Saturday, May 24, 2025
All times are EDT
Registration 7:45 - 8:30am
9:00 - 10:30am
Keynote Speaker: Sharon Ramsay, MDiv, RP, RMFT-SM, PhD (Cand)
Just relating: Empowering Relationships as a Systemic Practitioner in a Diverse World
Participants will be encouraged to:
1.Attune to the role empowerment and diversity play in their lives and existing clinical practices.
2. Name opportunities to introduce and/or deepen intentional practices of hospitality, advocacy, and equity.
3.Celebrate the complexity of just relating in systemic work.
These objectives suggest that empowerment is not a method but rather a way of being that informs how we approach our clinical work. They take into account the relationships that exist within and between clients' and clinicians' lived experiences and seek to forge new meaning and collaboration. Please click here to read Sharon's bio.
Breakout 1
11:00am - 12:00pm
Option 1
Attunement and Re-Attunement: Building Secure Relationships in Our Diverse World
With over 30+ years of evidence-based research, Emotionally Focused Therapy, based on attachment science, offers a roadmap for people to build secure bonds with themselves and with others. Mis-attunement is normal in any relationship; it is how you can attune and re-attune back that will be the goal of attachment security. This talk will introduce the power of attachment and EFT, especially the EFT Tango, to build connections in a diverse world. Please click here to read Herman's bio.
Option 2
An Exploration & Critical look at the CACFT Code of Ethics -
Learnings from the last 5 years, and planning ahead
Carl Heaman-Warne, MMFT, RMFT-SM
The CACFT Code of Ethics was adopted in 2019, with a strong voice for what CFTs do to uphold ethical practice. It also has some challenges and is due for a critical review and update. This session will be an overview of the Code of Ethics, provide some insights into trends in complaints over the last 5 years, and begin some critical constructive conversations to generate recommendations for updating the code. Please click here to read Carl's bio.
Option 3
The Business Side of Private Practice:
Become more successful without blowing your budget or burning out
Amanda Bacchus, MSW, RMFT-SQ and Andrew Sofin, MA, RP, RMFT
In this one hour presentation, The Private Practice Consultants, Amanda Bacchus and Andrew Sofin, will discuss how to build a private practice on a budget. They will focus on creating your professional circle of care to build a thriving practice, how to manage your administrative duties while juggling your clinical work, and marketing your practice on a budget. Please click here to read Amanda and Andrew's bio.
Option 4
Panel - BIPOC therapists, supervisors, and working with BIPOC clients
Breakout 2
1:00 - 1:45pm
Option1
Gestalt Therapy Working With Marginalized Populations
Chi-Chun Lin, Psy.D, RMFT-SM
Gestalt therapy has existential, experiential, phenomenological, and systemic foundations (Zinker, 1994). Existential psychotherapy emphasizes the operations of an individual’s inner conflicts, which are thought to result from the facts of one’s existence and in response to such issues as death, isolation, freedom, responsibility, and meaninglessness. Experiential approaches involve examining the client’s activities to address hidden issues; this can take the form of play therapy, psychodrama, art therapy, or role-play rather than traditional talk therapies and also stress the process rather than merely the content. Please click here to learn more about Ch-Chun's workshop and to read his bio.
Option 2
Understanding Vicarious Trauma and Posttraumatic Growth
Tim MCurdy-Myers, RP, RMFT
One of the risks of therapeutic work is consistent exposure to traumatogenic material from clients. The cumulative impact of this exposure, vicarious trauma, can significantly change therapists’ personal and professional lives. Though this change is difficult, exposure to trauma also presents an opportunity for posttraumatic growth. This presentaiton aims to provide a brief literature review on the concepts of vicarious trauma and posttraumatic growth, help clinicians identify risk and protective factors for both concepts, and provide practical tools to facilitate posttraumatic growth. It introduces new reflection questions designed to cultivate posttraumatic growth for clinicians. Please click here to read Tim's bio.
