This professional practice training is designed especially for mental health practitioners, victim advocates, law enforcement, and attorneys interested in the psychological motivations and behavioral characteristics of extreme Incels as they relate to detection, apprehension, treatment, and prevention. The scope, definitions and variations of Incels are explored through case analysis, relational paraphilic attachments, and their targets. Understanding the impact of lives bereft of intimacy and their quest to be heard, will help the participants appreciate the complexity of Inceldom. 

Participants will learn to distinguish typical Incels from those radicalized and violent. Extreme Incels have histories of stalking, serial rape, homicide, necrophilia, and mass shootings. Evolving from online misogynistic movements and chatrooms, Incels are developing their own sense of community that demonizes women and distorts perceptions of masculinity. Focus is given to emerging technologies and social media environments used by Incels.           

Objectives:

• Acquire definitional and applied understanding of Incels and other terminology 
• Explore etiology of Incels, including current social, psychological, and behavioral factors
• Examine the role of sexual fantasy development and cognitive processes of Incels 
• Review case studies of Incels since 2014

This professional practice training is a psycho-behavioral analysis of pedophiles and child molesters. The seminar is designed especially for law enforcement, forensic psychologists, attorneys, social workers, marriage and family therapists, victim specialists, victim advocates, and mental health practitioners interested in offenders who prey upon minors. 

Through lecture, discussion, and case review, the scope, typologies, etiology, and psycho-behavioral analysis of child predators will be evaluated. Understanding motivations, levels of psychopathy, mental disorders, and mental illness associated with targeting minors will help participants better understand and assess victim-offender relationships. Gradual cultural shifts in perceptions of MAPs (minor attracted persons) and professional mainstreaming of pedophilia are explored in relation to protecting children from sexual exploitation. Organizations dedicated to the sexual liberation of minors will be discussed and evaluated.

Objectives:

• Explore, through case analysis, the etiology of sex offending, fantasies, motivations, and gradations of victim-offender psychopathology in sex crimes. 
• Differentiate the psycho-social characteristics between common sex offenders and sexual predators, including pedophiles, child molesters and mysopeds.      
• Understand the foundations of preparatory and attack paraphilia as they pertain to relational paraphilic attachments (RPA) and their victims.
• Explore TOR technology, organizations, and social media environments used by child sexual predators.
• Discuss cultural and societal shifts that increasingly place minors at risk for sexual exploitation. 
• Examine organizations and current research advocating tolerance for minor attracted persons (MAPs).

In this session, the speaker combines research data, professional insights and survivors’ shared histories to enlighten readers about the reality of female-perpetrated sexual abuse. Our culture denies that mothers can be sexual abuse perpetrators. Mother-daughter sexual abuse is especially under-recognized, under-researched and under-reported. 

This dynamic workshop describes the complex mother-daughter incestuous relationship: the subtle violations of normal mother-child boundaries, covert and overt abuse and the psychological manipulations used to silence victims. The session will also identify key steps that can help victims to overcome trauma and to develop a “survivor’s perspective.” Attendees will learn how to use the “language of resiliency” to identify and to reinforce victims' strengths thereby positively impacting both their self-perceptions and their life scripts.

Objectives:

• Describe intervention and prevention strategies for mothers as potential perpetrators
• Identify six therapeutic issues for victim recovery will be discussed.

A demonstration of ReliaTrax as well as take a peek at the offense specific tools

 included in the system. We will also have a Q & A to brainstorm with providers ways in which this Electronic Health Record can help meet the demands of mandated reporting; ways to bridge the communication gap within the entire treatment team. We will also look at ways to include client participation and data collection within web-based portal

Objectives:

·      Understanding ways to optimize agency functions using the ReliaTrax platform

The treatment of adolescents with sexual behavior problems has historically focused on treating the adolescent offender from a model(s) borrowed almost exclusively from the treatment of adult sex offenders. Within the last 15 years there has been a much needed paradigm shift for clinicians, treatment providers and educators to take into account essential developmental differences and empirical clinical interventions in the treatment of youth with sexual behavior problems. During this workshop, past history through current approaches working with these particular youth will be presented and discussed.

