5:30 - 7:30pm

Early Conference Registration at Hilton

8:00 am

Registration Continued

Continental Breakfast Sponsored by American Addiction Centers

8:50am

Opening and Welcome

9:00–10:00am 

New Developments in the Treatment of Complex Trauma

        John Briere, PhD

Associate Professor Psychiatry at the Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, and Director of the USC Adolescent Trauma Training Center of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network. He is recipient of the Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Science of Trauma Psychology from the American Psychological Association. Author of numerous books including Principles of Trauma Therapy: A Guide to Symptoms, Evaluation and Treatment.

As our field has discovered the complexity of trauma effects, a variety of new approaches have been developed to treat them. This keynote will outline clinical developments in three areas: titrated exposure, affect regulation training, and mindful processing as they apply to the treatment of traumatized people.

10:00–10:30am 

Refreshment Break Sponsored by Cottonwood Tucson

10:30–11:30am 

 The End to the Theoretical Clubs and the Beginning of an Integrative Model  

        John Arden, PhD

Author of 14 books, including Brain2Brain, The Brain Bible, Rewire Your Brain, and Brain-Based Therapy with Adults and Brain-Based Therapy with Children and Adolescents (with Lloyd Linford). He serves as Director of Training in Mental Health for Kaiser Permanente in the Northern California region where he oversees the training programs in 24 medical centers where over 130 postdoctoral residents and interns are trained each year. He also provides individual and group therapy through Kaiser Permanente. He presents workshops on brain-based therapy internationally and in the U.S. 

This presentation attempts to cut through the theoretical fluff inherent in the brand name therapies to arrive at the common factors that produce the most efficacious outcome. Brain-based therapy searches for those factors that are consistent with neuroscience, memory research, and developmental psychology. This approach takes advantage of what we have learned from evidence-based practices and outcome management studies to identify the factors that work, as well as those that are counter therapeutic. It defines therapy as a mind/brain changing process that transforms dysregulation to the re-regulation of mood, cognition, and behaviors. 

11:30–12:30pm

Post-traumatic Growth: Strategies in Dealing with Disenfranchised and Complicated Grief

        Rokelle Lerner

Is an international speaker and trainer on relationships, women’s issues and family systems. She is the clinical director of InnerPath Workshops for Cottonwood Tucson and the co-founder and facilitator for Spring Workshops in London, UK. Her awards include: Esquire magazines “Top 100 Women in the US Changing the Nation” and the Lifetime Achievement award from the National Association of Children of Alcoholics.

Hope, to be real, includes a future story. Yet, for many addicts, their future story has been interrupted as a result of the consequences of their use. Hidden pain is not all that we are treating when we deal with grief. Post-traumatic growth includes investigating the hidden positive feelings, such as hope, pleasure, strength or forgiveness that, for many reasons, our patients are not comfortable “holding” or trusting. This lecture will focus on techniques that will help guide the patient through complicated and disenfranchised grief and will offer strategies that will promote post-traumatic growth. Hidden pain is not all that we are treating when we deal with grief. Post-traumatic growth after loss involves examining the hidden positive feelings such as hope, strength and forgiveness that our clients are not comfortable holding or trusting. The goal in post-traumatic growth is not to “get rid” of pain but rather to help our clients develop the skills to be able carry the weight of his or her his distress so that relapse can be averted. This lecture will focus on techniques that will help guide the patient through complicated and disenfranchised grief and will offer strategies that promote posttraumatic growth.

2:00–3:30pm

CONCURRENT WORKSHOPS

Solution Focused Brief Therapy: Using the Language in Session

        Elliott Connie, MA

Relationship expert that works as a psychotherapist in his private practice in the Dallas/Fort Worth, TX area specializing in using a solution focused approach to work with couples. He is the co-author of the book The Art of Solution Focused Therapy and an upcoming book based on his work with couples.

Attendees will learn how they can implement the principles of Solution-Focused Therapy in their practice and in working with their clients. This seminar reviews not only the techniques and questions associated with SFT but also the assumptions and tenets of this theory. In this workshop the presenter will show video examples of real work with clients using this approach highlighting the process of building a solution focused conversation and how to structure this sort of session using the questions typically associated with this method of psychotherapy. Also, this workshop will be filled with interactive exercises and engaging stories from the presenter’s practice.

