2023 Professional Practice Summit
Sessions 

Counseling Collage: Crafting Cultural Competence in Supervision
Tuesday, 10:00 am - 10:55 am ET
Audience Level: General
CE Credits: 1 NBCC Hour; 1 CRCC Hour; 1 WA Hour; 1 NY Hour
Live Chat Available!
Megan Pickens, PhD, LPC-S

Enhance cultural competence in counseling and supervision. Explore diverse perspectives, effective communication and practical strategies. Elevate your practice, empower supervisees and embrace growth.

• By the end of the training, attendees will engage in a self-reflection activity and accurately recognize and articulate at least two personal cultural biases or assumptions they hold, as documented on their self-reflection sheets.
• Attendees will create individualized action plans that include a minimum of three specific strategies or activities aimed at enhancing cultural competence in both their counseling practice and supervisory roles, as evident from their submitted action plans at the end of the training.
• At the conclusion of the training, attendees will actively contribute to group discussions by successfully identifying culturally competent approaches and strategies for addressing cultural diversity within provided case studies, as evidenced by their active participation and insightful contributions during the case study analysis discussions.

Determining Your Practice Identity
Tuesday, 11:00 am - 11:55 am ET
Audience Level: Intermediate
CE Credits: 1 NBCC Hour; 1 CRCC Hour; 1 WA Hour; 1 NY Hour
Live Chat Available!
Le'Ann L. Solmonson, PhD, LPC-S

As counselors, we know we cannot be all things to all clients. Determining what type of work you want to do adds to your job satisfaction as a professional. The session will focus on developing a professional identity for your practice and how to ethically build a clientele based on that identity.

• Attendees will be able to identify the type of clients their practice will serve.
• Attendees will be able to identify strategies to market to ideal clients.
• Attendees will be able to utilize ethical strategies to distinguish between practice preferences and bias in determining which clients to serve.

LIVE Lunch ‘n Learn: Don’t Become a Case Study! Liability Risks and Recommendations for Counseling Practice
Tuesday, 12:00 pm - 12:55 pm ET
Audience Level: Intermediate
CE Credits: 1 NBCC Hour; 1 CRCC Hour; 1 WA Hour
Jennifer Flynn, CPHRM; Lynn E. Linde, EdD

Liability claim data offers insight into top professional liability claims against counselors. Using case studies and claim data, counselors can examine top areas of liability through the experiences of their peers. Most importantly, this session provides you with immediately implementable practices that you can use to help prevent or defend against malpractice allegations, while also enhancing client safety. This session is sponsored by HPSO.

• Attendees will define the top allegations made against counselors in malpractice lawsuits.
• Attendees will discuss the costs incurred to defend counselors in malpractice lawsuits.
• Attendees will identify risk control recommendations that counselors can incorporate into their practice to improve client outcomes.

Build Your Niche. Build Your Impact.
Tuesday, 1:00 pm - 1:55 pm ET
Audience Level: General
CE Credits: 1 NBCC Hour; 1 CRCC Hour; 1 WA Hour; 1 NY Hour
Live Chat Available!
Cyndi Doyle, MEd, LPC-S

Our training taught us not to share ourselves, yet when it comes to business, your story attracts the people you want to impact. Dig into your counselor identity and how you can use story to market and build your niche with a counselor who leaned into authenticity and built a successful brand and revenue streams outside the therapy room. Confront imposter syndrome, gain tools to uncover your unique counselor identity and build messaging that attracts clients you were uniquely made to serve.

• Attendees will learn to apply personal story to identify and market to a professional’s ideal client.
• Attendees will analyze how comparison, scarcity and shame impact decisions leading to diminished or confusing counselor identity.
• Attendees will apply techniques to develop a clear counselor identity and explore how that identity leads to enhanced branding, messaging, strategic planning and ethical decision-making.

Balancing Innovation and Ethics: AI Regulation and the Counseling Field
Tuesday, 2:00 pm - 2:55 pm ET
Audience Level: General
CE Credits: 1 NBCC Hour; 1 CRCC Hour; 1 WA Hour; 1 NY Hour
Live Chat Available!
Russell Fulmer, PhD, LPC

Should counselors promote artificial intelligence (AI) regulation by governments and their own association or caution against it? This session discusses how AI regulation may prevent harm yet curtail advancements if taken too far. Career development is an applied area of focus for this session. AI is changing the world of work. Regulation may save jobs, but at what cost? AI regulation is at the intersection of counseling practice, advocacy and ethics.

• Attendees will discuss basic pros and cons of counselors endorsing regulation for AI.
• Attendees will explain one way that current AI can be used to provide mental health support to clients.
• Attendees will describe how counseling ethics compares and contrasts with AI use in the field.

