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• Second Annual Mental Health & Wellness Retreat

  • Start
    Sat, September 13, 2025
  • End
    Sun, September 14, 2025
  • Location
    Katy Canyon Way, Arroyo Grande, CA. address to be shared upon registration
  • Spaces left
    65
  • Registered
    35 registrants

  Register

  
  

  Accomodations: SeaCrest Hotel at 2241 Price St, Pismo Beach, CA 93449 (805) 773-4608 established a room block in the system under “Central Coast CAMFT” for September 12^th-14^th obtaining (5) Oceanview King rooms and (5) Standard Non-View King rooms. If anyone would like to extend their reservation to stay through Monday, September 15^th please let them know and they will open a room up in the system for that Sunday night.
  

  Saturday 11:30-8pm

  Lunch and Connection

  Keynote Presentation:  
  Understanding Your Parts: Leading a Self-Led Life as a Therapist *2 CEs*

  Presented by: Dr. Maddisen Espeseth, PsyD
  CA Licensed Psychologist (32949)
  Certified Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapist
  IFS Institute Approved Clinical Consultant (IFS-I ACC)
  Registered Play Therapist - Supervisor (RPT-S)
  Certified Sandplay Therapist (CST)

  Workshop Description:
  The intent of this workshop is to introduce participants to Internal Family Systems (IFS) with a heavy emphasis on self-application and self-exploration. The workshop will start with psychoeducation about basic IFS tenets underlying the model philosophy. Discussion of how to identify parts and the concept of Self will be explored. Application of some of the learned tenets will then proceed via experiential meditation and mapping, focusing on Self-to-part witnessing of therapist (and personal) parts. The concepts of legacy and cultural burdens will be introduced with the aim of exploring the systemic influences impacting therapist parts’ expectations, values, beliefs, etc. (as in, exploring the influence of varying external systems impacting how one expects a therapist should act). 

  This course is designed to help therapists acknowledge the parallel process unfolding in the therapy room, recognizing some of the nuances of one's own system on both clinical and personal levels. Such self-reflection is aimed at improving self-awareness and mindful treatment decision-making with the intent of providing higher quality support to clients while conscientiously tending to one's own system. The dual nurturance of both clinical and personal parts is intended to support a Self-led life and career longevity. 

  About our Presenter:
  Dr. Maddisen Espeseth is a licensed psychologist with a private practice in Anaheim Hills, California. She is a Certified Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapist, IFS Institute Approved Clinical Consultant (IFS-I ACC), Registered Play Therapist - Supervisor (RPT-S), and Certified Sandplay Therapist (CST). Dr. Espeseth practices from an attachment-heavy, neurosequential lens, and specializes in trauma-related disorders and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). In addition to psychotherapy, Dr. Espeseth also provides neurodiversity affirming psychodiagnostic testing services with a speciality in autism. She loves consulting and supervising fellow clinicians, and is passionate about assisting providers with recognizing and supporting the parallel process inherent to clinical work. 

  Breakout Sessions

  Dinner and Connection

  
  

  Sunday 10:30 - 2pm

  Brunch and Connection

  Keynote Presentation:
  From Burnout to Balance: Mastering Your Emotional Intake (2 CEs) 
  Presenter: Gila Zak, C.Ht  
  Heal the Healer From Burnout to Balance: Mastering Your Emotional Intake is an experiential training designed to help therapists protect their energy, sharpen their presence, and sustain their careers. Participants will learn how everyday conversational trance and personal suggestibility patterns influence the way they absorb client emotions - often without realizing it.
  
  Through engaging demonstrations, self-hypnosis exercises, and practical reset rituals, attendees will discover state-shifting tools to reduce emotional overload, clear the day’s residue, and leave work feeling fresh.
  
  Drawing on both clinical hypnosis principles and insights into unconscious motivation, this training reframes dissociation as a skill when used strategically, introduces the power of the Observer Mind, and equips therapists with a personal toolkit to stay grounded, effective, and resilient - session after session, year after year.

  About our Presenter: 

  Considered a hypnotist’s hypnotist, Gila Zak, C.Ht. has over a decade of experience and has worked with well over a thousand clients. She maintains a full time practice in Los Osos, California and is a featured presenter at conferences and various professional and medical organizations and is the creatress of The Gallery © process and The Two Minds Technique ©.

