ACAC Featured Sessions:

Friday, April 27

2:00 pm – 3:30 pm

Program ID #182, Room A407

Adverse Childhood Experiences, Trauma and Child-Centered Play Therapy

90-Minute Education Session

Dee C. Ray

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), traumatic experiences during childhood, are correlated to posttraumatic stress, behavioral problems and psychiatric disorders. The purpose of this session is to inform play therapists about the role and effects of ACEs, the relationship between ACEs and trauma and how play therapists can respond most effectively to children who have experienced multiple ACEs.

Saturday, April 28

8:00 am – 8:30 am

Program ID #576, 3rd Floor, Poster Area 4

A Model to Enhance Attachment for Perinatal Maternal Mental Illness in the United States

30-Minute Poster Session

Quinn K. Smelser

Research highlights the impact a mother’s psychological instability can have on the attachment security and physical and psychological health of a child and on the recurrence of a maladaptive cycle through generations in a family. Models studied in other countries suggest that group interventions, multidisciplinary treatment teams and mother-infant inpatient psychiatric units are the most effective in treating the mother’s mental illness and building attachment security in the mother-child dyad.

Sunday, April 29

12:15 pm – 1:15 pm

Program ID #446, Room A407

Mindfulness in Schools: Planning and Implementing a School-Based Program

60-Minute Education Session

Gail K. Roaten, Elsa Soto Leggett

Mindfulness has become a “hot topic” in counseling! Mindfulness programs in schools show promising results. Attendees will learn about the research on mindfulness as well as the basics of planning for and implementing a mindfulness program in a school. Numerous examples of mindfulness activities will be provided along with a couple of experiential activities.

Come by our table in the exhibit hall or come to our general membership meeting. Students welcome!