Minnesota Association for Marriage and Family Therapy upcoming events

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.

Perspectives and Navigating Differences (December 16, 2026)

Wed, 16 Dec 2026 18:00:00 GMT

Earn 1.5 CEUs - 1.5 of Cultural Competency!

Sithara Stohr is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and licensed yoga and meditation instructor. They have experience in organizing and supporting restorative justice and social justice initiatives with a passion for bridging gaps in communication within communities in need of support. Throughout their career, they have had the opportunity to provide mental health services directly to a wide variety of communities. Their experiences have provided them with the needed facilitation skills to lead large group training events, small groups, and community-based interventions. Sithara utilizes a somatic-focused, strengths-based, and person-centered approach within all facets of their work. In a training or community setting, they excel at fostering safe spaces for teams to work through tension together. Their work focuses on creating connection and providing sustainable skills to maintain the work outside of sessions. They value community and believe that healing and growth often happen in these supported group spaces.

Mel Burbules, M.Ed, individual, couple, and family therapist with Artesian Collaborative, believes in the power of authentic, collaborative relationships to foster personal growth. Drawing on her background as a professional opera singer, she helps clients connect with their true “voice.” Her work is grounded in Person-Centered Therapy, feminist theory, and advocacy, with a focus on anxiety, identity, trauma, and the impact of systemic injustice—especially for women of color and LGBTQIA+ clients. Melanie’s compassionate, curiosity-driven approach supports clients in aligning with their most authentic selves.

Key Takeaways

Understanding ourselves is the first step in addressing any identity-based conflict. Using the knowledge of how we are shaped by our perspectives enables us to understand our reactions when we find ourselves in an unexpected conflict. Understanding the diverse ways others approach differences can allow us to extend grace and assume positive intent when working towards a resolution that meets our shared values.

Core Concepts

Impact of Identity

Within every room we enter, different aspects of our identity take the driver's seat. To understand how our personal narratives affect others, we must first understand how identity affects us individually. From here, we connect our experiences and perspectives to how we interact with others.

Safety & Tension

Your story matters. It is vulnerable and can often feel risky to share our perspectives and stories. This session focuses on the why behind engaging nonetheless. We know that these conversations are uncomfortable, and often sit on the back burner. Our goal is to help you develop a sense of safety within yourself to navigate tension as it arises.

Skills to Engage

Approaching Differences

We take what we learn from our identities and perspectives and translate it into action. This skill allows us to connect the dots between how to engage intentionally when our perspectives may be different.

Preparing for Tension

Tension is an inevitable part of life. This skill provides you with a foundation for how to prepare yourself for working with it. We recognize that differences will happen–in narrative, perspective, belief, etc. Together, we will navigate how to prepare ourselves to engage in these conversations with intentionality.

Objectives:

1. Articulate how the different dimensions of your identity have shaped how you lead and interact with peers.

2. Differentiate between two responses to unexpected tension and recognize the behavioral, emotional, and cognitive reactions when approaching differences.

3. Assess skills and behaviors to promote team belonging while respecting your own identity and responses.