Speaker

Diana Johnstone, MSW, LCSW

This session qualifies for 1 NBCC CE Credit hour only.

Session Summary

This session will introduce participants to Artificial Intelligence (AI) and mental health practice through a social work perspective. Participants will explore ethical considerations, practical applications and gain strategies for using AI responsibly with a trauma-informed, culturally responsive lens.

Learning Objectives

1. Participants will identify ethical considerations and potential risks of using AI in social work and mental health practice.
2. Participants will apply AI tools to enhance learning, administrative and other professional tasks.
3. Participants will formulate personal guidelines for responsible, person-centered and culturally responsive AI use.

Speaker

Nikki Hensler Gordon, MS, MA, LPC, CCI, CCISM

Session Summary

Digital crisis platforms such as text and chat services are reshaping access to mental health care by providing anonymous, identity-safe pathways for support. This session explores how technology reduces barriers for marginalized communities, increases help-seeking among trauma-affected populations and enhances cultural and emotional safety. Participants will learn how anonymous crisis environments support equity, reduce stigma and create new opportunities for connection, stabilization and triage within modern mental health systems.

Learning Objectives

1. Analyze how anonymity and digital access influence help-seeking behaviors among marginalized and trauma-affected populations.
2. Identify systemic, cultural and psychological barriers that limit access to traditional mental health services and how digital platforms address them.
3. Apply trauma-informed, culturally responsive strategies to digital crisis interactions, including text-based assessment and identity-safe communication.
4. Evaluate ethical and clinical considerations in anonymous crisis work, including documentation, risk assessment and escalations.
5. Differentiate the unique challenges and opportunities inherent in digital crisis environments compared to in-person clinical work.

Speaker

Erica M. LaForte, PhD

Session Summary

Recently updated and re-normed, the WJ V is the fifth generation of a comprehensive set of cognitive, oral language and achievement tests. This session will introduce the new tests, clusters and interpretive features included in the WJ V and discuss how the battery can be used in a comprehensive evaluation of an individual’s strength and weaknesses within and across cognitive, language and academic achievement domains.

Learning Objectives

At the end of this session, participants will be able to:

1. Contrast the WJ V to the WJ IV and the explain the rationale for the changes;
2. Describe the new tests and explain how they improve the measurement of cognitive abilities, oral language skills, and achievement.
3. Explain the advantages of the proficiency-based scores that are available in the WJ V.

Speaker

Michele Schreck, LPC

Session Summary

This session will explore innovative approaches to expanding pediatric mental health access within primary care. The presenter will discuss how integrating virtual behavioral health visits supports timely, family-centered care, and reduces barriers for patients. Through practical examples and case-based discussion, participants will explore how to administer, interpret and apply the PROMIS assessments to guide clinical decision-making, enhance screen accuracy and support early identification and intervention across care settings.

Learning Objectives

1. Implement PROMIS pediatric mental health assessments within primary care and virtual care workflows, including administration, scoring and interpretation to inform timely clinical decision making. 
2. Apply PROMIS assessment results to care-based scenarios to identify mental health concerns, determine appropriate levels of intervention and support early evidenced-based treatment planning.
3. Coordinate care using the PROMIS results by facilitating appropriate referrals, collaborating with interdisciplinary team members and supporting continuity of care across primary care, behavioral health and community settings. 

Speakers

Katy Hagmeyer, LCSW, MSW, MSEd, EdS Candidate

Chandler Gloudeman, MS Candidate

Session Summary

Individuals with hearing loss experience major mental-health access disparities due to communication barriers, limited culturally-competent providers and language-deprivation histories. This session highlights technology-driven solutions that enhance assessment, counseling, crisis response and care coordination. Using real examples from Deaf Inspire, LLC, participants will learn how teletherapy, accessible apps, digital assessments and remote-support models can expand access and improve outcomes for youth and adults with hearing loss.

Learning Objectives

1. Recognize opportunities to use technology to strengthen communication, connection and access to mental health services for individuals with hearing loss.
2. Identify technology tools that enhance inclusion such as teletherapy platforms, visual-based apps and digital assessments, and understand how they support effective mental health care.
3. Apply strategies for integrating tech-based supports to enrich assessment, counseling and care coordination in both school and clinical settings.

Speakers

Kristin Belkofer, MS, LPC

Dr. Chris Belkofer, PhD, ATR-BC, LPC

Session Summary

Children and adolescents are growing up as digital natives, never experiencing life without the internet's influence on social engagement and identity development. Parents and caregivers are often anxious about how this reality will impact their children’s social skills, impulse control and exposure to distressing and confusing content. Clinicians can support families with neuroscience-informed parent psychoeducation and coaching, increasing understanding, compassion and structure in families experiencing screen time stress. Our approach encourages parents to embrace curiosity, creativity and play to experience the digital and social media world from their child’s perspective.

Learning Objectives

1. Participants will learn basic theories of digital and participatory media culture that examine
   how and why children and adolescents engage in online spaces in novel ways.
2. Participants will learn how to integrate and effectively translate concepts from
   interpersonal neurobiology, somatic therapies and developmental psychology into their
   clinical work with families who are navigating screen time behaviors and challenges.
3. Participants will receive adaptable frameworks for how to help parents set limits,
   expectations, discernment and boundaries regarding children's screen time behaviors.
4. Participants will be able to identify several risks and benefits of child and adolescent
   experimentation with social relationships online.
5. Participants will be able to identify at least one way that the parent or caregivers they work with can creatively engage with their child's digital experience.

Speakers

Jonathon Jacobs, MS, LPC

Abby Janssen, MSW, LCSW

Amber Greuel, MS, LPC

This session qualifies for 1 NBCC CE credit hour only.

Session Summary

A discussion on everyday use of telehealth and adjacent technologies in the outpatient mental health counseling space including logistics, opening access to care and discussion of ethical best practices.

Learning Objectives

1. Discuss the positives of opening access via telehealth counseling for rural and underserved communities.
2. Explore the ethical implications of serving a community that the provider is not a part of/may not visit. Discussing merits and pitfalls (ethical and otherwise) of other technologies, i.e. text, chat and strictly voice/phone based sessions.
3. Discuss the new technology being implemented at present, i.e. AI note takers and AI chat bots for mental health counseling.
4. Open Q&A for students/participants at the conference to ask questions of clinicians in the field and how technology is actively being used in their practice/how this is changing.

Author

Rachel F. Pickett, PhD, lead author

This does not qualify for NBCC or NASP CE Credit Hours.

Poster Session Description

Students facing mental health challenges are twice as likely to terminate their college education before completing their degree (The Healthy Minds Network, 2021). As higher education institutions witness increasing concerns regarding student stress and anxiety (Flannery, 2023; Heinze, 2023), it is important to educate students about healthy ways to manage stress. Teaching strategies for stress management is particularly important as half of students exhibit symptoms of a substantial mental health issue (The Healthy Minds Network CUW Report, 2021). This poster will explore one promising avenue for student stress management, a biofeedback device, called HeartMath.

HeartMath technology guides users in regulating their breathing while showing them their heart rate and heart rate variability in real time via a single ear clip heart rate monitor connected to a phone app. Students in a General Psychology course will participate in a class activity using HeartMath over the course of a week and report on their experience.

Learning Objectives

1. Learn about the HeartMath device and the classroom intervention activity.
2. Understand the results of student experiences with biofeedback technology, consistency in usage, and willingness to continue using biofeedback in the future.
3. Explore applications of biofeedback in various educational and clinical settings.