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2026 Clinical Social Work Conference From Isolation to Integration: Strengthening Social Work Through Connection
Join us for the 2026 Clinical Social Work Conference—a dynamic day of learning, connection, and professional growth. The program will feature dedicated networking time, an inspiring keynote opening address, and your choice of two engaging workshops. All attendees will receive 3 CEUs for full participation. During registration, you will be able to select the workshops you wish to attend; please note that each workshop is limited to 20 participants, so early selection is encouraged. We look forward to welcoming you to this enriching in person event.
Event Schedule:
8:00 - 8:30 AM | Continental Breakfast (Networking)
9:00 - 10:00 AM | Keynote Address
10:00 - 10:45 AM | Concurrent Breakout Sessions I
11:00 - 11:45 AM | Concurrent Breakout Sessions II
12:00 - 1:00 PM | Networking Hour
Final Closing & Networking in Courtyard
SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITY: Become a sponsor and show your support for the clinical social work community! Sponsorship offers valuable visibility, meaningful connection with practitioners, and the opportunity to demonstrate your commitment to advancing mental health care. Join us in making a lasting impact—explore our sponsorship opportunities and partner with us today. CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE AND BECOME A SPONSOR TODAY!
9:00 - 10:00 AM | Keynote Address: Dr. Wendy Ashley, Psy.D., LCSW
Author of Merging Clinical Social Work Practice and Antiracist Positioning
Dr. Wendy Ashley, Psy.D., LCSW, is a distinguished clinician, educator, author, and social-justice advocate whose work spans more than three decades.
After earning her Psy.D. in Clinical Psychology from Ryokan College, Dr. Ashley built on a foundation that includes an MSW from the University of Southern California and a BA in Psychology from University of California, Riverside. Since becoming a licensed clinical social worker in 1998, she has dedicated her career to trauma-informed, culturally responsive therapy and anti-oppressive practice.
In her private practice, Dr. Ashley provides psychotherapy for individuals, couples, and families, using evidence-based modalities including EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) and the Psychobiological Approach to Couples Therapy (PACT).
Alongside her clinical work, she serves as a professor and faculty member at California State University, Northridge (CSUN), where she brings her extensive experience in community mental health, child welfare, and social justice advocacy into teaching, training, and curriculum development.
Dr. Ashley is widely recognized for her commitment to social justice, anti-racism, and culturally competent care. She integrates academic rigor with compassion and lived-experience wisdom, creating therapeutic and educational spaces that honor identity, intersectionality, and healing.
As an author, consultant, and keynote speaker, Dr. Ashley continues to influence the field of social work by challenging systems, training the next generation of practitioners, and advocating for equity, inclusion, and empowerment for marginalized communities.
10:00 - 10:45 AM | Concurrent Breakout Sessions I (Select one workshop session from the below options when you register.)
Rooted & Resilient: Building Sustainable Healing Social workers often carry the dual responsibility of supporting clients while navigating systemic stressors, compassion fatigue, and burnout themselves. Rooted & Resilient offers a multi-layered, healing-centered framework that strengthens resilience across youth, families, and professionals. Developed from direct practice in schools and community settings, this ecosystem integrates clinical theory with culturally responsive interventions to promote sustainability and thriving. At the heart of the model is the Rooted Resilience Theory, which weaves together:
This session will demonstrate how the Rooted & Resilient ecosystem translates theory into practice:
Through reflection, interactive practice, and case examples, participants will leave with practical rituals, conversation prompts, and strategies they can apply in clinical sessions, supervision, and community work. Rooted & Resilient is more than a curriculum-it is an adaptable ecosystem for sustaining both social workers and the communities they serve.
