Presented by: Laura Rademacher, MA, LMFT, CST, CST-S

Saturday and Sunday, May 10 & 11 9:00am – 6:30pm Mountain Time Zone

Synchronous Online via Zoom

This course will explore the idea of sexual inheritance, or more specifically, the messages about sexuality implicitly and explicitly received from our families, the people who raised us, cultural beliefs/practices, religious beliefs/practices, as well as epigenetic inheritances of the experiences of our ancestors. Students will learn to identify elements of sexual inheritance, including bias and unconscious narratives that can create barriers for relating with diverse clients, and examine how these inheritances may shape us as people and professionals. We will practice skills to help clients explore their sexual inheritance as well as how to implement interventions to begin a process of change for the parts of their sexual inheritance they want to transform and heal in order to facilitate authentic intimacy with self and other and participate more consciously in their sexual lives.

16 CEs for licensed Professionals

Applies to Human Sexuality certificate

Laura Rademacher, MA, LMFT, CST, CST-S, is the Director of the Human Sexuality Certificate program. She is an AASECT certified sex and relationship therapist with over 15 years of experience as a sex-positive sexual health educator. She is the author of “The Principles of Pleasure: Working with the Good Stuff as Sex Therapists and Educators.”

Presented by: Richard Pelfrey, MS, LMHC, LADAC, NCAC

Saturday and Sunday, May 17 & 18 9:00am – 6:00pm Mountain Time Zone

In person at SWC Campus

This course considers the development of Substance Use Disorder within the context of the family system. Within family systems, implicit messages often serve to maintain homeostasis and avoid the “elephant in the room,” perpetuating addiction and substance use. This kind of denial contributes to lack of attunement and attachment rupture, diminishing relational safety, and creating an environment where the rule of, “Don’t talk, don’t trust, don’t feel,” predominates. This course examines addiction, intergenerational and epigenetic patterns of behavior, and survival mechanisms that shape family systems. We explore how substance misuse and addiction, as well as unconscious patterns of behavior and communication, affect and inform the dynamics of the family system. Utilizing this foundation, participants conceptualize treatment planning and the overall recovery process through a systems lens, from onset to maintenance. Conversely, we examine how the recovery process itself may impact the family system as a whole. Strategies for individual and family therapy are discussed and practiced, covering diverse, culturally sustaining modalities and approaches that wholeheartedly and compassionately address the “elephant in the room.”


16 CEs for licensed Professionals

Applies to Addictions, Abuse, and Recovery certificate

Richard Pelfrey, MS, LMHC, LADAC, NCAC, has been holding space for the resolution and reintegration of trauma and addictions of all forms for the past 12 years. While becoming licensed as an addictions counselor, Richard heard the call to expand his work with people beyond traditional models and began exploring alternative methods for the resolution of trauma. Richard is trained and certified in Trauma Sensitive Yoga, Wim Hoff method, and Brainspotting, meditation leadership and grief counseling, and incorporates all of these modalities as well as a decade of apprenticeship in the Toltec wisdom path and traditional earth-based ceremony in his focused work with individuals and groups for the purpose of healing and finding our highest joy and artistry in life.

Presented by: Diana Zumas, MA, LPC, LPCC

Saturday and Sunday, June 7 & 8 9:00am – 5:30pm Mountain Time Zone

In person at SWC Campus

This experiential course begins with the basic premise of Internal Family Systems, that humans are comprised of different psychological, emotional, and somatic parts. Elements of Applied Interpersonal Neurobiology can be utilized to explore and understand these various parts to inform both differentiation and integration. When considered through a parts perspective, the more we define and get to know our internal aspects and connect with them through compassion, presence, and curiosity we are able to cultivate coherence of the Self. Through various experiential processes, we can get to know our own inner parts through modalities that include action methods, mindfulness, psychodrama, and artwork, held within the container of Applied Interpersonal Neurobiology. By externalizing parts to better get to know them, we begin to attune with them with warmth and non-judgment and start welcoming them into our inner constellation in a more integrated way. Students practice meeting different internal aspects with presence and empathic attunement, to allow parts to reveal themselves in a new light, let go of burdens, and re-integrate into the inner orchestra of the Self with a preferred role and renewed access to their gifts, talents, and abilities. This process can profoundly transform our relationship to self and other.  The skills learned in this course can be applied both personally and professionally and utilized with a variety of settings and populations. No prior experience in parts work or action methods required. 

16 CEs for licensed Professionals

Applies to Applied Interpersonal Neurobiology certificate

Diana Zumas, MA, LPC, LPCC, is the Director of the Applied Interpersonal Neurobiology Certificate Program. Diana has 17 years of psychodrama, sociometry, and group psychotherapy training. She has a psychotherapy private practice in Santa Fe, NM.