  She is an honors graduate of HMI College of Hypnotherapy, a recipient of the prestigious Director’s Award and a Certified IEMT Practitioner, Sexual Freedom™ Practitioner, Bunny Talk™ Practitioner, Metaphors of Movement Facilitator and also holds a certificate in Advanced Handwriting Analysis.

  Her passion is espousing on all things hypnotic and helping people improve their relationship with themselves and life through greater understanding of the unconscious motivations that drive us.

  Whether working with clients or teaching fellow professionals, Gila brings warmth, wisdom, and a deep respect for the healing intelligence of the human psyche. Her workshops offer not just information, but transformation.

  You can find her on Youtube at @theGSpotHypnotherapy and @QuantumWavesHypnotherapy, Instagram at hypno_g and her website QuantumWavesHypnotherapy.com

  Closing Circle & Farewell Connections

  

  Grievance:

  While the Central Coast Chapter of CAMFT makes every effort to assure fair treatment for all participants and attempts to anticipate problems, there may be occasional issues with regard to presentations/workshops which will require intervention and/or action on the part of the board. This procedural description serves as a guideline for handling such grievances.

  When a participant files a grievance and expects action on the complaint, the following actions will be taken:

  1. The participant(s) will be asked to put concerns in writing (this can be in electronic form, such as an email).
  2. If the grievance concerns a presenter, the content presented by the speaker, or the style of presentation, the individual filing the grievance will be asked to put their comments in written format. The Board will then pass on the comments to the speaker, assuring the confidentiality of the grieved individual.
  3. If the grievance concerns a presentation/workshop offering, its content, level of presentation, or the facilities in which the workshop was offered, the Board will mediate and will be the final arbitrator. If the participant requests action, the Board will:

  • provide a credit for a subsequent presentation/workshop or
  • provide a partial or full refund of the presentation/workshop fee

  Refund policy: registrants must cancel their registration within 10 days of the event to receive a refund minus a $20 administrative fee.  Exceptions can be made for 48-hour notices in case of an emergency.  If you need to cancel, please contact Event Chair, Kim Richards: richardskimlmft@gmail.com. 

  Special Accommodations
  If you require a reasonable accommodation in order to participate in any of our events, please contact Event Chair Kim Richards within 10 days of the upcoming event at 805.458.8063 or email Kim Richards at richardskimlmft@gmail.com.

  Show details
• The Somatics of Shame

  • When
    Fri, September 26, 2025
  •  
    9:30 AM - 11:30 AM
  • Location
    Via Zoom
  • Registered
    22 registrants

  Register

  

  Central Coast–CAMFT
  
  presents:

  The Somatics of Shame

  Presented By:
  Craig Penner, LMFT

  Friday, September 26, 2025
  9:30 am - 11:30 am

  2 CE Credits
  Via Zoom

  * This event will be recorded and distributed to registrants so if you cannot make the event live, but want the recorded version, please register here*

  Overview of Presentation
  

  Shame is a complex “dilemma,” holding varied emotions, beliefs and somatic reactions behind dynamics of hiding and disconnecting. It all feels so awful that it makes it hard to self reflect, no less expose shame with others effectively. A compromised ability to self-reflect well is often a hallmark of dynamics that keep us from working through shame. Thus, shame is a developmental inhibitor. We try to live around it, and yet we live with its constrictions, sometimes for our entire lives. There is often a powerful dynamic that prevents certain beliefs and reactive patterns from ever truly being questioned. When this is exposed and addressed first, it can open the door to examining what has never been able to be seen. The physiology of shame can point us to moments of nervous system activation that require sustained awareness to effectively work through - on somatic, emotional and cognitive levels. We need to notice these pivotal points as they arise in order to pace the activation that drives such strong avoidance. 

  This presentation is designed to help therapists identify dynamics that make shame difficult to approach, including somatic and physiological aspects. A somatic approach facilitates our ability to observe shifts in activation that are not presented verbally. This allows us to pace the work and create collaborative agreements with our clients to address shame in the midst of powerful urges to hide and avoid.

