LIVE TRAINING: APRIL 25TH | 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM

 2 CEUs

Presenter Bios:  Dr. Abigail Go, Psy. D,  A licensed clinical psychologist committed to helping individuals, families, and couples achieve their personal and relational goals. With a focus on empowering growth and well-being, I specialize in guiding individuals with mental health disorders and their families toward positive change. My expertise lies in creating a supportive and compassionate environment where meaningful progress can happen.

 11:00 AM

Presenter Bios:  Jina Uyeda, LMFT, CSAC With a decade of experience as practicing Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) | Certified Substance Abuse Counselor I am passionate about fostering growth and healing in individuals, couples, and families. My approach is rooted in mindfulness and intentionality, guiding clients through relational challenges or the complexities of addiction. I believe in the power of connection and self-discovery to promote lasting change and well-being.

Description: 

Join us for Caring Hearts: Supporting Children in the Shadows of Addiction, a focused two-hour training designed to empower those working with children affected by addiction. This program offers a compassionate, practical approach, starting with an overview of addiction’s ripple effects on families. With a mix of educational insights and interactive exercises, participants will gain a deeper understanding of addiction’s impact on children and leave equipped with actionable strategies to support emotional and psychological resilience. From recognizing the emotional burdens these children face to building supportive communication pathways, each part of this training is crafted to inspire effective and empathetic support.

Throughout the session, participants will explore the nuances of addiction, from different types and family dynamics to the unique ways addiction impacts children’s social, academic, and mental well-being. Using case studies and personal stories, this training will bring real-life perspectives to light, fostering greater empathy and understanding. We’ll discuss tailored communication strategies to help children express their feelings, validate their experiences, and develop coping mechanisms that build resilience and self-worth.

Finally, this training emphasizes practical resources, giving participants a toolkit they can rely on long after the session concludes. This training provides a space for sharing experiences, discussing challenges, and learning from others in the field. Participants will leave with resource handouts and a solid action plan for helping children navigate the challenges of growing up in families affected by addiction.

Objectives: 

1. Understand Developmental Impacts: Participants will gain insight into how addiction affects children's emotional and psychological development, enabling them to identify specific challenges faced by these children.

2. Effective Communication Skills: Participants will learn and practice communication techniques that promote trust and open dialogue with children, helping them express their feelings and experiences.

3. Resilience-Building Strategies: Participants will explore practical strategies to foster resilience in children, empowering them to cope with their circumstances and develop healthy coping mechanisms.

4. Resource Identification: Participants will identify community resources and support systems available for children and families affected by addiction, enabling them to connect clients with appropriate help.

LIVE TRAINING: APRIL 28TH | 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM

 3 CEUs

Presenter Bios:  Becca Manthe, MA, LAMFT, ART-P (she/her) received her Master of Arts in Counseling at Adler Graduate School in MN in 2023. Becca is pursuing full licensure in Marriage and Family Therapy and Art Therapy. She is a musician, artist, writer, teacher, group facilitator, and mental health practitioner. She has formal education in mental health services, fine arts, industrial design, Classical violin, and Irish fiddle. Becca has completed Nature-Based Expressive Arts for Trauma and Grief and Climate Aware Psychology training. She serves children, adolescents, adults, families, and couples outdoors, indoors, and online at Intuitive Therapy & Consulting in Golden Valley, MN.

Presenter Bios: Becky Krenz, MA, LMFT (she/her) received her MA in Marriage and Family Therapy from Appalachian State University in 2007. She is a licensed MFT in WI and MN and sees adult clients at Minneapolis Nature-Based Therapy, both indoors and outdoors. Becky has provided ecotherapy sessions for clients since beginning her career. She completed her certification in Ecotherapy from the Earthbody Institute in August 2024, focusing on integrating embodied activism into clinical work with nature.

Description: 

Clients and providers alike are increasingly entangled in uncertain ecological, political, and cultural circumstances. This workshop calls on MFTs as systems therapists to acknowledge the impact of the dominant culture on mental health, and to restore wholeness and humanity to ourselves, our clients, and wider human-built and Earth systems. To do this, we will explore three case vignettes of populations directly impacted by the environmental, political, and cultural effects of climate change and the current polycrisis.

This three-hour, vignette-driven virtual workshop works toward decolonizing therapy and is presented with neurodivergent-affirming methods. Participants will be introduced to specific environmental, cultural, emotional, and systemic challenges within the spotlighted populations. Issues such as intergenerational conflict and trauma, the impact of colonialism, gender conflicts, marital crises, environmental degradation, future planning, ecological disasters, and more will be explored. Each vignette provides experiential learning of therapeutic interventions that ignite creativity, emotional stability, perspective-taking, cultural humility, resensitization, and ecological well-being.

If you strive to bolster your professional practice through ecotherapy methods, nature-based therapy interventions, creative arts expression, climate awareness, and polycrisis acceptance, this workshop will support your efforts. According to Joanna Macy, this is the work of The Great Turning. “The shift from the industrial growth society to a life-sustaining civilization. It is, [Joanna Macy] believes, the third major revolution of human existence, after the agricultural and industrial revolutions. This one, though, has to unfold much more quickly” (Hawken, 2024).

Objectives: 

1) Develop an introductory awareness of how the field of Marriage and Family Therapy is situated within larger structures founded on the idea that humans are separate from the natural world around them.

2) Develop an introductory understanding of several frameworks that expand your professional orientation towards climate-aware, polycrisis competency.

3) Explore three case vignettes of populations presently impacted by the environmental, political, and cultural distress of climate change that include experiential learning of interventions you can use to work with symptoms.

4) Increase an understanding of the value of reorienting to new ways of viewing our role as systems therapists to address mental health from a more connected and compassionate approach to therapy informed by nature.