(SOLD OUT)

Presented by: Naja Druva MS, LPCC

Saturday and Sunday, June 28 and 29, 9:00am – 6:30pm Mountain Time Zone

Synchronous Online via Zoom

This course provides an overview of the fundamentals of restoring hope and well-being in children and teens who are experiencing hopelessness, and who are at risk for self-harm or suicide. State of the art therapy and treatment modalities are presented and explored. It also offers students with a best practice protocol for recognizing at risk behavior and verbal disclosures, making preliminary risk assessments, and referring youth for further in depth risk assessments and treatment, and /or engaging emergency services. In addition, this course surveys the many factors that have increased the rate of self-harm and suicide among youth, including social dynamics with peers, emotional trauma, family dynamics and stressors, cultural trauma, gender and identity, LGBTQ issues, poverty, technology, and more.

16 CEs for licensed Professionals

Applies to Children’s Mental Health certificate

Naja Druva MS, LPCC is a licensed therapist who has spent her career working with New Mexico children and their families. With 10 years of experience her specialty is addressing childhood trauma within family systems. Naja’s training includes Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), Trauma Focused Conative Behavioral Therapy (TFCBT), Child Parent Psychotherapy (CPP), and Trauma Resource Management (TRM). After the events of May 2020, Naja felt moved to participate in the civil rights movement by parlaying her experience and training to address the trauma inflicted on families of color by inequitable, unjust, and violent systems within society. By applying a trauma informed lens to her work, Naja hopes to educate those working within systems about how to care for themselves and others while making positive change in society at large.”.

Presented by: Rev. Ted Wiard, EdD, LPCC

Saturday and Sunday, July 12 & 13 9:00am – 6:00pm Mountain Time Zone

Synchronous Online via Zoom

Grief gives us the chance to continuously heal and grow so that we can find balance in our lives, with joy and sorrow bridging an always changing world. This course describes the grief process from various perspectives and treatment models, including interpersonal neurobiology, cognitive behavioral theory, positive psychology, and the work of Elizabeth Kubler-Ross. Students will have the opportunity to examine their own experiences of grief and loss including tracking common stages of the grief healing process moving from futility to hope. Cultural considerations for marginalized populations, complex bereavement, disenfranchised grief, traumatic grief, disease-related grief, and the creation of effective support systems will also be explored.

16 CEs for licensed Professionals

Applies to Trauma, Grief, and Renewal certificate

Rev. Ted Wiard, EdD, LPCC, is the Director of the Trauma, Grief, and Renewal Certificate. Dr. Wiard is the founder and Director of Golden Willow Counseling and Golden Willow Retreat Center. He is also the co-author of Witnessing Ted: The Journey to Potential through Grief and Loss as well and continues to write professional articles pertaining to emotional healing. Dr. Wiard also maintains a private practice.

Presented by: Diana Zumas, MA, LPC, LPCC and Tejal Murray, MA, ATR-BC, LPCC

Saturday and Sunday, July 19 & 20 9:00am – 5:30pm Mountain Time Zone

In person with working lunch at Southwestern College

In this course, students explore, define, and learn about the landscapes and narratives of the polyvagal nervous system using experiential processes including art and action methods in order to adopt an embodied understanding of Polyvagal Theory and how it can be utilized by both practitioners and clients. As practitioners we can tone our own social engagement system to help co-regulate others and interact in more harmonious, balanced ways. Meanwhile, many of our clients live in a chronic state of dysregulation, based on the neuroception of threat. This contributes to elevated stress levels leading to a wide range of dysfunctionality and interpersonal conflict. What if we could offer our clients an increased capacity to regulate their nervous systems and shift out of maladaptive states? Imagine the change that would resonate in families, communities, and in the world at large! Polyvagal Theory, and its clinical applications, offer pathways to regulation and integration by examining how trauma impacts the nervous system. Through explorations of the unconscious workings of the nervous system we can learn to identify and differentiate between social engagement, fight or flight, and freeze or collapse to consciously tend to dysregulated states. Polyvagal Theory’s non-pathologizing perspective and useful coping skills are introduced to support client wellbeing.

16 CEs for licensed Professionals

Applies to Applied Interpersonal Neurobiology certificate

Diana Zumas, MA, LPC, LPCC, has 17 years of psychodrama, sociometry, and group psychotherapy training. She has a psychotherapy private practice in Santa Fe, NM. She has been a psychotherapist since 2008 with a trauma informed, relational and experiential focus. Diana is trained in EMDR I and II, has over 650 hours of psychodrama training, and is Internal Family Systems informed. She has a passion for group process and believes what Thich Nhat Hanh proposed that “the Buddha may be a Sangha (group)”

Tejal Murray, MA, ATR-BC, LPCC provides a caring, safe environment for her clients to learn about themselves and work through feelings and issues that may feel overwhelming. She supports her clients to regain their sense of hope, joy and purpose in life.
In addition to having a master’s in counseling from Southwestern College, she taught Yoga and Non-Violent Communication for many years, and she is a Board Certified Art Therapist. She understands how the nervous system can get stuck in modes that impair our full capacity to connect and move through life with ease, and she has multiple methods to help clients become self-aware, more resilient and better able to cope with the inevitable difficulties of life.
She is comfortable working with individuals, couples or families of all ages and cultural and gender identities.