Examining the Relationships among Spirituality, Attachment Styles, and Axes I and II Disorders in Individuals Receiving Substance Abuse Treatment: Preliminary Analyses of Pre and Post Treatment Comparisons.

       Kate Reynolds Armstrong, BS

She is the Director of Research at Behavioral Health of the Palm Beaches as well as the Director of Assessment and Intern Education at their Recovery Center for Women and Seaside programs. She has been conducting research alongside Tammy Malloy that includes internal outcomes studies as well as external studies on topics ranging from Attachment Styles and Spirituality to Cranio-Electrical Stimulation devices.

       Naelys Luna, MSW, PhD

She is currently an Associate Professor in the School of Social Work at Florida Atlantic University. Dr. Luna has provided clinical services to adults, children/adolescents and their families in multiple settings including private practice. She has multiple publications in professional, peer-reviewed national and international journals in the areas of substance abuse, mood disorders, spirituality, attachment, and mental health outcomes.

        E. Gail Horton, MSW, PhD

Associate professor in the School of Social Work at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, FL. She has practiced in the Palm Beach area for 25 years and has experience with emotionally and behaviorally disturbed children and their families as well as with adolescents and adults exhibiting substance use problems. Her research and scholarly interests focus primarily on relationships between substance abuse and mood disorder with a particular interest in the effects of spirituality and attachment issues on depressive symptomatology.

The purposes of this presentation are to: (1) define and discuss attachment styles and the role of spirituality and religiosity in the treatment of addiction; (2) discuss the relationship between attachment styles and severity of Axes I and II disorders; (3) present preliminary results of our most current study examining the impact of treatment on the complex relationships among Axes I and II disorders, attachment styles,
and spirituality among substance abusers in a residential treatment setting; and (4) discuss clinical implications and make treatment and research recommendations based on research findings.

Helping People with Autostress Disorders

        John Arden, PhD

The workshop will examine how outcomes are enhanced by using brain-based therapy approaches with people who have been plagued by autostress disorders. Just as people with autoimmune disorders suffer from attacks on their bodies by their own immune system, people with anxiety suffer attacks by their stress system on their mind/brain/body. Their anxiety becomes an autostress disorder wherein their own stress system no longer protects them from danger, but alerts them to danger when there is none. Clients with anxiety disorders are confused by the symptoms, as well as by different therapists they encounter who ascribe to the various brand-name therapies. In this workshop you will learn to teach your clients how to turn off their stress system using the brain-based psychoeducational approach that is understandable, tangible, and depathologizing.

Working with the Pain Paradox

        John Briere, PhD

Although our culture teaches us to avoid “negative” experience, Buddhist and Western psychologies agree that avoiding pain leads to long-term suffering, whereas engaging pain ultimately reduces it. In this way, ongoing trauma- related distress represent access to experiences that can be cognitively, emotionally, and existentially processed. Work with this paradox offers clients the opportunity to change their relationship to the past, thereby decreasing its power over their lives.

3:30–4:00pm 

Refreshment Break Sponsored by Behavioral Health of the Palm Beaches 

4:00–5:30pm

CONCURRENT WORKSHOPS

Working with Easily Triggered and ‘Acting Out’ Trauma Survivors

        John Briere, PhD

Many of the most troubling long-term effects of interpersonal trauma is the tendency for some survivors to be involved in externalizing or “acting out” behaviors. This workshop will describe the typical process through which this occurs, including the notion of “triggering”, affect dysregulation, and tension reduction behaviors. Interventions specifically useful for such individuals will be explored.

The Ultimate Domestic Violence Training: Inside the Minds of Men Who Batter and the Women Who Love Them

        Susan McMillan, LMHC, CAP

        Matt McMillan, JD

Susan and Matt McMillan have been pioneers in the field of domestic violence and are the co-founders of Men’s Work and the Domestic Abuse Intervention Project, the first certified batterers’ intervention program in Florida. They are Boardapproved continuing education providers, have served as faculty of the Florida prosecuting Attorney’s Association, and have trained thousands of therapists, attorneys, probation officers and counselors across the state of Florida. Their batterers program has given over 10,000 men and women the tools to have healthy relationships based upon equality and respect. They over-see 7 licensed counseling offices, specializing in substance abuse and domestic violence.

