Mental Health Counselors Association of Palm Beach upcoming events

Neurodivergent Affirming Therapy Practices for Adolescents & Adults (05/15/2026)

Fri, 15 May 2026 15:00:00 GMT

Neurodivergent Affirming Therapy Practices for Adolescents & Adults

Ali Cunningham Abbott, PhD, LMHC, QS

Description: Neurodiversity is a paradigm through which clinicians can understand and value the variety of human experiences based on neurobiological differences. The movement to acknowledge and serve neurodiversity and the neurodivergent (ADHD, autistic, learning disabilities, and more) has gained much traction in recent years and is an area clinicians can learn from to remain current in their practice and advocacy efforts. And yet, there is still much that practitioners can learn from the community to create autistic and neurodiverse-affirming clinical experiences for the clients we serve.

In this session, the presenter will explore the latest techniques for improving treatment outcomes for neurodivergent and autistic adolescents & adults, managing expectations during the progression of treatment, and advocacy strategies that promote autistic-affirming clinical spaces. Overall, we aim to enhance the understanding of current and evolving best practices to include autistic people's voices as collaborators in our approach to treatment. This talk will highlight important pillars of affirming care for neurodivergent clients so that practitioners can remain culturally competent and on the cutting-edge when working alongside this population.

Learning Objectives:

Identify evidence-based and lived-experience best practices for approaching and building quality therapeutic relationships with neurodivergent & autistic clients.
Understand and identify the unique assessment and treatment needs of adolescents & adults diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder(ASD) and other neurodevelopmental diagnoses.
Identify evidence-based and best practice treatment strategies for supporting the strengths of neurodivergent & autistic clients.

CEU Workshop Agenda

10:45 am - Registration and Networking
11:15 am - Brunch, Self-introductions & Networking

12:00 pm - Presentation Starts

12:45 pm - Break and Networking
1:00 pm - Presentation Continues
2:00 pm - Workshop Ends

2.0 General CEU Hours

Ali Cunningham Abbott, PhD, LMHC, QS has worked in higher education and mental health settings for the last 18 years. She is the Program Director & an Associate Professor in the CACREP-accredited Clinical Mental Health Counseling program at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida. Prior to academia, she worked at Florida Atlantic University as the Assistant Director for the Center for Autism & Related Disabilities (CARD) where she provided individual, couples, and family direct support and consultative services to the community. Currently, she provides individual counseling for adolescents and adults at the Center for the Treatment of Anxiety & Mood Disorders. Cunningham has presented on and published a book, book chapters and academic articles related to various topics including autism treatment & advocacy, mental health first aid, counselor career preparation, and on advocacy for BIPOC, queer & trans communities.

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Addressing AI Threats to Mental Health: Burnout, Parasocial Relationships, and “AI Psychosis” (06/12/2026)

Fri, 12 Jun 2026 15:00:00 GMT

Addressing AI Threats to Mental Health: Burnout, Parasocial Relationships, and “AI Psychosis”

Alexander Danvers, PhD

Description: More and more people are using AI more and more often, and this usage can create specific psychological issues that clinicians may be confronted with in daily practice. This presentation will review several emerging mental health concerns surrounding AI, and discuss possible frameworks for addressing them.

The first is anxiety surrounding job insecurity and changing expectations at work. Frequent press coverage on impending rounds of AI layoffs trigger feelings of anxiety and depression that some theorists have likened to Seligman’s Learned Helplessness model of depression.

Second is the way AI interacts with an increasingly atomized and lonely society, with people creating parasocial bonds with chatbots to meet real relatedness needs. Parasocial relationships are not new, but common factors such as loneliness and traumatic experiences may lead people to use them in unhealthy ways.

Third is the phenomenon of “AI Psychosis,” where repeated conversations with AI chatbots that act in sychophantic ways, confirming and amplifying supported or unrealistic claims. This connects with theories in social psychology such as confirmation bias and breaking conformity, and people who experience it have pre-existing vulnerabilities.

