Minnesota Association for Marriage and Family Therapy upcoming events

Chronic Illness -Blindness -Mental Health (August 07, 2026)

Fri, 07 Aug 2026 17:00:00 GMT

Earn 1 CEU - 1 hour of Cultural Competency!

Rachel Hoff is a licensed marriage and family therapist. She works for Mental Health Counseling Services in Minneapolis, providing telehealth services to individuals dealing with chronic illness, medical trauma, and prenatal and maternal health needs.

I am a licensed marriage and family therapist. I am trained in trauma-informed practices, early childhood mental health, perinatal mood disorders, first responders, and medical trauma.

I am certified in CBT, and I am almost certified in EMDR.

I use a wide variety of therapeutic modalities at work to help children, teens, adults, and families heal from their life’s challenges.

Along with my education and licensure, I relate to my clients through my own medical journey as I have a rare genetic autoimmune disorder called Senior Lokane Syndrome, and within that syndrome is the eye disease retina pigmentosa.

Description

Have you ever worked with an individual with chronic illness or a disability that conflicted with your knowledge of the health care system? Individuals who have a chronic illness are faced with challenges and daily adjustments that most people don’t have to think through or ever imagine conquering. What if you not only had a chronic illness, but it also leads to a disability that limits your ability to engage with your family, friends, and people, which leads to isolation and fear? Blindness is one of the many chronic illnesses that individuals with chronic illnesses deal with on a daily basis.

Join me in this training as I give you an insider's look at my life as an individual with both chronic illness and blindness. In this training, I will share the facts from leading health care organizations defining chronic illness and blindness that hinder the connection between patient and provider. I will also share resources with you to help you empower your clients to be able to live independently, but also fully equipped members of their community.

Objectives:

1. Identify chronic illnesses and how the definition by global agencies differs from patients' experience.

2. Observe the relationship and connections of chronic illness to blindness.

3. Understand how to engage blind individuals due to their unique needs and wants in the health care system.

4. Learn about community resources to help empower “blind” individuals in the community .

AI is Already Here - Are We Ready to Respond Ethically? (August 17, 2026)

Mon, 17 Aug 2026 15:00:00 GMT

Earn 3 CEUs - 3 hours of Ethics!

Heather Hessel, Ph.D., LMFT, is a faculty member in the Counseling, Rehabilitation, and Human Services department at the University of Wisconsin-Stout, teaching in the Marriage & Family Therapy (MFT) and Human Development & Family Studies (HDFS) programs. Her research interests include the young adult life stage, extended family relationships, and the role of technology in family relationships and in clinical practice. She is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) and an AAMFT-Approved Supervisor. Dr. Hessel's clinical interests include the use of technology in clinical practice, mindfulness, and Buddhist psychology.

Description

Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming increasingly woven into the lives of our clients and, in the process of providing mental health care, whether therapists are in agreement with these trends or not. Clients are already using AI tools to understand diagnoses, prepare for sessions, draft communication, and explore self-help strategies. Agencies and EHR systems are implementing AI-driven documentation and scheduling systems, which will continue to evolve. And therapists themselves are increasingly using AI for note drafting, psychoeducation, research, and administrative support. While these tools offer tremendous potential for improving efficiency and accessibility, they also create new ethical challenges that MFTs must be prepared to navigate.

This workshop offers a grounded, systemic, and practice-oriented exploration of the ethical issues that arise from the use of AI in clinical practice. This workshop begins with a brief description of AI, sharing examples of AI tools that therapists and clients are likely to encounter. We will then shift to a framework for the integration of AI and mental health, connecting each layer of integration with the associated ethical principles. Participants will examine the ethical risks, including confidentiality breaches, inaccurate or biased outputs, boundary complications, documentation errors, environmental concerns, and the potential erosion of clinical judgment. We will connect these risks to the AAMFT Code of Ethics and emphasize areas where AI raises unique concerns not fully addressed by traditional guidelines.

The workshop then shifts toward responsible integration. Through case examples and group discussions, participants will grapple with real-world examples of AI showing up in the therapy room - whether the clients are individuals, couples, or families. We will examine and discuss when, how, under what conditions, and to what extent AI can be ethically used for documentation, assessment, client engagement, case conceptualization, etc.

By the end of the workshop, MFTs will recognize the ways AI is already influencing our clinical practice and understand how our ethical code can help provide guidelines for responsible use.

Objectives:

1. Identify at least three key ethical risks associated with using AI in clinical practice, including confidentiality, competence, and social justice concerns.