The problem of youth who have committed sexual offenses and/or engaged in inappropriate sexual acting-out is a complex one with serious and far-reaching consequences to the victim, the offender and to all the families involved. It takes a unique client/family needs-based treatment approach to address and resolve this problem. 

This didactic, interactive presentation will demonstrate the relevance of the treatment provider, juvenile probation officer, county assistant district attorney, children's advocacy center, polygrapher & other mental health professional in the healing process. Empirically addressing inappropriate sexual behaviors, adolescent brain development and relevant research supported intervention techniques are the focus of this workshop. The ultimate goal is to affect positive change for the victim, offender, and caregiver. Audience participation will be encouraged and case examples and video clips will be shared to illuminate concepts addressed in the presentation.

Objectives:

·      Review what principles we originally believed and the changes over the years.

·      Examine research regarding juvenile sex offender recidivism rates and issues

Identify effective, empirically guided and compassionate components involved in the treatment of youth who have committed sexual offenses.

Providing successful treatment demands a multi-layered approach. In this session, the speaker will examine specific trauma-informed practices at the client, family, worker, supervisor, agency, and community level. Attendees will share tools for each level.

Objectives:

·      Identify practices that sustain trauma-informed care, such as supervision, trauma-informed teams, and attention to vicarious traumatization.

·      Describe how to measure the provision of trauma-informed care in an agency, and how to document progress in achieving it.

At some point in your work you will be asked (or told) to go to court because someone has decided that our testimony is essential to the judge or jury in making informed decisions. Going to court is often described as the “worst part of my job”. It can be intimidating and overwhelming to have to testify. To be successful, it is essential to be prepared and to understand the process. This workshop will discuss the process and ways professionals can feel more confident in the courtroom.

Objectives:

·      Be aware of issues that may affect courtroom experience

·      Gain an understanding of proper preparation

·      Be more confident when going to court

When families encounter the criminal justice system based on allegations of sexual offenses against their adolescence children, their immediate reactions include shock and disbelief, anger, denial, blaming the victim, sadness and fear. They often continue to minimize or deny an offense occurred. Not wanting to be associated with the label of "sex offender", they try hard to protect their "good name" by remaining in that denial and providing a temporary escape from facing the problem. Unfortunately, this initial state of denial on the part of caregivers impacts an adolescent's ability to accept responsibility for his/her offense.

The juveniles, themselves, generally struggle with a deep sense of shame. As we know, accepting full responsibility for their offense allows them to face their shame and face both legal consequences and consequences relating to a disruption in family relationships. Unfortunately, juveniles whose caregivers remain in denial about the offense, typically make little or no effort to accept responsibility for the offending behavior and/or thoughts and behaviors leading to the offense. Denial on the part of caregivers and, subsequently, from adolescent offenders, presents a major barrier to a successful treatment process and potentially raises the risk of future criminal offenses.

In this presentation, essential information about and strategies for working with these families will be discussed. 

Objectives:

·      Understand the barriers to successful treatment related to resistant support systems.

·      Describe tools to more effectively engage resistant support systems

·      Identify the needs of the juvenile, which are the responsibility of the support system, in order to provide the highest probability of treatment success.

Collaboration to facilitate treatment in cases of youth who have sexually offended is critical to the success of the youth in the therapeutic process. The various multidisciplinary team members involved in such cases need to be able to communicate with each other and work together to ensure that everyone who needs intervention services receives such services. Finding resources alone is a complex task, in addition to managing the different perspectives of the team members who are working with the juvenile himself/herself, the victim, and caregivers, as well as other extended family members. The team often includes, at a minimum, therapists, probation officers, caseworkers, case managers, law enforcement officers, and attorneys. Barriers seem even more overwhelming to overcome in cases where the youth who has offended and his/her victim(s) are members of the same family.