Autostress Disorders, Part II

        John Arden, PhD

Building on material discussed in the previous presentation, this workshop will offer further clinical insights and strategic interventions for clients with stress and anxiety related disorders. Participants will learn knowledge of the neurodynamics of anxiety disorders and skills to help their clients in “taming the amygdala”. 

Solution Building Couples Therapy: A New Direction in Marriage Counseling

        Elliott Connie, MA

Working with couples is one of the most challenging situations because these sessions can be about highly volatile content with very upset or hurt people. Sometimes it becomes hard to do the work of psychotherapy as often professionals take on the role of referee as they try to manage the hurtful words that are being unleashed. This approach is based on Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) and is focused on using the questions and language of SFBT with couples and on developing questions that produce a conjoint preferred future description. We will describe a process in session that leads couples from conversations centered on divorce and troubles to conversations about recreating hope and happiness. In this workshop the presenter will share this process with the audience through engaging and entertaining stories from his practice and travels as well as real session video examples.

5:30pm

Reception and Networking Overlooking the Beach

        Sponsored by American Addiction Centers and US Journal Training, Inc.  

 8:00–8:45am 

Continental Breakfast

9:00–10:00am 

Ancient Wisdom Meets Modern Science

        Joan Borysenko, PhD

Harvard Medical School trained cancer cell biologist, a licensed psychologist, and bestselling author of 15 books including New York Times bestselling Minding the Body, Mending the Mind. A pioneer in psychoneuroimmunology, mind-body medicine, and stress management, Joan is known for her tender exploration of the human spirit—what kindles it
and what snuffs it out. Founder of Mind-Body Health Sciences in Boulder, CO.

The new brain science is an exciting window into the nature of consciousness, emotional balance, physical health, and the interconnection of subtle energies—systems of information—we call the mind. The new field of interpersonal neurobiology describes how the mind is both embodied in our brain and nervous system as well as embedded in our relationships. The quality of those relationships—whether they evoke love, compassion, and mindfulness or fear, anger, and constriction affect us profoundly. 

10:00–10:30am

Refreshment Break Sponsored by Integrative Life Center

10:30–11:30am 

Brain: Integrating Positive Psychology, 12-step and Neurochemistry into Model for Recovery

        Ralph Carson, PhD

Executive Director of FitRx, Ralph Carson has been involved in the clinical aspects of nutrition, obesity and eating disorders for over 30 years. He is a board member of the International Association of Eating Disorder Professionals and author of The Brain Fix: What’s The Matter With Your Gray Matter, and Harnessing the Healing Power of Fruit.

This presentation provides insight as to what addiction and recovery looks like from a neuroscience perspective. The roots of an addiction lie in the primitive emotional and reward circuitry of the midbrain which operates to seek pleasure and avoid pain. As long as one continues to function within this stress and reward pathways, the addiction will perpetuate or one may cross sensitize to alternative compulsions. The scientific elucidation of the prefrontal cortex and its role in hope and relationships has provided the ultimate explanation as to why 12-steps, spirituality and positive psychology offer a solution for permanent recovery.

11:30–12:30pm

Hormones, Health and Behavior

        Mark Calarco, MBA, DO

Dr. Calarco is the national medical director of American Addiction Centers, a behavioral healthcare company specializing in the treatment of alcohol, drug, and eating disorders. He is a pioneer in treating hormone imbalances in recovering
individuals. He was the first board-certified anti-aging and regenerative medicine specialist in Tennessee, has served as a board examiner for the American Academy of Anti-Aging and Regenerative Medicine and as a clinical professor for several
medical schools. His private clients include many world renowned entertainers, professional athletes, and prominent business leaders.

This presentation will show how sex, adrenal, and other key hormones profoundly affect physical physical and mental health, how hormone imbalances significantly impair treatment of addiction, and how restoring hormonal balance speeds recovery.

2:00–3:30pm

CONCURRENT WORKSHOPS

A New Vision: From Recovery to Healing

        Mary Faulkner, MA

A pioneer in the field of mind body healing as a teacher and psychotherapist in private practice for the last twenty-five years. Currently she is the Director of Women’s Programming at Integrative Life Center. She has published several books in the field of religion and spirituality.

