Dead Therapists Society: A Logistical and Existential Exploration of Mortality in the TherapeuticProfession
The first half of this training will outline for participants a range of ethical, legal, and logistical burdens that fall on clients, colleagues, community partners, and loved ones if and when counselors do not prepare for the inevitable end of life. The training will outline ways of engaging thoughtfully with the process, including aspects of a professional will, and ways to ensure protection of all parties involved in the therapeutic relationship. The second half of training will open a broader conversation around our own relationship with death: fears, concerns, avoidances, and how our own reactions may limit our ability to utilize an emotionally-rich and universally human topic therapeutically. This training will be an interactive opportunity to explore questions and experiences from participants’ own practice and personal backgrounds. 3 NBCC hours will be awarded for this Workshop. Due to both the intimate nature of the conversation, and NBCC requirements, participants must keep their camera on throughout the duration of the training.
Learning Objectives
In this training, participants will:
1. Practice engaging with the difficult conversations - in the clinical realm and beyond - relating to death, dying, and one’s own mortality
2. Understand the structure, purpose, and value of a professional will
3. Learn how to utilize one’s own individual theoretical lens to make ethical decisions around professional will creation and end-of-life planning as it pertains to professional identity and responsibility
4. Explore self-disclosure, specifically around embodied humanness and mortality, as a therapeutic tool (death as a means of engagement with transference and projection)
5. Investigate the interplay of personal and professional identities surrounding anticipatory loss/grief and death
$35 for non-members. $20 for MMHCA members (use discount code found in the member portal). Register below.
Presenter Bios
Chaz is a therapist and clinical supervisor for Light Source, a small group practice in Belleville, Illinois. Chaz is also adjunct faculty in the Saint Louis University MSW program. Chaz has been practicing therapy full time since 2007. Since the beginning of his career as a therapist, Chaz has worked with trauma and its long reaching effects. This work has included extensive work with all ages and all walks of life. Chaz specializes in self compassion and integrating Eastern thought and philosophy into the therapeutic process. Chaz has presented on topics including, but not limited to Trauma, Wisdom and Self Compassion, Mindfulness, Self Care, Transference and countertransference, and Expanding the Self of the Helper. Chaz provides both clinical and reflective supervision to clinicians across many settings to help further their ability to find their voice in the field and maintain engagement in their work. Chaz has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from McKendree University, and a Master of Social Work degree from Saint Louis University (SLU). Chaz received his clinical license in 2009.
Kathryn is a licensed professional counselor in St. Louis City, currently working in solo private practice. Her human-oriented work has spanned the last 10 years in therapeutic, non-profit, and academic arenas. Kathryn’s approach to therapy is heavily influenced by philosophy, social stories, and folkloric practices, especially shaped by her learning and development through the Existential-Humanistic Institute based in Northern California. Specializing in relational growth, self-exploration, and the therapeutic expression of existential concerns, she utilizes an interdisciplinary approach that integrates existential, systemic, and attachment theories, often focusing on navigation of feelings of alienation and annihilation, and aiming to foster deeper senses of self-awareness and connection. Kathryn is the founder of the Midwest Humanistic Counselors Association, the current secretary of MMHCA, and this year she is extending her support of practitioners in the field into Colorado for the Fourth World Congress of Existential Therapy, as part of the ongoing volunteer committee. Kathryn holds a dual degree in Community Mental Health Counseling and School Counseling from the University of Missouri-St. Louis, she is a Nationally Certified Counselor and licensed to practice in both Missouri and New Hampshire. She is currently a new member of NHMHCA and is excited to bridge the knowledge and working practices between the two states.
Missouri Mental Health Counselors Association (MMHCA) has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 2059. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. MMHCA is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.
*Training could be cancelled or postponed if there are not more than 5 registrants for this date’s training. By registering for this training using the MMHCA Online Education Platform, you are acknowledging your participation and payment for this course. Should you, the participant, need to withdraw from a registered course, you must provide a minimum of 48 hour notification to MMHCA by contacting us. Upon notification you will be permitted to re-enroll into another course within the fiscal operating year or may request a refund. Refunds for courses are 75% of your total enrollment costs. Individuals who do not attend a training that was paid and registered for will not qualify for a reimbursement for the course or rescheduling the course because prior notification was not conducted.
