Keynote #1 (2 CE Hours)
Applying the Secure Base System to Anxiety Disorders

Effective counseling requires more than selecting a treatment protocol or the right workbook—it requires understanding the processes that maintain emotional suffering and tailoring treatment to the individual. This workshop introduces the Secure Base System, an attachment-based, transdiagnostic framework that helps clinicians integrate the most empirically supported counseling approaches and psychological interventions within a coherent model of therapeutic change. During the first hour, participants will learn the Secure Base System and its ten core therapeutic processes that promote healing, transformation, and lasting change. During the second hour, these principles are applied to anxiety disorders, demonstrating how attachment patterns, threat detection, emotional avoidance, and safety behaviors contribute to the development and maintenance of anxiety. Participants will learn how to use attachment theory to build tailor-made treatment plans by integrating evidence-based counseling approaches and psychological interventions, filtered through a scripturally grounded Christian worldview.

Keynote #2 (2 CE Hours)
Applying the Secure Base System to Depression and Chronic Depression
Depression develops through multiple pathways and often requires different treatment approaches. This workshop demonstrates how the Secure Base System helps clinicians build tailor-made treatments for those clients suffering from various forms of depression. The first thirty minutes focus on treating episodic depression using behavioral activation, cognitive restructuring, and interpersonal approaches, which include the resolution of loss and grief. The remaining ninety minutes examine chronic, treatment-resistant depression through the Cognitive Behavioral Analysis System of Psychotherapy (CBASP), demonstrating how attachment disruptions, developmental trauma and adversity, and interpersonal learning contribute to persistent depression. Participants will learn how CBASP naturally fits within the Secure Base System and views chronic depression as a relational dilemma in which early adverse experiences create rigid interpersonal expectations and avoidance behaviors that repeatedly produce disconnection, helplessness, and depressive symptoms.

Keynote #3 (1.5 CE Hours)
Applying the Secure Base System to Trauma Treatment
Building on the framework developed in the previous two workshops, this session focuses specifically on trauma treatment. Participants will learn to use the Secure Base System to develop individualized, attachment-informed interventions for intrusive memories, flashbacks, avoidance, and other trauma-related symptoms while integrating the most strongly supported counseling and psychological treatments..

Ethics Workshop (3 CE Hours)
Faith, Boundaries, and Blind Spots: Ethics and Legal Issues for Counselors and Ministries Justin Butterfield, LLC and Lea Patterson, LLC 2

How can counselors honor their faith, protect their clients, and navigate the legal and ethical responsibilities of practice? This three-hour workshop explores developments in health care privacy law, the intersection of faith and professional counseling, and the boundaries between counseling, pastoral care, and clinical practice. Participants will examine practical approaches to reducing liability, managing risk, and addressing difficult questions involving confidentiality, mandatory reporting, and requests for client records. The workshop will also demystify professional wills—what they are, who needs one, and how planning for death or incapacity can help protect clients and ensure continuity of care. Attendees will leave better equipped to recognize ethical pitfalls and make informed decisions in their practices and ministries.

Counselor Educator Presentation (1 CE Hour)
Teaching Christian Integration Michael Cook, PhD, LMFT Description coming soon!


Banquet Presentation (1 CE Hour)
Shepherd-Hearted Counseling: Sacred Calling, Healing Presence, and the Ministry of Follow-Up Russell Gregory, MA, LPC

Christian counseling is more than a profession. It is a sacred calling and ministry of stewardship. In a world where many individuals spend more time with their counselor than with their pastor, Christian counselors are entrusted with the privilege and responsibility of caring for people created in God's image and deeply loved by Him. This workshop explores how a biblical understanding of counseling shapes the counselor's identity, the therapeutic relationship, and the ministry of follow-up.
Participants will examine what distinguishes Christian counseling from other helping professions, learning how to serve as faithful stewards rather than rescuers, and how to offer compassionate presence without fostering unhealthy dependency. Drawing from Scripture, clinical wisdom, and the model of the Good Shepherd, this session highlights the healing power of consistent relationships, healthy boundaries, and ethical follow-up that communicates care, value, and remembrance. Attendees will be challenged to view their work as a ministry of grace and truth, helping clients grow in their relationship with God, connect with healthy community, and walk in the freedom Christ intends. This workshop is designed to encourage counselors to love deeply, serve faithfully, and shepherd others in a way that honors both professional responsibility and God's calling.