For most of us, our education as therapists has lacked adequate training from a diversity perspective. Therapists receive “awareness training” but almost no practical skills training when it comes to dealing with diversity-related issues or confrontations when working with groups from diverse populations. In this training, we will demonstrate the myriad ways that facilitation, when practiced using Mindful Techniques developed by Lee Mun Wah, can become a useful tool in helping counseling students, faculty, and staff to become culturally competent and skilled in processing individual and group issues through a diversity and therapeutic lens. Through the use of filmed vignettes, role plays, and personal stories, trained therapists will learn to draw from a broadened skill set.

Upon conclusion of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Use mindful listening and responsive techniques.
• Understand the Art of Mindful Facilitation.
• De-escalate a conflict within seconds.
• Identify the roots of our disconnections and how to reconnect.
• Notice what is missing.
• Create a sense of community and belonging among diverse groups.
• Describe 21 ways a healthy diversity conversation can be damaged.
• Facilitate advanced empathetic interventions.

Lee Mun Wah, MS, M.A., is an internationally renowned Chinese-American documentary filmmaker, author, educator, community therapist, and master diversity trainer. He is the Executive Director of StirFry Seminars & Consulting, a diversity training company that provides educational tools and workshops on cross-cultural communication and awareness, mindful facilitation, and conflict mediation techniques. In 1995, Oprah Winfrey did a one-hour special on Lee Mun Wah’s life and his most famous documentary about racism, The Color of Fear. In 2014, he released his latest film, If These Halls Could Talk, which focuses on college students speaking their truth about diversity issues within higher education.

Bring your lunch and join us for this information-packed session. Wall will facilitate a conversation to support connection and integration among the different Annual Conference disciplines. She will provide inspiration, non-judgment, and the freedom to participate by sharing and/or listening in an intimate, friendly setting.

Upon conclusion of this workshop, participants will be able to:

1. Describe an immediate application of a concept or practice.
2. Assess and rate the content of each program.

There’s an inherent tension in first sessions. We want to collect information from patients they may not want to discuss and may not have thought about for years (or ever). At the same time, we want to demonstrate our sensitivity, caring, and understanding that this is a difficult process for clients. We want clients to experience our skill and imagine trusting us while we establish the cooperative therapeutic relationship indispensable to clinical success.

How do we pursue these hard-to-reconcile goals simultaneously? How do we do enough therapy to get people to return without doing so much that they’re scared away?

Upon conclusion of this workshop, participants will be able to:

1. List three things we wish to assess in every first session.
2. Explain why too much therapy in the first session can prevent would-be clients from returning.
3. Identify two skills or abilities we offer clients, in a language that most clients understand.

The advances in technology and the evolution of new mediums for social interactions have been a powerful external force with great influence on couples’ interactions in committed relationships. These technological advances have positive and negative effects on dyads and the quality of their relationships. The significant impact of such advances on dyadic interactions warrants further exploration of their link to infidelity. This workshop explores the unique treatment challenges of cyberinfidelity as well as preventive measures to safeguard against its occurrence.

Completing this workshop will expand participants’ understanding of the impact advances in technology and social media platforms have on fidelity in committed relationship as well as the clinical challenges associated with online infidelity. The workshop was designed to introduce participants to tools and interventions that are essential for effective clinical formulation and treatment of cyberinfidelity.

Upon conclusion of this workshop, participants will be able to:

1. Identify how technological advances increase access to and opportunity for infidelity behavior.
2. List the factors contributing to the lack of agreed-upon boundaries for online behavior.
3. Identify the different mediums for cyberinfidelity.
4. List the clinical milestones needed to recover from cyberinfidelity.
5. Identify the unique therapeutic challenges related to cyberinfidelity.

With cannabis now legal medically in 33 states and Washington, D.C., and recreationally in 11 states and Washington, D.C. — with more likely to come — health care providers are being asked regularly about the safety of medical and recreational cannabis use by adolescents. This workshop will review the stages of adolescent bio-psycho-social development; discuss the latest research on adolescent brain development; examine the facts, fictions, and controversies around both the medical and the recreational use of cannabis; and give practical tips on counseling parents and teens about medical and recreational use of cannabis.

Upon conclusion of this workshop, participants will be able to:

1. Understand the stages of adolescent bio-psycho-social development and the latest research on adolescent brain development.
2. Discuss facts, fictions, and controversies concerning both the medical and the recreational use of cannabis.
3. Explain practical tips on how to counsel parents and teens about the medical and recreational use of cannabis.
4. Describe the three phases of adolescent development and key aspects of adolescent brain development.
5. Discuss cannabis core definitions; describe cannabinoid basics; and list evidence-based medical indications for cannabis.
6. Identify effective ways to counsel patients and parents about the use of cannabis.

