Friday, September 25- Saturday, September 26, 2026
In-Person Symposium
5150 Goldleaf Circle, Los Angeles, CA
8:30 - 9:00 AM Registration, Coffee & Networking
9:00 - 9:15 AM Opening Remarks
9:15 - 10:45 AM Presentation
10:45 - 11:00 AM Break (Coffee & Exhibit Hall)
11:00 - 12:30 PM Presentation
12:30 - 1:30 PM Lunch & Networking with Exhibitors
1:30 - 3:00 PM Presentation
3:00 - 3:15 PM Break (Coffee & Exhibit Hall)
3:15 - 4:30 PM Panel Discussion or Case Consultation
Friday, September 25, 2026
9:15 AM - 10:45 AM
When Clients Overthink: Teaching Interoception And Titration To Interrupt Rumination In Therapy
Clients who overthink are often not resisting therapy but struggling with dysregulation. Rumination reflects a nervous‑system response, and cognitive insight alone rarely resolves it. This presentation teaches clinicians how to use interoception and titration to interrupt rumination in real time and reduce overwhelm during emotionally charged work. Participants will learn how to help clients shift from story to sensation, build capacity before deeper processing, and track activation without flooding. This somatic, nervous‑system‑informed approach offers practical in‑session tools that support regulation, reduce shame, and create the conditions for meaningful therapeutic change.
Evidenced-Based Marketing
For Therapists
Therapists routinely rely on metrics to guide clinical outcomes. The same data-driven mindset can be applied to evaluating and refining marketing efforts. Many therapists use multiple marketing channels to attract new clients. Yet whether their practice is full or not, few clearly understand how the time and money invested in these activities translate into results. For instance, if a therapist’s caseload is lower than desired, is the issue a lack of leads - or difficulty converting leads into clients? This presentation is designed to help therapists recognize the value of data-informed marketing strategies. The process doesn’t have to be complex. Attendees will learn simple, practical ways to track the time and money spent on marketing, measure the outcomes of those efforts, and use that information to identify strengths and opportunities for growth.
11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Understanding Chronic Pain And Somatic Symptoms Through The Nervous System
This presentation introduces a trauma-focused approach to understanding chronic pain and somatic symptoms in therapy. Participants will learn how trauma, chronic stress, and conditioning shape patterns that contribute to persistent pain and somatic distress. The training focuses on helping clinicians recognize these patterns in session and work with them directly. Mind-body approaches are used to support the completion of trauma responses and create shifts in the nervous system’s relationship to pain. Practical examples will be provided to support application in clinical work.
Navigating Co-Occurring Disorders: Advanced Clinical Strategies for Substance Use Assessment, Diagnosis, Treatment Planning, and Avoiding Common Pitfalls
Navigating Co-Occurring Disorders: Advanced Clinical Strategies for Substance Use Assessment, Diagnosis, Treatment Planning, and Avoiding Common Pitfalls
1:30 PM - 3:00 PM
The Eating Disorder in Your Caseload: Improving Screening in the Era of Diet Culture and GLP-1s
Disordered eating often goes undetected in routine care, putting patients at risk. Amid diet culture and rising GLP-1 use, this presentation offers strategies to improve screening, recognize warning signs, distinguish disordered eating from eating disorders, and guide assessment and referrals.
Beyond the Therapy Room: The Many Career Paths for Therapists
What kind of therapist do you want to be and what kind of life do you want to build? This session invites graduate students and new clinicians to think boldly about their careers. Using career values exploration, the Blue Ocean Strategy framework, and a transferable skills activity, participants will discover that their clinical training opens doors far beyond the therapy room. From nonprofit leadership and program development to technology, product design, and community building, this session helps emerging clinicians design an intentional career that reflects who they are and what they want to create in the world.
3:15 PM - 4:30 PM
An Integrative Framework for Trauma Treatment: Combining EMDR with Parts-Based Interventions
This training introduces an integrative approach to trauma treatment combining EMDR and parts work. Designed for students, new therapists, and clinicians, it explores how trauma is stored, protected, and processed within the mind. Participants will learn key EMDR concepts, including the Adaptive Information Processing model and 8-phase protocol, alongside parts work principles such as protectors, exiles, and Self leadership. Emphasis is placed on working with protective parts to reduce blocking and dissociation. Through clinical examples and reflection, attendees will gain practical tools to enhance safety, improve case conceptualization, and support effective trauma processing in therapy practice.
