Desert–CAMFT
presents
in collaboration with the Central Coast chapter
Neurodivergence Unveiled: Reframing Trauma, Identity, and Care for the Neurodivergent Client
with Stephanie Kollar, MA, LMFT
Friday, July 18, 2025 9:30am-11:30am
Online Via Zoom
(link will be provided in confirmation and reminder emails)
2 CE Credits
Description
This presentation, led by an autistic mental health therapist, will guide clinicians through a deep exploration of neurodivergence, trauma, and the challenges in understanding and identifying neurodivergent clients. Drawing from lived and professional experience, this course will provide clinicians with a framework to reduce ableist perspectives, enhance therapeutic rapport, and apply an anti-ableist, affirming worldview to their practice. The presentation will delve into the nuances of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), ADHD, and Complex PTSD (CPTSD), highlighting how these conditions intersect and how therapists can more accurately identify and support neurodivergent clients. Participants will leave with practical tools to navigate sensory processing needs, adapt existing evidence- based practices, and reframe their approach to neurodivergence for more inclusive, effective care.
Educational Goals
This course is designed to help therapists identify and understand the lived experience of neurodivergence, while reducing ableist identification of neurodivergence. By reframing neurodivergence through an anti-ableist, affirming worldview, clinicians will be equipped to enhance their approach to trauma-informed care and adapt their practices to better serve neurodivergent clients.
Learning Objectives
Differentiate 3 differences between Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and Complex PTSD (CPTSD), identifying the key similarities and differences between these conditions.
Recognize and address 3 common areas of misdiagnosis, especially in clients of color, and understand the implications of such misdiagnoses.
Explore 3 strategies for adapting existing evidence- based practices to meet the unique needs of neurodivergent clients.
Presenter
Stephanie Kollar, MA, LMFT has a diverse background in mental health work, including field-based family therapy with families living in poverty and navigating high levels of intersectional identities. Specializing in neurodivergence, trauma, anxiety, depression, and behavioral challenges, Stephanie developed a keen ability to differentiate between subtle diagnostic distinctions and recognized the importance of honoring neurodivergent differences. She has also provided short-term, evidence- based care for adults and now runs a private practice focused on anti- ableist, affirming care for neurodivergent individuals. As a professor in the Master’s of Clinical Psychology program at Antioch University Santa Barbara, her alma mater, Stephanie specializes in the intersection of neuroscience and anti-ableist mental health care. Identifying as both autistic and ADHD (AUDHD), she integrates her lived experience into her work, helping students and colleagues better understand and engage with the neurodivergent experience.
Cost/Registration
$25 Desert-CAMFT Members
$15 for Prelicensed Members
$35 for Non-members or Guests
Closing date for registration is Thursday, July 17, 2025.
Questions
Please email Chaundra Prehara, Director of Events at chaundraprehara@yahoo.com.
Nature as Co-Therapist: An Introduction to Ecotherapy
with Rev. Connie L. Habash, LMFT
Friday, August 22, 2025 9:30am-11:30am
Nature immersion is a deeply healing, transformative experience for many of us. Recent studies affirm this, showing that mindful time spent outdoors can profoundly increase our well-being. There are physical, mental, emotional, and even spiritual benefits to time spent in nature. It slows us down, returns us to the present moment, soothes our nervous system, shifts our perspective, and connects us to something larger than our individual selves.
Ecotherapy is a process of healing and transformation through connection with the natural world. Although it is usually done outdoors, Ecotherapy can also be brought inside the counseling office in a variety of ways. Through experiential, metaphorical, and conceptual ways, nature can inform and guide therapy sessions, sometimes with surprising synchronicities. Being outdoors in nature offers us unique insights, growth, and renewal that aren’t available inside the four walls of our offices or online.
Join us in an afternoon of Ecotherapy, where you will experience these gifts of “nature as the co-therapist”, supporting your journey of healing and growth, and learn applications for clients in your own therapy practice, both indoors and outside.
The goal of this program is for participants to be able to understand what Ecotherapy is, its benefits to clients, appropriate client populations to practice ecotherapy with, how to create a meaningful Ecotherapy experience, safety and legal concerns with Ecotherapy, and practical applications of Ecotherapy techniques indoors and outdoors. Experiential exercises in nature (from each participant’s remote location) will be the focal point of this workshop.
Name at least 3 benefits of Ecotherapy.
Explain the difference between "Walk and Talk" therapy and Ecotherapy.
Identify safety considerations for outdoor practice of Ecotherapy.
Conceptualize at least 2 indoor Ecotherapy practices.
Know how to structure an Ecotherapy session in nature and identify at least 2 outdoor Ecotherapy practices.
Rev. Connie L. Habash, LMFT is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, ecotherapist, yoga & meditation teacher, interfaith minister, and author of Awakening from Anxiety: A Spiritual Guide to Living a More Calm, Confident, and Courageous Life. Over the last 31 years, she has helped thousands of students and clients overcome stress, anxiety, depression, and spiritually awaken. Rev. Connie is passionate about deepening personal growth and spirituality through nature. She creates a safe, heart- centered, nurturing space to awaken, grow, and serve the planet in her online community, Awakening Women of the Earth (AWE), as well as her other online programs, in-person retreats, workshops, private practice, and ecotherapy sessions in the San Francisco Bay Area. Discover more at her website: https://www.AwakeningSelf.com/.
Closing date for registration is Thursday, August 21, 2025.
Membership!
Desert Chapter — California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (DESERT-CAMFT)
For general info, please email: desertcamft1@gmail.com. For specific departments, please click "Contact" in the menu above.