CAMFT members, CAMFT’s PAC needs your support to help the LMFT profession thrive! Your $49 admission is a donation. All proceeds will directly benefit the CAMFT PAC, so why not attend and learn all about CAMFT’s advocacy efforts and how you can get involved in the PAC and its grassroots efforts?

Join CAMFT’s Board of Directors and fellow CAMFT members for the opportunity to meet and network with a special guest speaker over a complimentary cocktail and hors d’oeuvres.

This presentation is intended to provide an overview of six common legal areas in which CAMFT staff attorneys receive calls. Topics to be discussed include responding to records requests, writing letters for emotional support animals, business formation, the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act, recording sessions, and telehealth.

Upon conclusion of this workshop, participants will be able to:

1. Explain the differences between producing records pursuant to HIPAA and producing records pursuant to California law.
2. Describe the steps a therapist should take prior to writing an emotional-support-animal letter.
3. Identify the business-structure options available to licensed marriage and family therapists.
4. Describe the forms of abuse and neglect under the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act.
5. Identify concerns a therapist should consider before recording a patient session.
6. Explain the fundamentals of telehealth, including the practice of marriage and family therapy across state lines.

"Toilets, Genitals, and Hair: What I've Learned About Treating the Obsessive-Compulsive Spectrum"
Presenter: Dr. Ali Mattu

The Obsessive-Compulsive Spectrum of disorders can be one of the most challenging and rewarding specialties for a therapist. In this workshop, clinical psychologist Dr. Ali Mattu shares his experience treating Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Body Dysmorphic Disorder, Hoarding Disorder, Hair-Pulling Disorder (trichotillomania), and Skin-Picking Disorder (excoriation). Dr. Mattu will describe the ways these disorders present, how to distinguish these problems from similar disorders (e.g. Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Tic Disorder/Tourette’s syndrome), and effective treatments for these problems. Case examples will be provided to highlight ethical, practical, and motivational challenges to treating the Obsessive-Compulsive Spectrum.

Upon conclusion of this workshop, participants will be able to:

1. Understand clinical presentations of Obsessive-Compulsive Spectrum disorders.
2. Identify shared interventions from evidence‐based treatments for Obsessive-Compulsive Spectrum disorders.
3. Understand ethical, practical, and motivational barriers to implementing interventions for Obsessive-Compulsive Spectrum disorders.

Dr. Ali Mattu is a licensed clinical psychologist with a B.A. from the University of California and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He was an assistant professor at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center and serves on the Board of Directors of The Story Collider. Dr. Mattu has spent a decade treating panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, phobias, hair-pulling disorder (trichotillomania), skin-picking disorder (excoriation), tic disorder, and Tourette’s syndrome. He’s created more than 100 videos for his YouTube channel, The Psych Show, that have been viewed more than 1.3 million times. Dr. Mattu is an expert on Netflix + Vox’s The Mind, Explained and A&E’s The Employables, and he has partnered with HBO to create “Doctor Commentaries.” He has been interviewed by The New York Times and has appeared on Buzzfeed, MTV, CBS, NBC, and PBS. He also has the honor of being referenced — and not made fun of — on HBO’s Last Week Tonight With John Oliver.

"Sexuality Through the Lifecycle - Clinical Implications"
Presenter: Dr. Marty Klein, AASECT

We develop our ideas about sexuality while young — when our bodies are relatively strong, flexible, and pain-free, and we have plenty of time. But our bodies and lifestyles keep changing, requiring a model of sexuality, desire, and attractiveness that doesn’t depend on youthful bodies.

Without that evolving model, and changes in our expectations and choices, we’re vulnerable to sexual and relationship difficulties. We’ll address what patients can expect regarding sexuality as they age, including hormones, menopause, erection drugs, sexual side effects of medications, and the desire to feel attractive while living in a culture that glamorizes youth and defines beauty narrowly.

Upon conclusion of this workshop, participants will be able to:

1. List three ways we can help clients address the impacts of chronic pain on sexuality.
2. Explain how sexuality can remain stable through the lifecycle despite physical changes in sexual function.
3. Describe three common ways menopause can change sexual experience.

Dr. Marty Klein, AASECT, has been an MFT and Certified Sex Therapist for more than 35 years. The award-winning author of seven books and dozens of articles, he often appears in national media such as The New York Times, National Public Radio, and The Daily Show. Dr. Klein is a Qualified Forensic Expert and testifies or consults in state, federal, and international trials. He has taught at Stanford Medical School, and he recently gave two Congressional briefings on evidence-based sex education.