        Lee McCormick

Co-founder of Integrative Life Center in Nashville. He also founded Spirit Recovery, Inc., which produces Recovery Conferences, Sacred Journeys, workshops and other recovery and personal growth experiences. Author of Spirit Recovery Meditation Journal and the soon to-be released, Spirit Recovery Medicine Bag (with Mary Faulkner). He is executive producer of Dreaming Heaven, a documentary on spiritual awakening and experience and co-creator of the Dreaming House in Teotihuacán, Mexico, a group retreat center at the foot of the pyramids.

A successful recovery requires a solid foundation; education, commitment and clean time all count. But we can’t live life not doing something. Life calls us forward. Recovery of our whole self needs vision—the client’s vision. We are our potential as well. Connection with our deep self— the part of us who remembers who we are at the core is healing. Ceremony connects us to our wholeness. It creates focus and vision, spiritual awareness and present moment attention and grounds us in a way that words cannot. Spirit Recovery works with ceremony by bringing the elements of ceremony into the healing circle.\

Psychology, Spirituality and True Happiness

        Cardwell C. Nuckols, PhD

Widely published with more than 60 journal articles, 30 books and workbooks, 50 DVDs, CDs, and videos and 25 audio tapes series. His first book, Cocaine: Dependency to Recovery, was trade best seller. His latest book, Finding Freedom Through Illumination follows Open Your Hear, Quiet Your Mind and The Ego-Less SELF.

This personal and professional development skills training utilizes integrated multiple pathways leading one toward true happiness. This powerful approach incorporates current understandings of developmental psychology, neurobiology, and contemplative approaches to permanently dissolve aspects of the false-self (ego). This dissolution or emptying of self opens one up to spiritual healing. This realization is the key to serenity and selfless service—sources of true happiness.

H.U.G.G.S.: How U Get a Grip on Stress©

        Ralph Carson, PhD

The entire continuum of eating disorders embraces the need to reduce stress. When stress becomes chronic and unresolved, the consequences present as harmful neurological & hormonal dysfunctions. At the center of these pathological changes is cortisol. The production of oxytocin through hugs becomes the antitheism of stress and cortisol.

Attachment, Trauma & Relationships

        Thomas Pecca, MS, CAS, CSAT

Currently serves as a therapist at the Refuge and have beenfor the last 11 years. Also he is Vice President of Spirit2Spirit Consulting and in that capacity has facilitated the training of clinicians as certified trauma therapists worldwide.

The presentation explores the implications of early childhood attachment and attachment style on relationship, love addiction, love avoidance as well as trauma and attachment.

3:30–4:00pm

Refreshment Break Sponsored by Spirit2Spirit Consulting

4:00–5:30pm

CONCURRENT WORKSHOPS

The Cutting Edge of Mind-Body Medicine: From Immunology to Neuroscience

        Joan Borysenko, PhD

The most important determinant of physical health is mental health. In this workshop, participants will learn how adverse childhood experiences set the stage for chronic illness and substance abuse later in life through epigenetic changes, neurochemistry, immune function, and brain wiring. We will examine how evidencebased psychological interventions can rewire neuro-hormonal circuitry and help to restore both physical and mental homeostasis. Some of the interventions covered include the modification of explanatory style, stress hardiness and resilience training, narrative medicine, meditation and mindfulness techniques, imagery, and cognitive approaches. There will be a focus on how to optimize the therapeutic bond.

Understanding and Treating Cannabis (Cannabinoid) Use Disorder

        Cardwell Nuckols, PhD

Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit substance with 7% of the US population admitting to current use. Now compare this number to the less than 1% of the American population using heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine. 1.5% of citizens struggle with an active cannabis addiction. The number of reports citing the use of the synthetic cannabinoids only adds to the problem. This presentation will give the participant state-of-the-art understanding of various issues to include DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for Cannabis Use Disorder, neurobiology of cannabis use, short and long-term health effects and evidence-based psychotherapeutic approaches to treatment.

