Your Invitation

Join us for our first annual Virtual Symposium.  

The 2021 Virtual Symposium is being held on Thursday, February 18 and Friday, February 19 starting at 9 am Mountain Time. New this year as well, we will be holding the event in a virtual ZOOM format to provide even more benefit to participants. 

We have some outstanding presentations scheduled for the 2021 Virtual Symposium!

Sessions Include 

• Politics? Covid? NAH! Let's Talk About ETHICS Instead!
• Mind Full or Mindful? How to Set the Stage of Effective Therapy with Mindfulness Practices
• Loss and Grief in a Global Pandemic
• It Isn't "IF - It Is "When": Being Prepared to Testify as a Counselor in a Court Proceeding Involving a Client
• Ending the Vicious Cycle: Counseling Children from Families in Conflict, Chaos, and Crisis
• The History of Social Justice Counseling: Developing a Social Justice Leadership and Advocacy Identity

Conference Times

All sessions shall be run on Arizona Time, with the day starting at 9:00 am Arizona Time. 

What's Included

For as little as $25, you can attend this 2-day symposium and benefit from these expert presenters.

Included in the registration fee is access to all of the individual virtual sessions held within the symposium Once the conference live version is held, you may access available sessions on-demand as well at your convenience at no additional cost. Within the virtual session, you will have the ability to ask questions of the presenter(s) and download handouts for use during and after the session. The 2021 Virtual Symposium will use a ZOOM format. 

Where is this Offered

The 2021 AzCA Virtual Symposium will be hosted on our www.COunselorCE.org website and use a ZOOM format.  Each registrant will login to that website and click on the Virtual Symposium event. 

Cancellation, Substitution & Refund Policy

Registration cancellations prior to or on February 14 will incur no penalty. No refunds will be made on cancellations made after February 14 because logistical implementation and forfeited fees cannot be applied to future meetings due to IRS reporting requirements.

Substitutions are $25. All substitutions must be in writing and accompanied by a completed online registration form.

We look forward to "seeing" you in February at the 2021 Virtual Symposium! 

NBCC - CE Credits

This symposium offers 6 NBCC hours if attending all sessions. Each session is 1 NBCC hour.

Arizona Counseling Association has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 2003. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. Arizona Counseling Association is solely responsible for all aspects of the program. 

Session Details

Thursday, February 18  

9:00 am – 9:30 am
Login to Conference & Mingle

9:15am
Welcome & Opening Remarks

9:30 am -10:30 am
It Isn't "IF - It Is "When": Being Prepared to Testify as a Counselor in a Court Proceeding Involving a Client
Ann M. Ordway, JD, PhD, NCC

This session will include an overview of how to respond to a subpoena; guidelines for maintaining and turning over records; appearing for and giving testimony; and the delicate balancing of law and ethics when advocating for clients. The presenter will familiarize attendees with legal terminology and process, with the goal of increasing preparedness and comfort-level for counselors who are subpoenaed or who choose to take on court-involved roles.

Objectives:

• Review circumstances in which counselors may be subpoenaed or otherwise become involved in court proceedings regarding clients.
• Demystify legal terminology and process so court involvement is more predictable and less overwhelming.
• Consider guidelines for best practices when working in counseling practice where court involvement is more likely.

10:30 am – 10:45 am
Networking Break

10:45 am – 11:45 am
Politics? Covid? NAH! Let's Talk About ETHICS Instead!
Keith Cross, PhD, LMFT

This presentation will include discussion of recent changes to the rules and statutes relevant to counselors in the state of Arizona as well as revisions to the ACA Code of Ethics.

Objectives: Learn the most recent rule and statute changes relevant to counselors in Arizona as well as the revisions to the ACA Code of Ethics; Analyze how these changes may impact clinical practice; Apply rule, statute, and ethics code changes to current clinical practice.

11:45 am – 12:00 pm
Sponsored Session & Chat

CUMMINGS Graduate Institute for Behavioral Health Studies

12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
Ending the Vicious Cycle: Counseling Children from Families in Conflict, Chaos, and Crisis
Ruth Moore, PhD

Children and adolescents from families in conflict, chaos, and crisis often struggle with severe emotional difficulties such as depression, anxiety, and trauma-related symptoms. Many conceal their emotions from others, and as a result, their underlying feelings manifest into problem behaviors, including: violence/physical aggression, self-injury, suicide attempts, substance use, defiance, truancy, and promiscuity. Unsurprisingly, these children and adolescents are often later diagnosed with disruptive behavior disorders, because their primary emotional disorders have not been treated.

When children and adolescents engage in disruptive or other problem-behaviors, the entire family unit is affected. Many parents feel frustrated by the child’s behavior and respond punitively, while other parents feel overwhelmed and become emotionally distant or detached. Such strong parental reactions lead to further feelings of anger, powerlessness, worthlessness, and inadequacy among children and adolescents. Additional emotional outbursts and problem behaviors occur, thus perpetuating a vicious cycle of emotional and behavioral difficulties. Using a structured play therapy approach, the presenter will provide experiential activities and techniques that can be implemented with children and families who are experiencing severe conflicts and crises.