“Body Bias: Sizing Up Our Clients”
Presenter: Laura Westmoreland

As therapists, we receive diversity and cultural awareness training on topics related to religion, gender identity, and ethnicity. Current training is silent on body diversity. In this workshop, we will explore how we size up our clients with our body biases. Are we, unknowingly, causing harm to our clients who live in larger bodies? Let’s examine the conflation of health and body size, the adoption of BMI as an indicator of health, and the subsequent impacts of weight stigma. We will explore how weight inclusivity can promote overall well-being by utilizing Health At Every Size Principles®.

The workshop is suitable for all levels of clinicians. It is designed to encourage open conversations about the biases we hold about body shape and weight, how those biases can influence our responses to clients who express dissatisfaction with their body, and whether we are unknowingly causing harm with our responses. The goals are to increase awareness of the impacts of weight stigma, encourage weight inclusivity, and utilize Health At Every Size Principles® when working with clients in larger bodies.

Upon conclusion of this workshop, participants will be able to:

1. Identify two ways to create a weight-inclusive space.
2. Explain three effects of weight stigma.
3. Articulate three of the five Health At Every Size Principles®.

Laura Westmoreland, M.A., MBA, LMFT, is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in private practice in Century City, CA. She assists clients with identifying and examining their limiting beliefs. She helps clients with anxiety, depression, stress management, relationship issues, body image and shame, and eating disorders. She supports clients in creating and leading the life they desire. Laura holds a master’s in Counseling Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute and an MBA from Lindenwood University. She is a Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor and a Certified Body Trust® Provider. Additional training includes Sensorimotor Psychotherapy – Level 1 and Psychoanalytic Training on Eating Disorders.

The advances in technology and the evolution of new mediums for social interactions have been a powerful external force with great influence on couples’ interactions in committed relationships. These technological advances have positive and negative effects on dyads and the quality of their relationships. The significant impact of such advances on dyadic interactions warrants further exploration of their link to infidelity. This workshop explores the unique treatment challenges of cyberinfidelity as well as preventive measures to safeguard against its occurrence.

Completing this workshop will expand participants’ understanding of the impact advances in technology and social media platforms have on fidelity in committed relationship as well as the clinical challenges associated with online infidelity. The workshop was designed to introduce participants to tools and interventions that are essential for effective clinical formulation and treatment of cyberinfidelity.

Upon conclusion of this workshop, participants will be able to:

1. Identify how technological advances increase access to and opportunity for infidelity behavior.
2. List the factors contributing to the lack of agreed-upon boundaries for online behavior.
3. Identify the different mediums for cyberinfidelity.
4. List the clinical milestones needed to recover from cyberinfidelity.
5. Identify the unique therapeutic challenges related to cyberinfidelity.

Dr. Talal H. Alsaleem, LMFT, an award-winning marriage counselor and researcher, is recognized as a leading expert in the field of infidelity counseling. He is the developer of Systematic Affair Recovery Therapy (SART)™ and the author of the acclaimed book Infidelity: The Best Worst Thing That Could Happen to Your Marriage. As an international lecturer and speaker, he has helped many counselors gain the necessary clinical tools to help their clients recover from the trauma of sexual and emotional affairs. Learn more at TalalAlsaleem.com.

With cannabis now legal medically in 33 states and Washington, D.C., and recreationally in 11 states and Washington, D.C. — with more likely to come — health care providers are being asked regularly about the safety of medical and recreational cannabis use by adolescents. This workshop will review the stages of adolescent bio-psycho-social development; discuss the latest research on adolescent brain development; examine the facts, fictions, and controversies around both the medical and the recreational use of cannabis; and give practical tips on counseling parents and teens about medical and recreational use of cannabis.

Upon conclusion of this workshop, participants will be able to:

1. Understand the stages of adolescent bio-psycho-social development and the latest research on adolescent brain development.
2. Discuss facts, fictions, and controversies concerning both the medical and the recreational use of cannabis.
3. Explain practical tips on how to counsel parents and teens about the medical and recreational use of cannabis.
4. Describe the three phases of adolescent development and key aspects of adolescent brain development.
5. Discuss cannabis core definitions; describe cannabinoid basics; and list evidence-based medical indications for cannabis.
6. Identify effective ways to counsel patients and parents about the use of cannabis.

Seth Ammerman, M.D., is Board Certified in Pediatrics, Adolescent Medicine, and Addiction Medicine. Dr. Ammerman recently retired as a Clinical Professor at Stanford University. During his career at Stanford, he was the founder and medical director of the Teen Health Van, a mobile clinic program providing comprehensive primary health care services to homeless, uninsured, and underinsured youth. His research interests have included substance use in adolescents, at-risk youth, eating disorders, and the use of mobile technology to improve adolescent health. Dr. Ammerman currently works with underserved youth at FQHCs in San Francisco and Healdsburg.