Using Typologies to Establish Goals inTreatment and Recovery

        Robert J. Ackerman, PhD

Formerly Professor and Program Director of Sociology, University of South Carolina at Beaufort. Editor of COUNSELOR, The Magazine for Addiction and Behavioral Health Professionals. Previous Director of the Mid-Atlantic Addiction Research and Training Institute in Pennsylvania. He is a co-founder of the National Association for Children of Alcoholics; author of thirteen books including Perfect Daughters and Silent Sons.

Growth, change and recovery are not measured merely by the absence of negative behaviors and thoughts. True change includes the development of healthy behaviors as well. This workshop will focus on helping clients identify their negative characteristics and establishing goals to reduce them and to develop healthy behaviors. Eight different typologies will be presented. Each typology will focus on the utilization patterns of each gender. Additionally, identifying and utilizing emotional motivations for each typology will be discussed.

Recognition and Prevention of Medical Errors: Skills for Mental Health and Substance Abuse Staff 

(Please note this ME session will extend until 6:00 pm to meet Licensure Requirements)

        Margot Escott, LCSW

Clinical Social Worker in private practice in Naples, FL with 30 years experience in diverse behavioral treatment areas including addiction, psychiatric and forensics.

Preventable medical errors are still a concern in behavioral health, and this session will describe the risk of medical errors, their patterns and strategies to reduce them.

7:00–9:00pm 

Tuesday Evening Program

Why Did She Jump? Exploring Bi-Polar Disorder and Suicide

Joan E. Childs, LCSW

Has been a licensed clinical social worker since 1978 specializing in change work for human potentiality, personal growth and self-actualization. She is the author of Why Did She Jump? My Daughter’s Battle with Bipolar Disorder. Consultant to many corporations, hospitals, universities and academic institutions. As a resource program presenter specializing in women’s issues, couple and family relationships and personal effectiveness, she has appeared on many radio and television shows and before live audiences. Ms. Childs is a Certified Hypnotherapist, EMDR (eye-movement and desensitization processing) specialist, Master level Neuro-linguistic Programmer, Diplomat of Clinical Social Work and Pairs Leader.

There is one day in Joan Child’s life that she wishes she could do over: the day her daughter Pam, a brilliant psychotherapist, plunged from a fifteen-story building to her death. But despite the coroner’s report of a suicide, Childs explains why her daughter’s life was taken by the most unforgiving of executioners: bipolar disorder. It was the delusions, not her daughter, who made the final decision. Why Did She Jump? is an intimate, uncompromising delve into one mother’s search for peace amid the chaos surrounding her daughter’s tragic death, and a masterful recounting of the events leading up to the fateful day, lifting the veil of shame and secrecy to forge a path to understand bipolar disorder and other mental illnesses.

9:00–10:00am 

Post-Romantic Stress Disorder (PRSD)

        John Bradshaw, MA

One of the leading figures in the fields of addiction/recovery, family systems and relationships. His books, which include several New York Times Bestsellers, have sold over 12 million copies. His titles include Bradshaw On: The Family, Healing the Shame That Binds You, and his most recent Post Romantic Stress Disorder. He has touched and changed millions of lives through his books, television series, and his lectures and workshops around the country. He is Senior Fellow at The Meadows, Wickenburg, AZ. 

The Western sage Ram Dass stated that “one moment of awareness can change the most stuck relationship.” This keynote will present four new discoveries about brain circuitry and the mind and the brain that expand awareness. The purpose and hope of these “New Discoveries”
is to stop people from throwing away perfectly
good relationships and marriages!

10:00–10:30am

Refreshment Break Sponsored by Palm Partners 

10:30–11:30am

Self-Defeating Behaviors: Live On Stage

        Gregory Boothroyd, PhD

Lecturer, Trainer and Professor Emeritus, Western Michigan University. Author of Going Home—A Positive Emotional Guide for Promoting Life-Generating Behaviors. 

Through the teaching device of a humorous skit with commonly practiced self-defeating behaviors as props, the folly, toll, betrayal and exhaustion of continuing such behaviors will be demonstrated.

11:30–12:30pm 

From Our Family to Yours: Inter-generational Transmission of Addiction

       Robert J. Ackerman, PhD 

We know that addiction is often passed from one generation to another. This workshop will explore the factors that increase the probabilities that addiction will be passed to the next generation as well as factors that can reduce the familial risk. Gender differences of susceptibility will be discussed. Strategies to reduce generational transmission will be presented.