Rooted in Connection: Using Eco-Therapy to Move from This interactive 90-minute session explores how Eco-Therapy—nature-based interventions—can help social workers address client isolation, foster meaningful connections, and strengthen the profession as a whole. Participants will learn practical strategies for integrating Eco-Therapy into clinical practice, including techniques that promote community building, cultural humility, interdisciplinary collaboration, and clinical innovation. Through case examples, experiential exercises, and group discussion, attendees will discover ways to enhance therapeutic relationships, support client well-being, and cultivate resilience and creativity in their own professional practice. This session emphasizes actionable tools for moving from isolation to integration—for clients, clinicians, and the broader social work community.
Can You Hear Me Now? This workshop introduces a trauma-informed, arts-based intervention designed to help justice-impacted Black and Brown men break emotional silence through spoken word poetry. Implemented in a reentry program on Skid Row, the project fostered healing, connection, and voice. Attendees will explore clinical implications, case examples, and practical tools to integrate culturally responsive, creative methods into their work—aligning with CSCSW’s theme of moving from isolation to integration in clinical practice. |
Group as Catalyst: The Healing Power of Interpersonal Process Group Therapy This 60-minute presentation explores the transformative potential of group therapy as an evidence-based, cost-effective treatment modality. Participants will gain practical knowledge about different types of group therapy, with particular focus on interpersonal process groups that emphasize here-and-now dynamics and relational healing. Drawing from over two decades of experience running adolescent and young adult groups, this session will address target populations, group formation strategies, leadership techniques, and the unique benefits group therapy offers beyond individual treatment. Attendees will learn how groups serve as a "social microcosm" where participants can explore relationship patterns, receive real-time feedback, and experience corrective emotional experiences. The presentation includes practical guidance on starting and maintaining successful groups, addressing common challenges, and understanding group dynamics. Special attention will be given to the concept of family as the "first group" and how therapeutic groups can provide reparative relational experiences. This presentation fits with the conference theme "From Isolation to Integration"--as all groups are about strengthening connections.
When Fear Becomes Reality "When Fear Becomes Reality" presentation designed for mental health professionals working with undocumented and immigrant impacted communities who live under the persistent threat of detention, deportation, and systemic oppression. This training integrates Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)–based strategies with a culturally responsive, decolonizing lens to address the unique challenges undocumented clients face when fear becomes a daily reality. Participants will learn how to adapt DBT skills—such as “COPE AHEAD” and “PLEASE”—to immigration-related fear, practice constructing coping scripts, and integrate self-soothing strategies that honor cultural strengths and lived experiences. The workshop will also highlight the dialectic of joy and fear as a therapeutic tool, and emphasize approaches that are both trauma-informed and culturally grounded for both the client and the clinician. This presentation is intended to expand clinicians’ capacity to provide affirming, effective care for undocumented individuals and communities navigating ongoing systemic threats, while supporting practitioners in their own regulation and resilience.
Culturally Congruent Care: Strength This presentation explores how culturally congruent and anti-racist approaches to clinical social work strengthen connection, healing, and resilience in practice. Drawing on qualitative findings from in-depth interviews with 25 licensed clinical social workers (LCSWs), the session highlights how practitioners are navigating cultural humility, systemic inequities, and community needs in their work. Participants will learn strategies for integrating anti-racist frameworks into therapeutic practice, fostering authentic connection with clients across diverse identities, and cultivating collaborative professional communities. By centering cultural congruence and relational practice, this session reflects the movement from isolation to integration—advancing a more inclusive, connected, and sustainable future for clinical social work. |
11:00 - 11:45 AM | Concurrent Breakout Sessions II (Select one workshop session from the below options when you register.)
The intersection of immigration, mental health and belonging: Supporting immigrant families This presentation examines the intersection of immigration, mental health, and belonging, centering immigrant families who live under the threat of enforcement and separation. Grounded in a trauma-informed and culturally rooted lens, it highlights a community education and response model created in collaboration with legal providers, human rights defenders, community-based organizations, and technology partners. The presentation will share best practices for supporting families through practical, accessible tools developed by Corazon Norte in partnership with community: a mobile app for those at risk of detention, family emergency preparedness plans, and parent guides for discussing immigration enforcement with children. It will also showcase age-appropriate games and activities designed to foster children’s understanding, self-esteem, and sense of belonging while actively combating anti-immigrant rhetoric. This cross-disciplinary approach demonstrates how clinical innovation, cultural humility, and systemic collaboration can strengthen communities and sustain immigrant families through ongoing challenges.
