now serving in the military it is imperative that family therapists be best prepared to assess and treat the unique issues that they face, as well as their families. This workshop provides an opportunity for greater understanding of female military service members—who make up the fastest and most steadily growing population in military membership. Attention will be given to exploration of the problems that servicewomen and their families experience, as well as suggested clinical frameworks and related focused genogram questions that have been found helpful.
403- FULL
Dialogues about Domestic Violence: Street Theater in International Communities
Jason Platt
Kenneth Andersen
Leticia Cristina Pileski
Societal Issues like poverty, violence and gender inequalities continue to have a dramatic impact on the lives of women and their families. Drawing on theoretical ideas from Virginia Satir, liberation psychology, and the theater of the oppressed, this presentation will demonstrate a variety of theatrical formats for initiating community dialogues about gender. These approaches have been utilized in numerous countries including India, Cambodia and throughout Latin America . Examples will be provided showing how this approach has been used in Mexico.
404- FULL
WOMEN'S HEALTH AND WELL-BEING: Women and Cancer: Healing the Mind, Body, Heart and Soul
Carl Greenberg
Teresa Taft
This workshop will explore the connections of mind, body, heart, and soul as well as the importance of incorporating all four in a treatment approach for women with a cancer diagnosis. Case material will demonstrate healing approaches including the use of guided imagery and couples work using a collaborative focus to promote healing on multiple levels. Participants will also learn about concommittant psychological issues, common crisis points, and how to incorporate family members to enhance treatment.
405- FULL
Assessment Management Systems in MFT Accredited Education
Daniel Lord
Steven Rathbun
Christopher Habben
J. Michelle Robertson
This workshop will introduce an online assessment management system (LiveText) for collecting and presenting outcomes data in a COAMFTE accredited program. Interactive systems, templates, rubrics, and reports will be presented within an annual assessment calendar. Data analysis by program outcome, student learning outcome, curriculum mapping, accreditation standard, and AAMFT core competency will be demonstrated through an online assessment systems portfolio.
406- FULL
You + Me + ED = A "Threesome": Couples and Eating Disorders
Kelli Young
Gina Dimitropoulos
This workshop will explore issues pertaining to the emotional and sexual intimacy in couples in which one partner has an eating disorder (anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa). Using both didactic and interactive methods, the presenters will discuss common struggles inherent in these couple relationships, and present interventions that may be useful at various points in the therapy process.
407
Integrating Fat Studies into Mental Health Training Programs
Sheila Addison
Michael Loewy
Unlike other dimensions of diversity, body diversity and the impacts of fatphobia and size discrimination are not yet integrated into MFT programs. Presenters will review principles such as Size Acceptance and Health at Every Size as tools to challenge cultural mandates about slimness and weight loss efforts, and to help clients who are experiencing weight-based stigma. They will also summarize research with doctoral psychology students who took an elective Fat Studies course as to its personal and professional impacts. Ideas for integrating Fat Studies principles into training alongside other social justice narratives will be presented.
408- FULL
WOMEN AND THE MILITARY: Military Wives, PTSD, Military Marriages: A Research Agenda
Dol Green
Dan A. Ratliff
Marlon Robinson
The mental health needs of military service members will be the greatest challenge to the next generation of marriage and family therapists. A great deal of research has focused on the stresses of deployment on military spouses, usually wives, but little has focused on the effects of military service on marriages. This workshop will review the findings of research on military spousal stress, military marriages, and the methodology (variables, instruments, and data collection techniques) of how to study military marriages.
409
Using EFT to Treat Depression and Relationship Problems
Andrea Wittenborn
Ting Liu
Based on a series of clinical trials, Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) has emerged as an effective treatment for couples struggling with depression and relationship problems. In this workshop, we will review current literature on co-occurring depression and relationship distress, discuss supporting EFT outcome research, and provide clinical recommendations for EFT with this population. Case examples will highlight recommended interventions.
410 - FULL
Using Exercise as a Catalyst for Improving Client Outcomes
Lee Johnson
Kayla Mennenga
Allison Ellsworth
Carla Nancoo
Exercise has been associated with physical, mental and relational benefits but remains underused as a clinical tool. This presentation will describe the benefits of exercise on client outcomes and provide background on brain processes that underlie the effectiveness of exercise as a catalyst for change. Participants will be provided resources and strategies for promoting client engagement in regular exercise.
411
Is it Better for the Kids if She Had Never Married?
Tiffani Stevenson Lloyd
This session will present a study which used a nationally representative sample of single mothers and their young children (N=591) to examine the relationship of marital status and child wellbeing. Never-married mothers and ever-married mothers were compared to see how children fared in terms of internalizing behaviors such as withdrawal and depression. Findings indicate that children of ever married mothers engage in more internalizing behaviors, and have important implications for family therapists.
412-FULL
SUPERVISION TRACK: Built to Last
Mary Hotvedt
This workshop will focus on shaping the professional identity and development of the therapist. In the first workshop we touched on the role of supervisor as mentor, common to all models. Now we will delve into the responsibility and role of the supervisor for working with the self of the therapist to help him or her in their career path as an MFT. We will discuss how to foster creativity and enthusiasm, deal with therapist anxiety and burn-out, and problem solve about under-performing supervisees. We will also review how we help students become clinical members and fellows. (This workshop addresses learning objectives 6 and 9.)
413
Mindfulness and Acceptance: Applications in MFT
Diane Gehart
Eric McCollum
Mindfulness skills are used increasingly in therapy and can enhance the well-being of clients and therapists alike. This presentation will introduce the concept of mindfulness, aspects of its Buddhist roots that are being integrated into clinical models, and its research base. Participants will explore both personal and clinical uses of mindfulness and have extensive opportunities to practice mindfulness techniques.
414
A Gendered Approach to Infidelity: Ethics, Women and Affairs
Kirstee Williams
Aimee Galick
Carmen Knudson-Martin
Douglas Huenergardt
This workshop will present an empirically validated model, the Relational Justice Approach (RJA), for treating infidelity. This model places gender and power at the heart of clinical change in couple’s therapy. This workshop presents the four necessary stages for successful change in RJA: (1) creating an equitable foundation for healing, (2) creating space for alternate gender discourse, (3) pursuing relational responsibility of the powerful partner, and (4) the new experience of mutual support. By centralizing socio-contextual concerns, RJA counteracts societal gender patterns that place responsibility for affairs and recovery from them on women.
415
Playful Techniques for Engaging Children in Family Therapy
Amber Willis
Darryl Haslam
This workshop will present a range of play therapy techniques that can be used with families to address common family problems related to child therapy referrals. A practical three part model will be offered for adapting the techniques for use in assessment and intervention. Clinical examples and videotaped sessions will be used to demonstrate some of the techniques.
416
WOMEN ACROSS THE LIFESPAN: Women at Midlife Around the World
Rita Melissano
This workshop will focus on women at midlife by exploring the myths, meanings and realities about the time known as midlife and menopause. Presenters will highlight the changes in women’s individual role, social power and status, and personal and spiritual fulfillment in different cultures from around the world. Participants will have the opportunity to consider and create new meanings for women at midlife.