2. Evaluate how AI tools can be incorporated responsibly into both administrative and clinical work while maintaining professional ethical standards.

3. Use the principles of the AAMFT Code of Ethics to guide ethical decision-making when faced with real-world situations involving AI and clinical practice.

Tools for the Therapeutic Toolbox (August 26, 2026)

Wed, 26 Aug 2026 17:00:00 GMT

Earn 3 CEUs!

Nancy Hertz is a retired therapist. She has worked in Forest Lake, MN for over 20 years. She owned Bridges and Pathways Counseling Services Inc. for many years. Nancy has done many Narrative therapy trainings and has found that Narrative therapy has been very effective in her work with clients.

Description

Participants will gain knowledge in using Narrative Therapy skills and tools. Participants will learn when to use each tool in therapy, and the goal of each tool. Topics that the tools cover are diagnosing the problem, coming up with a treatment goal and plan, promoting and helping maintain success in overcoming adversity, promoting better decisions in picking a partner, emotional regulation, work in developing sense of self and ways to highlight words of the client to promote change or reduce the power of internal negative thoughts.

This training will consist of each tool being introduced, demonstrated and then the participants will practice the tools with other participants.

Objectives:

1. Learn about externalizing the problem and how that can be used in therapy

2. Learn about Narrative techniques that promote conversations to encourage change

3. Learn about the power of storytelling in sessions

4. Participants will learn tools that they can use in their therapy sessions

When One Partner Wants Out: Clinical Skills for Leaning-In/Leaning-Out Couples (November 06, 2026)

Fri, 06 Nov 2026 15:00:00 GMT

Earn 3 CEUs!

Chip Neuenschwander, MA, LMFT, is the founder of Wayzata Counseling and a therapist specializing in Discernment Counseling, Emotionally Focused Therapy, and couples in transition. He is known for his clear teaching style, practical frameworks, and ability to help clinicians navigate ambivalence, marital distress, and high-stakes relationship decisions with confidence and compassion.

Description

Working with divorce-ambivalent clients presents some of the most complex challenges in therapy. These individuals arrive in significant distress, uncertain whether to stay in the marriage, pursue separation, or attempt repair. In such cases, they are often not ready for traditional couples therapy. This presentation offers clinicians a clear, practical framework for effectively supporting leaning-out clients using the principles outlined by Bill Doherty in his training on divorce ambivalence.

A major emphasis of the training is applying a systemic lens within individual work. Participants will learn how to help clients see their role in interactional patterns, such as pursue–withdraw, overfunctioning–underfunctioning. This reframing expands the client’s narrative and often reveals growth opportunities relevant to both their current marriage and any future relationships.

The presentation also covers best practices for supporting clearer decision-making. Clinicians will learn how to shift clients away from a false binary (“stay miserable or leave”) and toward a more realistic choice: whether to pursue a structured round of couples work or move toward separation. Strategies for helping clients communicate with their spouses about help-seeking will also be introduced.

Therapists will be better equipped to navigate the emotional, relational, and ethical complexities surrounding divorce ambivalence and to guide clients toward thoughtful, well-supported decisions about their relationships.

Objectives:

1. Participants will identify the key challenges of working with divorce-ambivalent, leaning-out clients.

2. Participants will conduct a focused assessment that includes timing, urgency, hard/soft problems, and third-party involvement.

3. Participants will apply a systemic lens to help clients recognize their role in relational patterns.

4. Participants will distinguish between supporting clarity and attempting relationship improvement in individual work.

5. Participants will validate client emotions without adopting or colluding with the client’s marital narrative.

The Myth of the Resilient Woman: The Cost of Constant Strength (November 16, 2026)

Tue, 17 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Earn 1.5 CEUs!

Alicia Johnson is a therapist who specializes in supporting women navigating burnout, anxiety, and trauma. Her work centers feminist and intersectional frameworks that honor the impact of systemic stressors on mental health. She is passionate about dismantling hustle culture, challenging resilience myths, and creating spaces where women can be themselves instead of constantly trying to survive. Alicia runs her own virtual telehealth practice and enjoys working at home with her cat. In addition to clinical work, she coaches, writes, and speaks on burnout to anyone who listens.