It is oftentimes particularly difficult to persuade families to have the victim(s) in therapy when there is no Court involvement and no formal requirements for victims to receive their own follow-up. Additional barriers may be rendered by the families themselves, who have their own attitudes and perspectives of what needs to be happening in the case. Many caregivers, who should be involved in every element of treatment, often have past trauma of their own to manage, such that a trauma-informed approach to case management is often imperative for successful case outcomes. This presentation will explore the challenges of successful collaboration, particularly from the perspectives of a juvenile probation officer and mental health clinicians who work with youth who have committed illegal sexual behavior, victims, and caregivers. Case examples, including at least one case of an adolescent female who has offended sexually, will be utilized to illustrate the challenges of successfully blending voices of the professionals and family members involved in these cases to strengthen lives of the youth who has offended, his/her victim(s), caregivers, and other members of the family.

Objectives

·      Identify the critical importance of collaboration between professionals and family members when working with cases in which youth have sexually offended.

·      Identify some of the barriers, challenges, and possible strategies in working to coordinate therapeutic interventions for all members of the family in which a youth has offended, particularly when the victim(s) is/are part of the same family.

·      Understand the importance of a trauma-informed approach to case management in families in which a youth has sexually offended.

There are many benefits of working in a multidisciplinary team setting, but it also brings ethical challenges as a result of conflicting values and roles. This seminar will examine ethical issues as they apply to members of multidisciplinary teams.

Ethical decision making refers to the process of evaluating and choosing among alternatives in a manner consistent with ethical principles. Ethical principles are the fundamental ground rules of decision making, not just factors to consider. Any decision made in a case has ethical implications for the team, and reflects the decision maker's sensitivity and commitment to the team concept. Each member of a team that is affected by a decision will deal with the consequences of that decision. This concept reinforces our professional obligation to make all reasonable efforts to anticipate possible consequences and take reasonable steps to avoid unjustified harm to others.

Objectives:

• Identify and recognize essential steps for ethical problem solving in a multidisciplinary setting. 
• Identify and analyze ethical issues, client’s rights and confidentiality related to family violence cases.
• Examine privacy in a multidisciplinary setting and how to problem solve when team members are “not on the same page.”

This keynote will look at three current issues. The first is whether or not pedophilia is deviant or a normal variation of human sexuality.  Based on recent research that pedophilia is congenital, there has been a push lately to “destigmatize” pedophilia. DSM-5 has already done so, as pedophilia is no longer a mental disorder; only pedophilic disorder is. The later requires discomfort with being attracted to children or the commission of a crime. 

The workshop will look at the arguments and reasoning behind them. The second issue is what risk assessment instruments measure.  Do they measure reoffending or recidivism and what is the difference? What role does differential reporting play? The third issue is thinking errors of therapists. To what extent do therapists judge reoffense probability and treatment progress on likeability? Does therapist attachment to clients play a role in risk assessment? These and other controversies will be explored in this workshop.

This is a panel discussion involving Psychologists who do the assessments and representatives from TDCJ's Rehabilitation program, and the Texas Civil Commitment Office. Panelists will discuss the procedures assessment techniques and the decision-making process that determines what happens to incarcerated offenders with multiple counts of violent sexual charges.

Objectives:

·      Understand the process of Civil Commitment in Texas.

·      Learn the assessment procedures for performing a Behavioral Abnormality Assessment.

2020 and the pandemic made many of us re-think how we deliver treatment while focusing on keeping children after sexual abuse has occurred. Families of youth with sexual behavior problems are no different. They have had to scramble for supervision, access to siblings, access to the internet for school and entertainment. Many of us have learned we needed to change quickly to meet the needs of our youth and families with a focus on reducing access for continued harm. This workshop will be an interactive transition from deficit-based treatment and safety planning to strength based, taking into consideration the whole youth and support system all while using technology to deliver treatment. 

This workshop will look at similarities and differences in the three categories listed above.  Psychopathy has been called “aggressive narcissism.” Are there differences in treatment protocols for individuals who are narcissistic versus those who include narcissistic traits along with psychopathic features?  How best to manage offenders with borderline personality disorder? How to distinguish between psychopaths who are faking mental illness from those with borderline personality disorder and major mental illness? This workshop will look at thinking styles, methods of deception, and emotional make-up of these three categories of offenders.