Saturday, September 26, 2026
9:15 AM - 10:45 AM
Unlocking Therapeutic Potential: Using The Neurobiology of Experiential Therapy to Enhance Your Clinical Practice
This presentation introduces the foundational principles and benefits of incorporating experiential techniques into therapeutic practice. Unlike traditional talk therapy, experiential methods foster deeper emotional processing, greater insight into unconscious patterns, and accelerated therapeutic progress. Participants will gain a practical understanding of the triune brain model, exploring how the reptilian, limbic, and neocortex regions shape emotional responses and behavior. Additionally, an overview of Polyvagal Theory will illustrate how experiential interventions help regulate the nervous system—guiding clients from a state of stress (sympathetic activation) to a more grounded and connected ventral vagal state. This session offers valuable insights and hands-on strategies to enhance client engagement, deepen emotional exploration, and promote meaningful therapeutic change.
I Graduated Now What…. Navigating Your Clinical Career After Graduation
Are you a recent graduate feeling uncertain about your next professional steps? I Graduated, Now What? Navigating Your Clinical Career After Graduation is designed to help you confidently transition from student to thriving clinician. In this presentation, you’ll gain practical strategies to explore career opportunities, define your niche, and develop multiple streams of income to build long-term stability. You’ll also learn how to balance high-quality client care with intentional self-care to prevent burnout and sustain fulfillment. Walk away with clarity, direction, and actionable tools to confidently move forward in your clinical journey with purpose.
11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Understanding and Treating OCD: From Symptom Presentation to ERP Implementation
Obsessive-compulsive disorder is frequently misunderstood and often misdiagnosed, leading to ineffective treatment approaches that inadvertently reinforce symptoms. This workshop provides clinicians with a clear framework for identifying the OCD cycle and differentiating it from other anxiety-related disorders. Participants will learn to recognize common obsessive subtypes and compulsive behaviors and implement exposure and response prevention (ERP) with confidence and clinical precision. Common treatment pitfalls, including reassurance and overreliance on cognitive restructuring, will be addressed. Attendees will leave with practical, evidence-based strategies to effectively treat OCD and improve client outcomes.
Exploring Internal Roles and Parts of the Self: Tools for Awareness and Integration
Drawing from psychodramatic theory and the Internal Family Systems model, this interactive presentation explores the intrapsychic organization of personality and development. Participants will gain practical language and tools to enhance self-awareness in both personal and clinical contexts. The session examines how overdeveloped roles or parts often become overburdened, while underdeveloped aspects remain suppressed and in need of expression. Through experiential activities, participants will construct a role atom to map their internal system and engage in role training exercises designed to restore balance, increase flexibility, and support a more integrated and authentic sense of self.
1:30 PM - 3:00 PM
What’s Love Got to Do With It? Healing Erotic Injury in Systems Shaped by Bias
This presentation invites a deeper look at how erotic injury is shaped, misunderstood, and often misdiagnosed within systems influenced by clinical bias. Rather than reducing sexuality to pathology, we explore how desire, adaptation, and survival become mislabeled through moral, cultural, and professional lenses. Participants will examine their own assumptions about human sexuality, confront subtle forms of bias in treatment, and consider what it means to meet the erotic self with curiosity instead of correction. A provocative reframe of healing that centers presence, nuance, and the complexity of being human.
Alli Spotts-De Lazzer,
CA LMFT #49842,
CA LPCC #844
How Can I Help? Answers For Therapists Without Much Training in Eating Disorders
This presentation was inspired by years of feedback captured in one note: “I think a lot of clinicians would see a client with an eating disorder and think, ‘That’s above my pay grade. Automatic pass.’ I’d love to know how a non-specialist (like me) can help!” It’s true that treating eating disorders well requires extensive training—but being helpful does not. Rather than an Eating Disorders 101 workshop, this session addresses therapists’ real questions: Why is this disorder so resistant to treatment? What gets in the way of effective care? And at its core—how can I help?
Curt Widhalm (he),
CA LMFT #47333
3:15 PM - 4:30 PM
"Wait, Am I Doing This Right?" A Survival Guide to Clinical Nerves and Growing Pains
Are you experiencing imposter syndrome, or is this a genuine clinical blind spot? For early-career therapists, the line between normal growing pains and ethical boundaries is often blurred by anxiety. This workshop provides a validating, practical roadmap for navigating these common clinical jitters. We will explore how to cultivate deep self-reflection, hone your clinical decision-making, and decode the difference between normal self-doubt and a true skills gap. This workshop will help you to know when to bravely push through your nerves and when to ethically refer a client out, so you can practice with clarity, ethical confidence, and professional comfort.