Sibling Abuse: Reporting, Intervention & Treatment Participants are provided with two sibling abuse case scenarios or examples of real-life situations that are differentiated primarily by the outcomes. Each is similar in case details with the exception of the referral after the reports for sibling abuse were made. Participants have an opportunity to apply the presentation discussion in making determinations in their own professional environments. The presentation then focuses on the variables found in the research that impact sibling abuse reporting, intervention, and treatment. These include a discussion of the definitions of sibling abuse applied in reporting sibling abuse; the training of mandated reporters, and practitioners (McDonald & Martinez, 2019) in understanding and interpreting state law regarding child abuse; the age of the sibling who was harmed; and the age and caretaking responsibilities of the sibling perpetrating the harm. Sibling abuse training is discussed, including sibling abuse assessment, for professionals and mandated reporters as employment of specific disciplines can impact sibling abuse investigation (Kominkiewicz, 2004). Training for parents and caregivers includes an understanding of recovery, resiliency, and reconciliation in working with sibling abuse. Training for parents and caregivers who may minimize or normalize children’s violent conflicts (McDonald & Martinez, 2016) should also understand the importance of recovery, resiliency, and reconciliation in training. Much research is focused on child sexual abuse; however, limited resources are provided to addressing sibling sexual abuse (McCoy, Sonnen, Mii, Huit, Meidlinger, Coffey, May, Flood, & Hansen, 2021), and this is an important aspect in reforming policy regarding sibling abuse. |
This presentation explores how social workers can foster rapport, self-determination, and independence across all populations using evidence-based practices. These concepts, often discussed in theory, will provide evidence-based practices based on research for social workers to use in their practice across systems, especially when working with high-needs or marginalized communities. Drawing from research, real-world case studies, and personal experience, the course walks participants through universal strategies that lead to long-term engagement, autonomy, and stability. These core values will build trust, whether working in healthcare, child welfare, mental health, or housing services, and respect the dignity of marginalized populations in social work practice, all while adhering to the NASW Code of Ethics.
Connection Rooted in Cultural Humility Participants will engage in a training focused on identifying the relationship between reflexivity, positionality, and cultural humility. Participants will be led through activities that will foster self-reflection, critical discourse, and experiential activities through vignettes. Through activities, participants will identify considerations when engaging in practices with clients, colleagues, clinical supervisors, and clinical supervisees. This presentation will be focused on participants engaging in self as well as group reflection in considerations for practices rooted in cultural humility when engaging across difference with clients, colleagues, clinical supervisors, as well as clinical supervisees.
Embracing The Shadow: Finding Hope for Traumatized Clinicians Anxiety, fear, resentment, relief, excitement, insecurity, dread; all commonly experienced emotions by both seasoned clinicians returning to the field post-pandemic and new clinicians only ever familiar with cyberspace. The return of clinicians to the field post-pandemic elicited a combination of complex emotions, often accompanied by the feeling of starting over again. Both during and after the pandemic, clinicians faced new kinds of compassion fatigue, shared collective grief, and vicarious trauma exposure. This presentation will identify signs of burnout, emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and trauma-based intrusions that clinicians often face, particularly for social workers who value a relational, person-centered approach in client care. Using an archetypal framework, this presentation will explore various roles that clinicians may carry and identify with, so as to prompt a reflection on how our relationship with these roles impacts our ability to give ourselves permission to engage in our own healing practices, thereby increasing compassion toward our own boundaries and capacity to navigate through the changing landscape of client care.
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