Finally, there are positive uses of AI in mental health. AI is good at delivering “textbook” advice regarding well-established modalities, such as CBT or emotion regulation. In the same way as good psycho-education can be helpful therapeutically, chatbots providing basic instructions can supplement other mental health care. AI psycho-education may be particularly helpful for neurodivergent individuals. AI may change or accelerate trends in modern mental health, but there are solutions available in our existing frameworks for understanding the mind. I argue that changing the immediate interpersonal system, and engaging in “technology detox” for a limited period may be a helpful way to address harmful effects of AI on mental health.

Learning Objectives:

Describe the effects of workplace AI adoption on mental health
Identify a model of depression that can apply to stress from workplace AI adoption
Describe risk factors for parasocial relationships with AI
Explain the mechanism underlying the phenomenon of “AI Psychosis”
List possible beneficial uses of AI in mental health practice

CEU Workshop Agenda

10:45 am - Registration and Networking
11:15 am - Brunch, Self-introductions & Networking

12:00 pm - Presentation Starts

12:45 pm - Break and Networking
1:00 pm - Presentation Continues
2:00 pm - Workshop Ends

2.0 General CEU Hours

Alex Danvers received his PhD in Psychology from Arizona State University in 2017. He has worked as a researcher and educator at the University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, the University of Arizona, and St. Xavier University in Chicago. He is an expert in statistics and research methods, and has worked on mobile sensing and machine learning projects for U.S. Army Research Labs. Dr. Danvers is currently the Director of Treatment Outcomes at Sierra Tucson. In this role, he assesses and analyzes patient outcomes and conducts scientific research into mental health outcomes.

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Summer Social, Live Demo and Workshop with Dr. Debbie Ellis (06/26/2026)

Fri, 26 Jun 2026 15:00:00 GMT

Celebrate summer with an afternoon designed to energize, connect, and inspire. Our Summer Social & Special Guest event begins with a social hour from 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM, followed by a dynamic CEU workshop from 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM led by world-renowned psychologist and educator Dr. Debbie Joffe Ellis.

Workshop Title: The Empowering and Compassionate Approach of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy

Presenter: Dr. Debbie Joffe Ellis

Presentation Description: Join Dr. Debbie Joffe Ellis, distinguished psychologist, educator, and wife of REBT founder Dr. Albert Ellis, for a dynamic workshop on Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), the groundbreaking and pioneering approach that helped ignite the cognitive revolution in psychotherapy. Dr. Joffe Ellis will share the fundamentals of REBT, its highly effective tools and techniques, pivotal aspects of an REBT therapy session, and the distinctive elements that continue to make this approach so powerful and relevant today. The workshop will also include a live demonstration and an interactive Q&A.

Learning Objectives:

Attendees will be able to identify the differences between rational and irrational thinking.
Attendees will be able to identify the differences between healthy and unhealthy negative emotions.
Attendees will be able to describe a range of cognitive, emotive, and behavioral techniques used in REBT.

2.0 General CEU Hours

Presenter Bio: Dr. Debbie Joffe Ellis was born and raised in Melbourne, Australia, and has called New York City home for the past two decades. She is a licensed psychologist in Australia, a licensed mental health counselor in New York, a presenter, writer, and adjunct professor at Columbia University, where she teaches Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) and Comparative Psychotherapies. For many years, she worked closely with her husband, Dr. Albert Ellis, the brilliant founder of REBT and one of the great pioneers of modern cognitive therapies, delivering public presentations and professional trainings in his approach and collaborating with him on writing and research projects until his death in 2007. Before his passing, Dr. Ellis stated in writing that he entrusted her to carry forward his work. Today, Dr. Joffe Ellis is recognized internationally as one of the foremost experts on REBT and presents widely across the United States and around the world to students, academics, practitioners in the helping professions, and the general public.