42nd Annual School Psychology, Counseling Psychology and Applied Behavior Analysis Conference 
March 24, 2023

Hosted in-person at Temple University!
Walk Auditorium (Ritter Hall) and Howard Gittis Student Center, Room 217
Philadelphia, PA 19122

Attendees are invited to join us beginning at 8:00 a.m. in Walk Auditorium in Ritter Hall for breakfast and our Keynote session. Sessions 1 and 2 will be held directly across the street in HGSC 217. Our final session, session 3, will be in Walk Auditorium.

Schedule of Events

Keynote: 8:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.

Making Schools a Site of Healing
Celeste Malone, PhD, MS (she/her)
Howard University

Ample evidence indicates that minoritized students experience oppression and discrimination in schools. On an interpersonal level, minoritized students experience discrimination in the form of microaggressions and bias-based bullying. Structural oppression emerges as restricted access to educational opportunities and differential treatment by school staff. The ongoing exposure and re-exposure to oppression impact negatively students' mental and physical health leading to traumatic stress. As mental health professionals, school psychologists teach minoritized students coping skills to help them survive invalidating school environments; however, our goal should be to create environments that allow all students to thrive. This requires school psychologists to embrace healing centered approaches that affirm students' identities, empower students to be agents in restoring their own well-being, and correct the unjust practices which marginalize some students. 

The keynote presentation is available to psychologists, professional counselors, social workers, and marriage and family therapists for CE credit. It also meets ACT 48 Continuing Professional Education Requirements as mandated by the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

 

Session 1:  10:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

  • Mawule A. Sevon, MA, NCSP, BCBA – How Practitioners Can Integrate Equity and Justice in Their Practice
  • Kristin Mehr, PhD, LP – Nondisclosure in Clinical Supervision: Alliance, Power and Role Induction

All Session 1 presentations are available to psychologists, professional counselors, social workers, and marriage and family therapists for CE credit. They also meet ACT 48 Continuing Professional Education Requirements as mandated by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. The session presented by Mawule A. Sevon is available for 2.0 Type 2 BCBA CEUs per the Behavior Analyst Certification Board requirements. The Temple University Department of Psychological Studies in Education is a BACB Approved Continuing Education provider (ACE Provider Number: OP-22-0333).

 

Lunch/Posters: 12:30 - 1:30 p.m.

 

 

Session 2: 1:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.

  • Matt Malouf, PhD, LP – Doing Nothing is Doing Something: Ethical Interventions That Support Transgender, Gender Expansive, Non-Binary and Intersex Youth
  • W. Joel Schneider, PhD – Assessments that Restore Hope, Promote Understanding and Inspire Change

All Session 2 presentations are available to psychologists, professional counselors, social workers, and marriage and family therapists for CE credit. They also meet ACT 48 Continuing Professional Education Requirements as mandated by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. 

Note: Dr. Malouf's session has been designated as providing hours towards the ethics training CEUs required by psychologists.

 

Session 3: 4:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.

  • Overdose Reversal Training – Philadelphia Department of Public Health

 

Detailed Schedule of Events

Keynote: 8:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.

Making Schools a Site of Healing
Celeste Malone, PhD, MS (she/her)
Howard University

Ample evidence indicates that minoritized students experience oppression and discrimination in schools. On an interpersonal level, minoritized students experience discrimination in the form of microaggressions and bias-based bullying. Structural oppression emerges as restricted access to educational opportunities and differential treatment by school staff. The ongoing exposure and re-exposure to oppression impact negatively students' mental and physical health leading to traumatic stress. As mental health professionals, school psychologists teach minoritized students coping skills to help them survive invalidating school environments; however, our goal should be to create environments that allow all students to thrive. This requires school psychologists to embrace healing centered approaches that affirm students' identities, empower students to be agents in restoring their own well-being, and correct the unjust practices which marginalize some students.

Learning Objectives:

As a result of this session, attendees will be able to:

  • Describe the relationship between oppression, traumatic stress and mental health.
  • Explain the difference between coping and healing.
  • Apply school-based interventions to promote culturally affirming school environments.
  • Describe how to integrate tenets of culturally responsive practice into a mental health MTSS model.
  • Apply social justice principles to engage in healing-centered school psychology practice.