Learning Objectives

• Identify and describe three underlying emotional needs that may be present among disruptive children.
• Demonstrate one activity that can be used with a child/adolescent engaging in disruptive behavior.
• Demonstrate one activity that can be used with a family enhance communication and empathy within the family unit.

1:00 pm 
Sessions End for the Day

Friday, February 19

9:00 am – 9:30 am
Login to Conference & Mingle

9:15am
Welcome & Opening Remarks

9:30 am -10:30 am
Mind Full or Mindful? How to Set the Stage of Effective Therapy with Mindfulness Practices
Christina Paschall, MC, LPC

Mindfulness is defined as bringing one's attention to the present experience, moment-to-moment, with compassion. It entails the practice of observing thoughts, feelings and sensations as an ongoing flow of experiences to be had, versus something to be acted upon. The use of mindfulness in the therapeutic setting helps the client to establish a baseline when they become flooded with emotions, and provide them the opportunity to experience both negative and positive evaluated internal events without treating these events as true or presently happening. In this webinar, you will learn how mindfulness and meditative practices support changes in the mind and behavior, how to incorporate these practices into each session, and recommendations for homework for client's to practice between sessions. 

10:30 am – 10:45 am

Sponsored Session & Chat
The Aurit Center for Divorce Mediation

10:45 am – 11:45 am
Loss and Grief in a Global Pandemic
Marcela Kepic, PhD, LPC, NCC, ACS

COVID-19 Pandemic shocked the world and impacted life in every aspect. People are facing uncertainty, loss of jobs & security, and loss of loved ones. People are challenged to adapt to devastating losses taking place in isolation which exacerbates pain in the grieving process. It ia a story of communal loss and individualized grief that needs resolution. This presentation offers definitions of various types of griefs, reactions to grief based on age, and effective grief interventions to assist with healing and meaning-making.

Objectives:
1. To define and explain the difference between anticipatory grief, grief, and complicated grief.
2. To present postmodern theories of grief and typical reactions to grief based on developmental stage.
3. To offer effective grief interventions to assist with healing, adjustment and meaning making.

11:45 am – 12:00 pm
Networking Break

12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
The History of Social Justice Counseling: Developing a Social Justice Leadership and Advocacy Identity
Judy Daniels, EdD

This presentation will focus on the following content and learning outcomes. At the end of this presentation participants will be able to:

• Describe the historical context and importance of social justice and advocacy within the profession including a historical perspective on leadership and advocacy
• Identify examples of how social justice advocacy has been supported as well as blocked within the profession through examples within the profession.
• Identify leadership and advocacy strategies for promoting change

1:00 pm
Closing Remarks

Presenters

Keith Cross, Ph.D., LMFT earned his Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Arizona State University and his Masters and Ph.D. in Marriage and Family Therapy from Purdue University. Dr. Cross currently serves as Full Faculty in the Masters of Science in Counseling program at Prescott College and runs a group private practice in Prescott that specializes in working with couples. He currently serves as the Faculty Representative on the Arizona Counseling Association Board, he also a member of the American Counseling Association Ethics Committee and a member of the Arizona Board of Behavioral Health Examiners Marriage and Family Therapy Academic Review Committee, and serves as a Board Member and Academic Programs Liaison for the Arizona Center for Emotionally Focused Therapy.

Dr. Judy Daniels is the Director of the Rehabilitation Counselor Education Program and professor at the University of Hawaii. She has been a counselor educator for 30 years working in the areas of school, community, and rehabilitation counseling. She is a founding member of the American Counseling Association’s (ACA) division of Counselors for Social Justice (CSJ) and a past president of CSJ. She was also elected to be the ACA Governing Council representative for CSJ (2012-2018). Currently she serves as the ACA Special Advisor to the President on the Pandemic & Social Justice Issues and has also served as the ACA Governing Council Parliamentarian (2018-2019) and Process Observer (2019-2020). Dr. Daniels is the Chair of the task force on Climate Change and Mental Health and served on the New Professional/Early Career Issues task force. She has been the Co-Chair of the ACA taskforce on Professional Identity and Membership Employment, served as a member of the ACA Portability Task Force, and was the liaison to the ACA Human Rights Committee for 5 years. Currently she is a member of the ACA Human Rights Committee.

Marcela Kepic is an associate professor of practice in the Disability & Psychoeducational Studies Department in the College of Education. She is a Licensed Professional Counselors in the state of AZ, NJ, VA, and DC and an Approved Clinical Supervisor. Her expertise is in human development across the lifespan. Her research agenda is primarily focused on issues related to life satisfaction and wellness of older adults who experience many losses, especially the loss of a significant other. Dr. Kepic’s further research interests include caregivers’ stress, caregiving trajectories, and wellness in student-athletes. She is passionate about educating our future counselors.