2:00–3:30pm

CONCURRENT WORKSHOPS

Twelve Plus Experiences of Healthy Shame

        John Bradshaw, MA

The philosopher Nietzsche said: “Everyone needs a sense of shame, but nobody needs to be ashamed.” As far back as 1562, Annibale Pocaterra’s book, Two Dialogues on Shame, posits two faces of shame. He wrote “shame is a good thing a part of everyday existence.” The reason many have a hard time experiencing healthy shame (a sense of shame) is that there is only one word for shame in the English language. Most other languages have two words describing good shame and toxic shame. In this workshop, Bradshaw (who has been called The ‘Shaman of Shame’) will present over a dozen experiences of healthy shame. Which he calls, ‘the maker of our finitude.’

The Legal and Ethical Game Show: Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?

        Clifton Mitchell, PhD

Say good-bye to dull legal and ethical trainings! This seminar will address the legal and ethical duties of mental health professionals with regards to critical incidents involving boundary issues, informed consent, confidentiality, elder abuse, insurance fraud, treatment mandates, suicide obligations, advertisements. Foundational concepts of codes as well as a study of legal terms with which mental health professionals should be familiar will be included. Some specific terms and concepts that will be addressed include: autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, justice, fidelity, malfeasance, nonfeasance, liability, good faith. The questions posed have been years in development and often focus on lesser-known aspects of legal and ethical quandaries. All legal and ethical questions are designed for all mental health settings and guilds including counseling, social work, psychology, marriage and family, psychiatry, drug and alcohol, case management, etc.

Creatures of Addict: Six Critical Needs for Successful Recovery and Beyond

        Dug McGuirk

VP of Training and Development for Palm Healthcare and former Senior Peak Performance Strategist with Tony Robbins and is an NLP Trainer.

This workshop is an interactive lecture on unpacking addiction as it relates to coping skills to deal with underlying issues and behavior patterns using powerful insights on the variety of ways people meet their needs. Participants will learn that drugs and alcohol were not the original problem, they were the solution. If the underlying issue is not addressed, relapse is certain.

A Closer Look At Self-Defeating Behaviors

        Gregory Boothroyd, PhD

The inception and maintenance of self-defeating behavior patterns is examined through the lens of irrational fears that prompt defeating choices, techniques to implement and sustain those choices, multiple methods to minimize their damaging consequences and favorite strategies to disown any or all parts of the cycle.

4:00–5:30pm

CONCURRENT WORKSHOPS

Before It’s Too Late: Helping Women in Abusive or Controlling Relationships

        Robert J. Ackerman, PhD 

The problems for women in controlling/abusive relationships are not limited to legal and safety issues only. This workshop will examine the underlying issues, often overlooked, in order to provide intervention and recovery for women in controlling/abusive relationships. The focus on this workshop is on the woman’s needs, not the controlling partner’s. Topics will include what is a controlling relationship, understanding the most common reasons for staying in the relationship, the emotional impact on women in controlling relationships, the alcohol/ drug connection, the impact on children caught in the cross fire, and what is necessary for spiritual, emotional and physical recovery.

Legal and Ethical Issues for Counselors: The Game Show Part II

        Clifton Mitchell, PhD

Case examples will be presented from which to consider proper legal and ethical actions and mandates. A state of the art audience response system will be incorporated from which attendee answers to various scenarios can be graphed and examined to discover where additional learning and clarification is needed.

Eliminating Self-Defeating Behaviors

        Gregory Boothroyd, PhD

Twelve clear, sequential and essential steps will be provided as a road-map to assist in the elimination of self-defeating behaviors and the rediscovery and recovery of life-generating behaviors. 

Everything I Know About Stress Management I Learned in Improv Comedy

        Margot Escott, LCSW

Nationally psychotherapists are recognizing the therapeutic benefits in applying life skills from Improv games to personal challenges. Improv Comedy is not about telling jokes or being funny. It is about being in the “here and now”, learning to listen and understanding that there is no “wrong way” to improvise. Everyone constantly needs to improvise when life throws curve balls. Improv Comedy techniques teach how to improvise in life, especially in dealing with daily anxieties. Although this is an experiential workshop, participants are free to observe or join the games!