With the onset of the COVID-19 global pandemic, many providers found themselves abruptly thrust into the world of telehealth services delivery. As agencies, clinicians, and clients have adapted to new technologies and new methods of clinical practice and collaboration, there is a need to reflect on ethical best practices in this modality. This presentation will emphasize ethical best practices using technology and telehealth, ethical responses to unique challenges faced by clients and providers using this modality, and ethical concerns unique to using virtual methods with justice involved clients. 

Objectives:

• Identify ethical concerns specific to telehealth services delivery in clinical practice. 
• Identify ethical responses to challenges faced by their clients when using telehealth practice. 
• Generate ethical solutions to common problems in telehealth clinical services delivery. 
• Describe the ethical implications of telehealth services delivery that are specific to justice-involved clients. 

Supervising new therapists in the mental health world is a complicated process under the best circumstances. However, this process carries with it far more concerns and nuances when combined with the wealth of information, skills, and attitudes necessary to effectively provide treatment to individuals with histories of sexual abuse. Ensuring optimal client care, while also facilitating the further development of therapist skills and selfcare requires a particular attention in supervisors. Moreover, most mental health educational programs provide little to no support in orienting students to the field of working with individuals with sexual abuse. This presentation seeks to further the conversation on what is involved in successfully acclimating new therapists.

Through thorough discussions of lived supervisory successes and failures, as well as a review of the relevant literature, this presentation will provide some frameworks to help supervisors in the process of training new therapists. The presenters will address issues related to therapist objectivity, parallel process, developing new clinician skills (i.e. trauma-informed care, motivational interviewing), vicarious trauma, as well as various supervisory models and their use in this field. The presentation will first review common pitfalls in the supervisory relationship and common causes of therapist burnout. Next, specific suggestions and steps will be discussed to help supervisors respond to common problems that arise. These will be developed through a lens of lived experiences and relevant literature with an opportunity for discussion from all participants.

Objectives:

·      Develop an understanding of common pitfalls in supervising new therapists working with individuals with histories of sexual abuse.

·      Articulate specific steps to optimize the supervisory relationship for therapist’s working with individuals with histories of sexual abuse.

·      Engage with ways to facilitate self-care, education, and skills development for new therapists working with individuals with histories of sexual abuse.

From experts on working with court-mandated populations, this session will show how motivational interviewing (MI) can help offenders move beyond resistance or superficial compliance and achieve meaningful behavior change. Using this evidence-based approach promotes successful rehabilitation and reentry by drawing on clients' values, goals, and strengths--not simply telling them what to do. 

Objectives:

·      Clearly describe the core techniques of MI.

This presentation will provide treatment providers an understanding of how these investigations is conducted. A discussion will include the means by which the offenders download these files and the common search terms used in locating these files will also be addressed. Additionally, the evidence that supports the offender’s intent to collect, distribute, and create these images and videos will be explained. This knowledge can assist in confronting the denial and/or minimization of the client. Research indicates that approximately 80 percent of individuals who possession sexually exploitive images have committed hands-on offenses. However, treatment for these offenders must also include issues directly related to their collection and viewing of these files. Therapeutic goals and treatment protocols will be discussed in this presentation that can be incorporated in the offender’s treatment.

Objectives:

·      Understand the key steps in an investigation.

·      Learn the terms used by investigations.

·      Generate therapeutic goals based on investigative conclusions.

Male victims can experience overwhelming gender bias when disclosing sexual abuse, whether their perpetrator is male or female. This program discusses male sexual victimization, the unique challenges men face and the myths that keep male victims silent. We’ll discover how “The Adverse Childhood Experiences Study” validates what many professionals have long believed about both the frequency and the resulting trauma of male sexual victimization. We’ll offer specific trauma informed approaches to working with male victims—from disclosure to therapy. Resources for male survivors will be shared.

Objectives:

·      List three myths about sexual abuse and explain how these untruths can make it more difficult for male victims to seek help.

·      Describe “The Adverse Childhood Experiences” (ACE) Study findings about the frequency of male sexual victimization, the gender of the perpetrators, and the long term effects on victims.

·      Give two examples of how to use “trauma informed care” specifically to support male victims.