Ruth Ouzts Moore, Ph.D., NCC is an Associate Professor at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology in the Masters of Clinical Mental Health Counseling Program. She has over 25 years' experience in the clinical mental health counseling field with a specialty in counseling children and adolescents, particularly those who have experienced abuse and trauma. Dr. Moore holds the Legal and Ethical Specialist and Bullying Prevention Specialist certifications from the American School Counselor Association. Dr. Moore has worked in community mental health agencies, private practice, in-patient/residential facilities, and schools. She has presented nationally and internationally in the areas of abuse/trauma, play therapy, high-conflict divorce/parental alienation, courtroom testimony, and creative counseling techniques. Dr. Moore is the Past President of the Association for Creativity in Counseling (ACC) and the Conference Program Co-Chair, as well as serves on multiple committees for other professional organizations. Dr. Moore received the ACC Thelma Duffey Vision and Innovation Award in 2017 and the ACC Professional Service Award in 2018. Dr. Moore has published in peer-reviewed journals and scholarly resources. She is frequently called to serve as an expert witness in criminal, chancery, and youth court for her involvement in child abuse and child custody cases.

Ann M. Ordway, JD, PhD, NCC is the College Academic Director of Counseling for the University of Phoenix. She was a practicing family law attorney in New Jersey for many years before becoming a counselor and counselor educator. Her practice focused on high conflict divorce, domestic violence, and child protective services matters. She is a mediator, child advocate and parenting coordinator. Ann is dedicated to increasing the preparedness of licensed professional counselors for subpoenas. testimony and court-involved roles. She is the President of AZCA and a Member of the Board of Directors for both the Arizona Chapter and the parent organization of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts.

Christina Paschall is a Licensed Professional Counselor with the Arizona Board of Behavioral Health Examiners, and owner of Paschall Counseling Services. Christina graduated from University of Phoenix with Honors in the Mental Health/ Community Counseling Program in 2013. She started her career providing crisis assessments and interventions with Terros Health and has spent the majority of her career serving clients struggling with chemical dependency and co-occurring disorders with various treatment centers. Mrs. Paschall is a Past-President of the Arizona Counseling Association. During her time as President, Christina prepared, promoted, and executed 3 successful annual conferences that promoted the counseling profession; and advocated at the legislative level to promote counselor identity and client welfare.

Registration

Registration Fees

AzCA Member

On or Before February 14: Just $25 
After February 14: $50

Non-Member (Includes annual membership)

On or Before February 14: $100 
After February 14: $125

Included in the registration fee is access to all of the individual virtual sessions held within the symposium. Once the conference live version is held, you may access several sessions on-demand as well at your convenience at no additional cost. Within the virtual session, you will have the ability to ask questions of the presenter(s) and download handouts for use during and after the session. The 2021 Virtual Symposium will use a ZOOM format. 

Confirmations

Online registrants will receive immediate confirmations/receipts via email. 

Cancellation, Substitution & Refund Policy

Registration cancellations prior to or on February 14 will incur no penalty. No refunds will be made on cancellations made after February 14 because logistical implementation and forfeited fees cannot be applied to future meetings due to IRS reporting requirements.

Substitutions are $25. All substitutions must be in writing and accompanied by a completed online registration form.

Sponsorship Opportunities

Virtual Conference - June 4-6

Virtual Session Sponsorships

Virtual Session sponsors are recognized on the marquee before the session begins, and through the opening announcements. Sponsors are provided dedicated 10 to 15 minutes of time to chat and present to the participants between sessions. Session Sponsors are also provided this linked listing, link on the Sessions page, and various symposium emails.  Sponsorship provides an "exhibit table" in the virtual Sponsors & Networking Hall. 

Session Sponsorship is just $300 and includes 3 registrations to the virtual symposium. 

General Symposium Sponsorships

General symposium sponsors are recognized this website, logo recognition on the various emails sent related to this event, and during opening remarks each day. Sponsorship provides an "exhibit table" in the virtual Sponsors & Networking Hall. 

General Sponsorship is just $200 and includes 2 registration to the virtual symposium. 

In-Person Intensives - June 11-12

In-Person Exhibiting 

If you are interested in exhibiting at the In-Person Intensives, please see brad@azca.org.  These intensives will cap at 50 participants each day. Due to restrictions we will limit participants and the number of exhibitors. This will be first-come, first-serve. 

Exhibit fee is just $300 for both days to due the number of participants totally around 75 participants from the conference and supervision training being offered and social distancing. 

To Sign Up

Due to the unique nature of this conference, if you are interested in sponsoring and/or exhibiting please email brad@azca.org. We will discuss these opportunities and get you registered. 

Your Sessions

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Sponsors

2021 Virtual Symposium Sponsors

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