“Strong Churches/Strong Marriages: How to start a marriage ministry in your church”

Claudia Arp and David Arp, MSW, counselors and founders of Marriage Alive International.

The church has a responsibility to support the institution of marriage. This workshop will help pastors,professional counselors, or marriage ministry leaders learn how to start a fun, effective, and biblically sound marriageministry in their church, or breathe new life into their current marriage ministry. Group techniques, exercises,and video-based curriculum to support troubled marriages and enrich strong ones will be utilized.

“Powerful Principles for Conflict Counseling”

Laura Mae Gardner, D.Min. (counselor and former Vice President of Personnel) and David Bendor-Samuel, Ph.D. (former translator and Vice President for Pastoral Care), both with Wycliffe Bible Translators and Summer Institute for Linguistics.

This workshop presents, in an easily memorized framework, powerful principles for dealing with conflict drawn from modern psychological and ancient biblical wisdom. These are applied interactively to case studies representing conflicts commonly experienced by persons engaged in cross-cultural and other stressful situations typical of missionary or other philanthropic work today.

“Assessment and Treatment of Compulsive Sexual Behavior in Men”

Roderick Hetzel, Ph.D., counseling psychologist, former professor at Le Tourneau University, counseling center staff psychologist at Baylor University.

Compulsive sexual behavior is a clinical syndrome characterized by recurrent and impulsive sexual thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that produce significant functional impairment. This workshop provides clinical training in the assessment and treatment of male sexual compulsivity. Participants will receive practical tools and strategies for use in clinical practice.

“Strategies for Designing Preventative Solutions for the Supervisory Hazard Zone”

Astra Brantley, Ph.D., psychologist and owner, The Brantley Group and the Institute for Christian Clinical Supervision, and Robert Brantley, co-presenter.

The challenge: how can a Christian adopt a model of supervision that addresses the need for empirical rigor and sound theology without assaulting supervisees’ diverse theoretical foundations? The presenter, after years of reviewing supervision literature, examining and refining supervisory tools for assessment of supervisees and provision of feedback to supervisees, theories about the bases of change, and the goals of Christian supervision , has developed a robust transtheoretical model. The presenter’s model provides clarity, parsimony and generalizability.

“Helping Couples Cultivate Intimacy in a Growth-Focused Marriage”

Gary J. Oliver, Th.M., Ph.D. (Director, The Center for Marriage and Family Studies) and Carrie E. Oliver, M.A., LPC, both counselors, marriage educators, teachers at John Brown University.

Participants will learn how to help couples: 1) understand the difference that the presence of Christ can make in a marriage; 2) develop strategies for couple prayer; 3) increase each person’s awareness of their positive aspects, strengths, and growth potential; 4) increase self-disclosure of the partner’s thoughts and feelings; 5) increase empathy and intimacy; and 6) develop skills needed for effective conflict management.

“Morality, Spirituality, and Personal Responsibility: Lessons from the Study of the Brain”

Sam Brinkman, Ph.D. (neuropsychologist) and Scott Perkins, Ph.D. (clinical psychologist), teachers at Abilene Christian University and partners in private practice.

Focusing on the integration of neuroscience and religion, this workshop will review basic neuropsychological principles and processes through the eyes of faith. Presenters will then offer suggestions for teaching neuroscience and for conducting clinical practice with an intentional commitment toward integrating spiritual perspectives into the practice of psychology.

“Emerging Ethical & Risk Management Issues in Christian Psychotherapy”

Randolph K. Sanders, Ph.D., clinical psychologist and CAPS Executive Director.

Here is an opportunity to learn about the array of current ethical and risk management issues in our field. We will review recent revisions to ethics codes, consider high risk treatment populations and strategies for dealing with them, analyze why complaints are surfacing against Christian therapists, discuss how to document in light of HIPAA, and more.

“Homosexuality: Research and Clinical Practice”

Mark A. Yarhouse, Psy.D., Regent University

What do we know about homosexuality from research? How might research inform clinical practice? In this workshop, we will examine the best studies on prevalence, etiology, mental health correlates, and whether orientation can be changed. We will then consider sexual identity and how this construct provides a common language for clinical practice.

“Teaching Integration and Integrating in our Teaching”

Drs. Randall Sorenson (Rosemead), Al Dueck (Fuller), Mark McMinn (Wheaton), Daryl Stevenson (Houghton), Rodger Bufford (George Fox), David Entwistle (Malone), Bryan Eck (Azusa Pacific), Gary Moon (PSI), Richard Beck (Abilene Christian), Peter Hill (Rosemead), and moderator: Steve Allison (Abilene Christian)

Many of the best teachers, researchers, and writers in the field of integration of psychology and Christian faith will come together in this workshop to share practical teaching tips, syllabi, and tools they use in classrooms across the nation to promote faith and learning. Some will share resources they use to integrate faith-based constructs into traditional psychology courses, while others will share materials from actual courses on "integration". Don't miss this rich opportunity to dialogue with and learn from some of our finest professors and master mentors!