Guardians of Ethical Integrity in a New Artificially Intelligent Galaxy
Tuesday, 3:00 pm - 3:55 pm ET
Audience Level: General
CE Credits: 1 NBCC Hour; 1 CRCC Hour; 1 WA Hour; 1 NY Hour
Marcelle Giovannetti, EdD, LPC

This session will highlight the intricate interplay of technology and ethics in the counseling profession, exploring potential benefits and ethical challenges. Attendees will gain insight into navigating the fine balance between technological advancement and maintaining ethical standards essential for safeguarding the well-being of clients. Attendees will leave with a nuanced understanding of artificial intelligence (AI) integration and ethical practices in the ever-evolving landscape of counseling.

• Attendees will grasp the fundamental concepts of AI and its integration within counseling practices.
• Attendees will gain insight into the role of AI in counseling and recognize potential ethical challenges.
• Attendees will acquire strategies to navigate ethical concerns, ensuring responsible and effective AI use in counseling practice.

Doing Counseling: Developing Your Clinical Skills and Style
Tuesday, 4:00 pm - 4:55 pm ET
Audience Level: General
CE Credits: 1 NBCC Hour; 1 CRCC Hour; 1 WA Hour; 1 NY Hour
Live Chat Available!
Jude T. Austin, III, PhD, LPC, LMFT; Julius A. Austin, PhD, LPC

When imagining what a counselor looks like, most don’t picture them wearing a crisp pair of Jordans in session. Jordans may not be your thing, but what is your thing and how intentionally do you do your thing in session? This session is all about helping you sharpen your clinical skills and develop your therapeutic style. The presenters will cover a wide range of topics while breaking down the therapeutic process. Join them as they talk shop in a real, unfiltered, vulnerable and humorous discussion.

• Attendees will understand the interplay between the art and science of practicing counseling.
• Attendees will learn how to manage and trust the therapeutic process.
• Attendees will identify five to 10 ways to develop their therapeutic style.

Eyes Wide Open: Ethics, Risk Management, and Legal Considerations
Wednesday, 10:00 am - 10:55 am ET
Audience Level: General
CE Credits: 1 NBCC Hour; 1 CRCC Hour; 1 WA Hour; 1 Ethics Hour
Live Chat Available!
Ann Ordway, JD, PhD

Ethics in practice should be second nature. However, ethical dilemmas are sometimes difficult to identify in advance, leaving the most well-meaning counselors in compromising situations, ranging from licensing board complaints to malpractice. This session will include a discussion of some of the most common ethical conundrums, how to recognize them and associated risks. This session will also introduce important legal concepts and why being familiar with them is an essential piece of risk management.

• Attendees will identify three specific ethics-related risks in counseling practice.
• Attendees will explain four common legal concepts related to malpractice actions.
• Attendees will discuss the interrelationship between ethics, risk management and the law.

Clinical Supervision 4 Kid Counselors
Wednesday, 11:00 am - 11:55 am ET
Audience Level: Intermediate
CE Credits: 1 NBCC Hour; 1 CRCC Hour; 1 WA Hour; 1 NY Hour
Live Chat Available!
Elsa Soto Leggett, PhD, LPC-S, RPT-S, CSC

Clinical supervision for child and adolescent counselors should be supportive of the specific and intentional competencies and standards required to support the needs of this population. Yet there is a gap between supervision and clinical development for counseling kids. This session will provide a collection of considerations for clinical supervision of kid counselors.

• Attendees will recognize and monitor the responsibilities of clinical supervision, especially those counseling kids.
• Attendees will apply connections between ethical guidelines and training standards as well as employ multicultural dispositions.
• Attendees will identify some basic competencies and standards for counseling kids.

LIVE Lunch ‘n Learn: Digital Marketing for Therapists: Three Easy Changes You Can Make Today to Increase Referrals
Wednesday, 12:00 pm - 12:55 pm ET
Audience Level: General
CE Credits: 1 NBCC Hour; 1 WA Hour
Connor McClenahan, PsyD

You know you need to market, but it feels exhausting. You sometimes wonder if you’re working on the right thing or if you’re just spinning your tires. This session will help you see marketing as a game you can win. You’ll learn to build copy, blogs and a website in a way that grows your practice’s visibility (search traffic) and new clients (leads). By the end, you’ll master a crystal-clear marketing strategy that will grow not only your practice but also the kind of life you dream about. This session is sponsored by SimplePractice.

• Attendees will create their niche language.
• Attendees will avoid common copywriting mistakes.
• Attendees will build an effective blog article.