Option 3
Dreams and Realities:
Supporting First and Second-Generation Latino Immigrant Families through Cultural Integration and Belonging Approaches
Monica Sesma Vazquez, PhD, RSW, RMFT-SM
This presentation explores the unique challenges family therapists encounter when working with first- and second-generation Latino immigrant families in North America, particularly in Canada and USA. As these families navigate complex cultural integration issues, therapists often face the need to balance traditional family values with the pressures of assimilation and the pursuit of the “North American Dream.” Participants will gain insights into the intricate family dynamics influenced by cultural heritage, economic pressures, and generational divides, all of which shape the immigrant family experience. Please click here to learn more about this workshop and read Monica's bio.
Option 4
Inviting meaningful, empowering conversation with parents/caretakers of the children who are identified clients
Nozomu Ozaki, PhD, RP, RMFT-SQ
This workshop focuses on how to engage parents /caretakers in a meaningful conversation in such a way to shift the pattern of their interaction with their child, who is the identified client. Using IPscope (Tomm et al., 2014) framework, I will describe some of socially and/or cultural discourses that inform and are reflexibly supported by parents/caretakers’ interaction with their child. I will suggest some ways of inviting a conversation with the parents/caretakers that is respectful of their preferences and values, which can lead to transforming their interactional patterns toward patterns of healing. Please click here to lean more about this workshop and to read Nozomu's bio.
Breakout 3
2:00 - 2:45pm
Option 1
Evolving Systems: Navigating Chronic Pain and Family Dynamics in a Diverse World
Oxford York, MA Counselling & Spirituality, Associate Member
Chronic pain is a multifaceted experience that not only affects the individual but also reverberates through family dynamics, especially in diverse cultural contexts. This presentation aims to equip mental health professionals with an understanding of the intricate interplay between chronic pain, family relationships, and cultural diversity. Furthermore, the presentation will delve into how chronic pain can influence communication patterns, roles, and coping mechanisms within families. Culturally attuned approaches to support families dealing with chronic pain challenges, ensuring that interventions are respectful and relevant to the diverse backgrounds of clients will be discussed. Please click here to read Oxford's bio.
Option 2
Systemic Practice with Veterans
Dwight Thompson, MSW, RSW. RMFT-S
The Evolution of Systemic Practice with Veterans
Initially, veteran support primarily focused on individual diagnoses, such as PTSD, often overlooking the interconnectedness of the veteran's experiences within their social ecology. However, recognizing the limitations of this approach, systemic practitioners have increasingly integrated frameworks that emphasize different types of systemic thinking and practices. This presentation explores the dynamic evolution of systemic practice within the context of veteran care, moving beyond traditional, individually focused trauma models towards a more holistic, relational approach. Veterans, upon returning from service, often face complex challenges that extend beyond individual psychological trauma, impacting their families, communities, and broader social systems. This presentation will trace the development of systemic interventions, highlighting key shifts in understanding a systemic approach that enhance the functioning of a group practice that serves the Veteran community. Please click here to read Dwight's bio.
Option 3
Diagraming Relationships: Ways to use the genogram, triangle and other diagrams in your systemic work
Katherine White, RMFT - SQ
Family therapy often grapples with complex relational dynamics, including ways that individuals are intertwined that are challenging to articulate. All family therapists are taught elements of using diagrams to help assess systemic work, but do they find them useful in their day-to-day therapeutic work?
Final Session
3:00 - 4:30pm
Round Table with Indigenous Family Therapists
Jann Derrick PhD, RMFT-SM Irish/English/Haudensaunee; Jann works nationally and internationally
Along with:
Brenna Doolan; Nisga'a Nation, BC working in her own Nation
Trish Dupuis; Cayuga/German/Metis, working in Grande Cache, Alberta
Caroline Winship: Settler Recent Briercrest Master of Counselling Graduate. Living in Thompson MB and working in Wabowden, MB
Spurgeon Root: Settler Working with File Hills Qu'apelle Tribal Council (FHQTC), Regina, SK
Learning Objectives:
To support Indigenous therapists in their work
To highlight the range of work performed by Indigenous therapist
To educate others in CACFT about the details and intricacies in working with Indigenous communities and families
To offer ideas and exchange experiences between the broader work performed by CACFT members and Indigenous therapists
REGISTRATION Please click here to register. You can choose to register for both days or either one. Registration closes May 6, 2025 (12 am ET) |