 

Session 1: 10:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

Equity in Practice: How Practitioners Can Integrate Equity and Justice in Their Practice
Mawule A. Sevon, MA, NCSP, BCBA

Coming soon!

Learning Objectives:

As a result of this session, attendees will be able to:

  • Understand the principles of equity and their practice.
  • Recognize and address their own position in society and how that shapes their work.
  • Reflect on the role of professionals in addressing systemic injustice.

Nondisclosure in Clinical Supervision: Alliance, Power and Role Induction
Kristin Mehr, PhD, LP

This workshop will provide an overview of existing research literature related to nondisclosure in clinical supervision. Topics discussed will include the influence of the supervisory working alliance, power and evaluation dynamics, and the lack of supervisee role induction on nondisclosure. Participants will be encouraged to share their reactions and apply the presented content to their own experiences as supervisors and/or supervisees. Strategies for fostering role induction and building the supervisory working alliance will be discussed so that participants can apply these strategies to promote disclosure in supervision.

Learning Objectives:

As a result of this session, attendees will be able to:

  • Identify frequency of, content of, and reasons for trainee nondisclosure in supervision.
  • Explain the relationship between the supervisory working alliance and trainee nondisclosure in supervision.
  • Describe the influence of power dynamics on trainee nondisclosure in supervision.
  • List at least two strategies to foster role induction and/or build the supervisory alliance.

 

Lunch/Posters: 12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.

  • Please take advantage of the wide range of dining options available on campus. More information is available at temple.edu/campusdish.com.

 

Session 2: 1:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Doing Nothing is Doing Something:
Ethical Interventions That Support Transgender, Gender Expansive, Non-Binary and Intersex Youth

Matt Malouf, PhD
Private Practice, Baltimore, MD

The purpose of this workshop is to provide attendees with ethical frameworks and strategies to support transgender, gender expansive, non-binary and intersex youth. This topic has been sensationalized in pop culture and politics, often overshadowing the needs of these youth and their families. This session brings a historical lens and reviews current practice guidelines to help provide much-needed context and recommendations for real-world care. Through case vignettes attendees will have an opportunity to directly apply concepts and work through ethical dilemmas surrounding treatment.

Learning Objectives:

As a result of this session, attendees will be able to:

  • Apply culturally competent and inclusive language to assist in discussing topics related to sex and gender with youth and families.
  • Compare and contrast different models for providing ethical gender affirming care to individuals exploring gender.
  • Describe an ethical dilemma faced by practitioners working with intersex youth and their families.
  • Identify the role of behavioral health providers in advocating with and/or for transgender, gender expansive, non-binary and intersex youth care in a variety of settings.

Assessments that Restore Hope, Promote Understanding and Inspire Change
W. Joel Schneider, PhD
Temple University

Assessments not only prepare the way for better interventions, but they can also become potent interventions in their own right (Poston & Hanson, 2010). Instead of waiting until the end of the assessment to begin intervening, the entire assessment process can be made intentionally therapeutic from the start (Finn, 2020; Fischer, 1994). This approach does not require superhuman effort. Transformative assessments are possible when we apply—wherever possible—the same empathic consideration to examinees as we would in a counseling setting. Although this idea sounds simple, there are many aspects of assessment (e.g., report writing) where its application is not at all obvious. In this workshop, we will learn a set of principles designed to help the examinee and others see the presenting problem with new eyes and thus inspire effective efforts to make necessary changes. 

Learning Objectives:

As a result of this session, attendees will be able to:

  • List the principles of collaborative and therapeutic assessment.
  • Apply a report writing style that recasts the assessment report as a means of communicating an empathic understanding of an examinee.
  • Identify common writing habits that pose unnecessary barriers to comprehension.
  • Utilize assessment feedback into the overall intervention plan.

Conflict of Interest Declaration
Dr. Schneider co-authored a book on assessment report writing. Though this source will be referenced, it will not be specifically promoted.
 

Session 3: 4:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.

Overdose Reversal Training
Division of Substance Use Prevention and Harm Reduction
Philadelphia Department of Public Health

This training covers data around Philadelphia drug trends, overdose trends, general harm reduction education and resources, and recognizing and responding to opioid overdoses. It will be facilitated by a Harm Reduction Specialist from the PDPH.