Cross-Departmental and Multicultural Ways for Navigating the Licensure Process
Wednesday, 1:00 pm - 1:55 pm ET
Audience Level: General
CE Credits: 1 NBCC Hour; 1 CRCC Hour; 1 WA Hour
Hannah Carter, MS; Erin Mason, PhD; Daniel Dosal-Terminal, MS; Alec Prince, MS

Attendees will be able to learn more about what is needed to navigate the licensure process. This includes working with and serving marginalized populations, including schools, community centers and private practices. Considerations will be given to rehabilitation, clinical mental health and school counselors.

• Attendees will gain knowledge about how to navigate the licensure process.
• Attendees will address the professional counselor identity and ways to support client needs.
• Attendees will discuss the barriers to anti-racist practices and the implication they have on client outcomes.

The Supervision Relationship: From Internship to Licensure
Wednesday, 1:00 pm - 1:55 pm ET
Audience Level: General
CE Credits: 1 NBCC Hour; 1 CRCC Hour; 1 WA Hour; 1 NY Hour
Live Chat Available!
Amy Fortney Parks, PhD, LPC

This session is for current and future clinical supervisors seeking to enhance their supervision skills to support supervision seekers from the early days of internship through licensure. Supervision is a crucial aspect of professional growth in the mental health field. This session will equip you with the tools and framework to provide effective guidance and support to emerging professionals in the counseling field and resources to continue to develop your professional mastery of supervision. This session is sponsored by Heard.

• Attendees will gain a comprehensive understanding of the Collaboration, Connection and Counsel framework in supervision, enabling them to apply it effectively in their supervisory roles for mental health clinicians.
• Attendees will leave the session equipped with the knowledge and skills to enhance the professional development of emerging mental health professionals as well as resources to continue to master supervision skills, ensuring a supportive and effective journey from internship to licensure.

The Counseling Compact: Everything You Need to Know
Wednesday, 2:00 pm - 2:55 pm ET
Audience Level: General
CE Credits: 1 NBCC Hour; 1 CRCC Hour; 1 WA Hour
Live Chat Available!
Lynn E. Linde, EdD

The Counseling Compact facilitates practice across state lines and allows telehealth. This session will cover all aspects of the Compact, state participation and the privilege to practice as part of the Compact.

• Attendees will learn how the Compact was created and how it will be implemented.
• Attendees will learn about the current status of the Compact and state participation.
• Attendees will learn about the ethical and legal issues associated with the Compact.

Building a Resilient Private Practice: Diversification and Burnout Prevention for Therapists
Wednesday, 3:00 pm - 3:55 pm ET
Audience Level: General
CE Credits: 1 NBCC Hour; 1 CRCC Hour; 1 WA Hour; 1 NY Hour
Ajita M. Robinson, PhD, LPC

In the realm of mental health, therapists strive for both personal and professional fulfillment. It’s vital to cultivate a practice that benefits both clients and therapists. This session outlines building a resilient private practice while combating burnout. Discover how to diversify income, establish a strong foundation and fend off therapist fatigue. This session is ideal for those starting or growing their practice, guiding you to a purposeful, profitable journey.

• Attendees will understand the key elements of building and maintaining a thriving private practice, from client acquisition to innovative service delivery, all while remaining aligned with professional ethics and personal well-being.
• Attendees will be able to identify and assess multiple avenues for income diversification within the therapy realm, ensuring financial stability and resilience in their private practice.
• Attendees will gain insights into preventive strategies against therapist burnout, focusing on work-life balance, self-care and the importance of varied professional engagements.

988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline
Wednesday, 4:00 pm - 4:55 pm ET
Audience Level: General
CE Credits: 1 NBCC Hour; 1 CRCC Hour; 1 WA Hour; 1 NY Hour
Monica S. Johnson, MA, LPC

The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline helps thousands of people overcome crisis situations every day. Research has shown that after speaking with a trained 988 Lifeline crisis counselor, most callers are significantly more likely to feel less depressed, less suicidal, less overwhelmed and more hopeful. Everyone experiencing a mental health crisis should have someone to talk to, someone to respond and a safe place for help. The July 2022 successful implementation of the 988 Lifeline provided an easy-to-remember portal for care for anyone in crisis and a network of call centers across the nation with trained counselors ready to answer texts, chats or calls from people in crisis 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

• Attendees will understand the service provided by the new, easy-to-remember three-digit phone number for the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
• Attendees will learn how the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline works and why it is needed.
• Attendees will understand the vision for the national behavioral health crisis care system and how the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline drives that vision forward.