Clinical social workers are increasingly practicing in environments where social, political, and legal forces directly impact client safety, access to care, and autonomy. This workshop examines how to remain ethically grounded when professional values collide with restrictive laws, organizational mandates, or public pressure to remain “neutral.” Participants will explore real-world scenarios involving marginalized communities, where silence, compliance, or inaction may unintentionally cause harm. Using the NASW Code of Ethics as a living document rather than a static rulebook, the training emphasizes ethical reasoning over rigid answers. Through case analysis, guided reflection, and practical tools, clinicians will learn how to assess competing obligations, articulate ethical rationale, and make defensible decisions under scrutiny. The workshop also addresses moral distress and fear-driven decision-making, offering strategies to support ethical courage without reckless risk. Participants leave with a clear, repeatable framework for navigating politicized practice while staying aligned with professional ethics and clinical responsibility.

Katharine Campbell, PhD, LCSW

Perimenopause is a major life transition that can profoundly affect mental health, yet it is often overlooked or misdiagnosed. This session equips clinicians to identify the biological, psychological, and social features of perimenopause and recognize associated mental health symptoms including mood, trauma-related, and cognitive changes. Participants will learn trauma-informed, culturally responsive strategies to support clients, reduce misdiagnosis, and promote well-being. The session also covers collaboration and advocacy with medical providers and systems to improve outcomes. Attendees will leave with practical strategies and increased confidence for identifying and supporting clients through this critical life stage.

Avery Grant, LCSWA

When a family hears "dementia," they start making irreversible decisions such as selling the house, quitting jobs, and planning for memory care. But what if the diagnosis was wrong? As a pharmacist specializing in older adults, I've reviewed medication lists where the "dementia" diagnosis was actually drug-induced cognitive impairment—completely reversible once identified; Anticholinergics hiding in PM medications. Benzodiazepines prescribed years ago and never stopped. Sedatives masking as sleep aids. Social workers are often the first professionals families trust during care transitions. You see the medication lists. You hear the family's timeline. You're positioned to catch what others miss if you know what to look for. This workshop introduces the MEDIC framework: a systematic approach to identifying medication red flags before families commit to permanent care decisions. You'll leave with practical tools to ask better questions and recognize when "dementia" deserves a second look.

Jered Yalung, PharmD, CDP

This session explores how social workers can rebuild trust and strengthen engagement with clients who feel overwhelmed or disconnected due to a variety of factors such as lack of trust. We will discuss how Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART) quickly reduces trauma symptoms without retraumatization, while also helping protect clinicians from compassion fatigue. Through case examples and interactive activities, participants will learn practical, trauma-informed strategies they can use immediately across clinical, school, healthcare, crisis, and community settings.

Ashley Buckner LCSW, LCSW- QS, LISW- CP, LICSW, LISW, LISW-S, LSCSW, LCSW-C, LIMHP, MCAP, ICADC, CEOLD, CSW-G

Bonnie Russo, LCSW, QS, MCAP

Please join us to speak LIVE with the sponsors and exhibitors of the 2026 NASW-NC Virtual Clinical Social Work Institute during lunch.

Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) communities are often underserved and misunderstood within mental health systems in the United States. This presentation provides clinical social workers with a foundational understanding of the MENA region, including the countries it encompasses and patterns of migration to the U.S. Participants will explore the historical, political, and collective trauma shaping many MENA clients’ experiences, as well as the impact of war, displacement, colonialism, and ongoing global conflict. The session will examine cultural and religious contexts; including family structure, values, identity, and stigma, and how these factors influence mental health presentation and engagement in treatment. Emphasis will be placed on culturally responsive, trauma-informed clinical considerations to support effective assessment, therapeutic rapport, and intervention. This presentation is designed to strengthen clinicians’ cultural humility, competence, and effectiveness when working with MENA individuals and families across practice settings.

Christeen Badie MSW, LCSWA, LGSW,

Social workers often ask clients to build self-awareness, set boundaries, and practice self-care—while navigating chronic stress and trauma exposure themselves. This session offers a practical, conversational look at the SELF CARE framework as a shared clinical language and an ethical responsibility in social work practice. Participants will explore how provider health directly affects decision-making, boundaries, and client outcomes, and how misalignment between insight and application can contribute to burnout and codependent patterns. The framework integrates principles found across therapeutic models, helping clinicians reduce confusion while strengthening consistency in how self-care is understood, modeled, and practiced. Attendees will gain tools to recognize early signs of strain, deepen their own application of therapeutic principles, and engage in recovery-oriented work that supports sustainability—for themselves and alongside the clients they serve.

Sara Wilder, LCSW, LCAS, CCS, Founder

End-of-life care is never culturally neutral. This training explores how cultural values, family systems, spirituality, and historical agency mistrust shape end-of-life experiences and decision-making for older adults. Participants will examine common ethical tensions between Western models of individual autonomy and family-centered approaches, and learn how to engage in advance care planning conversations with greater cultural humility and sensitivity. Through case examples and practical clinical language, clinicians will gain tools to reduce harm, navigate complex family dynamics, and support clients’ values without pathologizing difference. Emphasis is placed on respectful communication, ethical reflection, honoring religious beliefs, and relational approaches that build trust with aging clients and their families across diverse cultural backgrounds.

Joanna Nunez, MSW, LCAS, LCSW,

Elevate your clinical practice with this dynamic session on screen addiction. Learn to expertly identify and treat problematic internet behaviors—including gaming, social media, and pornography—through evidence-based, culturally responsive strategies. Explore intersections with LGBTQ youth, neurodivergence, ADHD, and health disparities affecting Black and Brown communities. Gain practical tools rooted in neuroscience, attachment theory, and behavioral interventions, empowering your clients toward balanced, intentional digital engagement. Join us to confidently address one of today's most pressing mental health challenges.

Michael Eiden PhD, LCSW, LCADC, CSAT, CCS,

In any given year, around 22% of all married people have serious divorce ideation. Thoughts of divorce are dynamic, however, and most people who seriously consider divorce end up staying in their marriage. Not surprisingly, divorce ambivalence is a frequent topic in therapy, but training programs provide limited guidance on how to intervene with these clients. In fact, research suggests that therapists often inadvertently endorse divorce without a full understanding of the relationship dynamics. This workshop offers therapists a set of research-backed tools and concrete strategies to support clients navigating divorce ambivalence, whether it leads to a referral for couples work, moving towards separation/divorce, or accepting the status quo. Discernment Counseling is introduced as an option for couples on the brink of divorce. This short-term, highly focused alternative to traditional couples therapy seeks to help couples gain clarity and confidence in their decision-making about a path for their marriage.

Ginny Wright, PhD, Co-founder

Many clients enter therapy with polished presentations, people-pleasing tendencies, and perfectionism masking deep histories of trauma and chronic self-abandonment. This session explores the phenomenon of self-silencing through the framework of Internal Family Systems and somatic trauma work. We’ll focus on how over functioning and disappearing parts develop as survival responses—particularly in clients with marginalized identities—and how these patterns go unnoticed or are even rewarded in clinical spaces. Attendees will learn how to identify these parts, respond with clinical curiosity instead of collusion, and offer strategies that help clients reclaim voice, capacity, and internal safety. Grounded in culturally responsive practice, this session offers clinicians a path to disrupt burnout cycles and help clients come home to themselves.

America Allen, MSW, LCSW, Founder