Presented by: Amy Wong Hope, MSW, LCSW

Saturday and Sunday, July 26 & 27 9:00am – 6:30pm Mountain Time Zone

In person with one hour lunch at Southwestern College

This course will challenge students to apply ethical considerations in psychedelic-assisted therapy to enhance safety and reduce risk. Through reflective practice, this course will help students identify and deconstruct myths and biases that they may hold from historical and cultural influences. The extent and limitations of professional roles and scope of practice will be examined, while considering the scientific and cultural resources used to inform ethical decision-making. Students will explore topics of sustainability, appropriation, and other social justice issues and identify best practices for determining readiness, appropriateness of fit, and informed consent.

16 CEs for licensed Professionals

Applies to Psychedelic Studies certificate

Amy Wong Hope, MSW, LCSW, is the Certificate Program Director of the Psychedelic Studies Certificate. Amy is trained as an MDMA-assisted therapist through the (MAPS) Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies and co-author of Small Doses of Awareness: A Microdosing Companion (due to be published spring 2024). Amy maintains a private practice with a focus on trauma-informed modalities and shame-resilience approaches that support clients in restoring emotional, somatic, and relational resiliency.

Presented by: Rochelle Calvert, PhD, CMT, SEP and Ann Filemyr, PhD

Saturday and Sunday, August 2 & 3, 9:00am – 6:30pm Mountain Time Zone

Synchronous Online via Zoom

This course will address the rupture imposed by industrialization, militarization and post-modern urban life that disrupts any sense of connection to or relationship with one’s biological and other ancestors. The subsequent intergenerational trauma is often carried unconsciously as an inarticulate but deep longing to fully connect and belong within our families, cultures, histories, lineages, and with the places (land, waterways, plants, animals) we call home. We will explore these ancestral relationships through personal reflection and journaling, art processes, and the making of an ancestor altar. We will consider healthy boundaries, building positive relationships with well and wise ancestors, and how these relationships can be sources of strength and support.

16 CEs for licensed Professionals

Applies to EcoTherapy certificate

Rochelle Calvert, PhD, CMT, SEP, is the author of Healing with Nature: Mindfulness and Somatic Practices to Heal from Trauma. She has studied and taught mindfulness for the past 19 years and personally knows the transformational potential. Dr. Calvert currently leads courses, workshops, and treats in mindfulness and somatic experiencing in nature. As a licensed clinical psychologist and founder of New Mindful Life, she supports her clients, taking them into nature with the aid of Bertha Grace, a Sprinter van that serves as a mobile therapy office. www.newmindfullife.com

Ann Filemyr, PhD, is the President of Southwestern College and the Director of the Regenerative Leadership and Visionary Practice PhD program.

Presented by: Richard Pelfrey, MS, LMHC, LADAC, NCAC

Saturday and Sunday, August 23 & 24 9:00am – 6:00pm Mountain Time Zone

Synchronous Online via Zoom

The current social, economic, and political landscape provides a fertile environment for all types of addictions to develop. Addiction is any process that overpowers a person’s effort to control or moderate their relationship with any behavior. This course explores the unique etiology and treatment of “out of control” behaviors as pathogenic responses to stress, as well as the intersectionality of process addictions with ingestive or substance addictions. Students consider holistic and pragmatic assessment and treatment strategies for lasting lifestyle change in working with clients who present with imbalanced relationships to behaviors including sex, love, scrolling, work, and other processes. Students engage didactic and experiential modalities with specific exercises utilized to frame treatment as a healing pathway toward natural rhythms that help diverse clients across the socioeconomic spectrum regain balance and wholeness while mitigating the toxic aspects of modern culture.  

16 CEs for licensed Professionals

Applies to Addictions, Abuse and Recovery certificate

Richard Pelfrey, MS, LMHC, LADAC, NCAC, has been holding space for the resolution and reintegration of trauma and addictions of all forms for the past 12 years. While becoming licensed as an addictions counselor, Richard heard the call to expand his work with people beyond traditional models and began exploring alternative methods for the resolution of trauma.  Richard is trained and certified in Trauma Sensitive Yoga, Wim Hoff method, and Brainspotting, meditation leadership and grief counseling, and incorporates all of these modalities as well as a decade of apprenticeship in the Toltec wisdom path and traditional earth-based ceremony in his focused work with individuals and groups for the purpose of healing and finding our highest joy and artistry in life.