Lou Lebentz’s opening session will highlight how we can best help support those going through post-pandemic stress and other forms of trauma, mental health issues, and nervous system dysregulation while reconnecting to ourselves, our families, peers and communities. In this enlightening presentation, we aim to:

• Learn how observing through a trauma lens will help you work with more people effectively.
• Realise why a deeper connection to yourself and your body is more important than your modality, knowledge or training.
• Discover how the therapeutic world has shifted in 2022 and how the future of healthcare will look moving on.

Vickineswarie will share about her personal story and journey on mental health through the years such as:

• How the pandemic has recently impacted the local mental health landscape.
• Her humble beginnings as a counsellor.
• Lessons drawn from her personal tragedy when she lost her son to suicide a few years ago.
• Her coping mechanisms in managing her loss and turning it to a mental health advocacy.

Practitioners are increasingly witnessing the benefits of mindfulness in complementary and integrative practice. In this session, we will:

• Define a mindful therapist.
• Understand the types of practice which benefit most from mindfulness.
• Learn about sample lesson plans and research studies that prove its effectiveness.

While social media among other things, can engender feelings of depression and anxiety when young people constantly compare themselves to others, it can also lead to extreme and damaging consequences. In this session, we will:

• Look at social media and cyber-bullying as it relates to the onset and maintenance of mental health concerns in teenagers and young adults.
• Evaluate the evolution of platforms that encourage maladaptive behaviours that contribute to pathology in young people.
• Explore the rise of eating disorders and related increase in activity on Pro-Ana and Pro-Mia websites, body size bullying, alongside self-harm and suicide attempts in adolescent population.

Compassion involves both inward and outward experiences. Extending compassion to the self helps soothe and alleviate feelings of inadequacy, anxiety and experiences of suffering, leading to healing and positive transformation. In this session, we will:

• Learn about the core elements of compassion and self-compassion.
• Discuss the cognitive neuroscience of compassion for dispelling the myth of compassion fatigue.
• Explore the various therapeutic applications and practices of self-compassion to fostering personal growth.

Process-based therapy bridges clinical science and practice. While it can target a broader range of problems than diagnosis-based protocols, it is easily more individualised and administered to a client. In this session, you will learn:

• The definition of process-based therapy.
• Real-life case studies of process-based treatments and its proven effectiveness.
• The premise behind the effectiveness of transdiagnostic approaches that target underlying psychological processes.

The practice of counselling and psychotherapy can be extremely gratifying. The positive impact they make in the lives of their patients is priceless. Yet, such work can be emotionally and mentally demanding too. In this panel discussion, we aim to:

• Identify the early distress signals and symptoms of practitioner burnout.
• Study the components of therapist burnout such as emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation as well as ways to treat them.
• Learn the preventive strategies to minimise potentially harmful effects of therapist burnout.