Description

Modern culture often glorifies women’s resilience as the ability to endure, persist, and excel despite adversity. While this narrative appears empowering, it frequently masks a harmful dynamic that normalizes overwork, emotional suppression, and chronic burnout. The expectation of constant strength has become a silent standard that disproportionately burdens women, particularly those navigating intersecting systems of oppression. This presentation critically examines the “resilient woman” archetype through a feminist psychological lens, exploring its historical, cultural, and clinical implications. Drawing from narrative therapy, trauma-informed practices, and intersectional feminist theory, this session will analyze how societal structures such as patriarchy, racism, capitalism, and ableism shape both the conditions that lead to burnout and the ways women internalize responsibility for their own suffering. Thus, staying stuck in this endless cycle. The presentation will highlight how resilience, while often celebrated, can become a survival mechanism that obscures the need for rest, support, and collective healing. Participants will learn to identify how the language of resilience may reinforce oppressive systems within clinical, educational, and organizational settings. Through case examples and reflective discussion, attendees will develop skills for reframing resilience as relational, embodied, and contextually informed rather than as individual endurance. Practical strategies will include trauma-informed approaches that center rest, emotional authenticity, and community-based care. By integrating feminist ethics into clinical practice and advocacy, this presentation seeks to transform the concept of resilience from a mandate for self-sacrifice into a framework for liberation. Attendees will leave with tools to support clients and communities in redefining strength not as the capacity to bear more, but as the right to rest, repair, and reconnect.

Objectives:

1. Analyze how systemic factors contribute to the internalization of resilience narratives and the development of burnout among women, using feminist and trauma-informed theoretical frameworks.

2. Evaluate the psychological and ethical implications of resilience-focused language within clinical, educational, and organizational contexts, identifying ways it may reinforce oppression or hinder authentic healing.

3. Apply feminist, narrative, and trauma-informed interventions that reframe resilience as relational and restorative, integrating rest, emotional authenticity, and collective care into clinical practice and advocacy work.

From Awkward to Authentic: Finding Power & Meaning in Human Connection (November 20, 2026)

Fri, 20 Nov 2026 15:00:00 GMT

Earn 2 CEUs - 2 hours of Cultural Competency!

Trista Whitted is a certified life coach and cohost of The People Collectors podcast. Having spent her career in people development, it comes as no shock that all who interact with Trista feel fully seen and championed for exactly who they are. Trista is practical and creative, direct and warm, firm in her boundaries and incredibly generous, and a deep thinker. Trista makes those around her feel capable and encouraged. Trista does one brave thing every day to intentionally grow as a lifelong learner. Trista’s wit, warmth, and ability to make abstract information into concrete learnings is unparalleled.

Megan Halloran has been a public speaker in mental health learning and development for over 20 years and is a proud cohost of The People Collectors podcast. Megan is that rare combination of charisma and relatability. Megan is quick with a snarky comment and just as quick with a hug or words of reassurance. Megan has worn many hats and can fit into any situation, but always shows up as her authentic self. Megan is mischievous, funny, articulate, creative, and adaptable. Her insight, intelligence, and humility are matched only by her deep curiosity that rivals a toddler’s consistent need to ask questions.

Description

Want to better understand loneliness, recognize barriers to connection, and practice those small behaviors that build authentic relationships across differences? Join The People Collectors to learn about brave choices, the beauty of being awkward, ways to navigate disagreements with curiosity, and foster belonging that creates habits of meaningful connection beyond just the clinical criteria.

Participants Will...

Understand the many forms of loneliness and connection; recognize personal and social barriers to building relationships; learn how small, intentional choices lead to meaningful connections; practice inclusive curiosity to connect across differences; and leave with practical applications they can use immediately.

Providing Uncoupling Counseling: How to Support Couples Navigating Divorce and Separation (December 04, 2026)

Fri, 04 Dec 2026 18:00:00 GMT

Earn 1.5 CEUs!

Shauna Zotalis, LMFT, is the owner and founder of Mended Families, a private practice dedicated to working primarily with individuals, couples, and families navigating separation, divorce, and remarriage or repartnering. She is also a Qualified Neutral Under Rule 114, an Instructor at Saint Mary's University of Minnesota in the MFT graduate program, and currently serves as a Board Member on the MAMFT Board of Directors.

Description

With many couples and families facing divorce, therapists are bound to encounter clients navigating these family changes, and having more relational therapists be better prepared to help them through separation and divorce will be beneficial. In this presentation, I will provide information on how I structure uncoupling, what common goals and interventions are, provide psychoeducation on divorce that is helpful for both therapist and client, as well as help clinicians build their resource pool for these types of clients. While divorce often registers as a trauma, helping clients understand the divorce process and common challenges they may face can help them better direct how their divorce goes and the type of post-divorce experience they have, which is empowering for families.

Objectives:

1. Therapists will learn how best to structure uncoupling sessions.

2. Therapists will learn what common goals and interventions are.

3. Therapists will build a resource pool for these types of clients.