  Objectives:

  • Participants are able to list 2 ways our nervous systems are engaged in shame dynamics
  • Participants are able to describe 3 challenges for clients in addressing shame
  • Participants are able to describe how disconnections are a factor in how shame persists
  • Participants are able to identify 2 advantages of holding a somatic focus when working with shame
  • Participants are able to explain 3 disconnecting dynamics that are helpful for therapists to pay attention to

  Speaker Bio:

  Craig Penner, LMFT, is a psychotherapist and trainer in private practice in California since 1982, currently in Cambria. He brings a process-oriented approach to therapy, with a strong somatic (body/nervous system) focus, and integrates the use of “bilateral stimulation” from EMDR. He has always believed that we have a natural drive to completion and resolution. This has inspired his commitment to develop “Natural Processing,” which is an integration of ways to utilize our own awareness to facilitate that drive. He has been training therapists in this approach across the US and Canada since 2014, and has led consultations and other trainings for over 25 years.

  CE Qualifications: 
  

  Unless otherwise specified, our courses meet the qualifications for 2 hours of continuing education credits for LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs and/or LEPs as required by the Board of Behavioral Sciences. Participants will receive an evaluation via email and upon completion of the eval, will get a downloadable CE certificate.
  
  The Central Coast Chapter of CAMFT is approved by the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists to sponsor continuing education for MFTs, Associates and students, MSWs, LEPs and LPCCs. The Central Coast Chapter of CAMFT maintains responsibility for this program/course and its content.

  Grievance:

  While the Central Coast Chapter of CAMFT makes every effort to assure fair treatment for all participants and attempts to anticipate problems, there may be occasional issues with regard to presentations/workshops which will require intervention and/or action on the part of the board. This procedural description serves as a guideline for handling such grievances.

  When a participant files a grievance and expects action on the complaint, the following actions will be taken:

  1. The participant(s) will be asked to put concerns in writing (this can be in electronic form, such as an email).
  2. If the grievance concerns a presenter, the content presented by the speaker, or the style of presentation, the individual filing the grievance will be asked to put their comments in written format. The Board will then pass on the comments to the speaker, assuring the confidentiality of the grieved individual.
  3. If the grievance concerns a presentation/workshop offering, its content, level of presentation, or the facilities in which the workshop was offered, the Board will mediate and will be the final arbitrator. If the participant requests action, the Board will:

  • provide a credit for a subsequent presentation/workshop or
  • provide a partial or full refund of the presentation/workshop fee

  Refund policy: registrants must cancel their registration within 10 days of the event to receive a refund minus a $5 administrative fee.  Exceptions can be made for 48-hour notices in case of an emergency.  If you need to cancel, please contact Event Chair, Kim Richards: richardskimlmft@gmail.com. 

  Special Accommodations
  If you require a reasonable accommodation in order to participate in any of our events, please contact Event Chair Kim Richards within 10 days of the upcoming event at 805.458.8063 or email Kim Richards at richardskimlmft@gmail.com.

  Show details
• Beyond Couples Therapy: Polyamory and Systemic Practice

  • When
    Fri, October 24, 2025
  •  
    9:30 AM
  • Location
    Via Zoom
  • Registered
    3 registrants

  Register

  

  Central Coast–CAMFT
  
  Presents:

  Beyond Couples Therapy: Polyamory and Systemic Practice

  Presenter: James Gavin Bridges PhD, LMFT, CFLE
  

  Fri., Oct. 24th 9:30-11:30am PST

  Zoom (2 CEs)

  * Training will be recorded and available after October 24th to registered participants who are unable to join live*

  Overview of Presentation:

  This presentation provides audience members with helpful concepts related to non-monogamy and systemic practice. It goes over relational terms used by the community, important distinction between commonly used language, and encourages therapists to remain curious about clients’ language even after doing their own homework. The presentation will introduce clinicians to key tasks in therapy when working with non-monogamous client systems.

  Clinicians will also learn which relational therapy approaches and interventions can be used with non-monogamous clients as they work on relationship structure formation, agreement making, and recovery from relational ruptures. Audience members can expect to learn skills and strategies for working with clients navigating non-monogamy or wanting to be non-monogamous (i.e., opening up). Throughout the presentation, audience members can also expect to work on self-reflection as they contemplate providing therapeutic help to clients in non-monogamous relationship structures.  

  Presentation Goals:

  - Understand concepts related to non-monogamy and systemic practice.
  - Understand key tasks in therapy when working with non-monogamous client systems.
  - Identify narratives and biases related to socialization in a mono-normative society
  - Describe relational therapy approaches/interventions that can be used with non-monogamous clients.
  - Apply skills and strategies for working with clients navigating non-monogamy or wanting to be non-monogamous. 

  Measurable objectives:

  a. Participants will be able to identify at least 6 key principles of what presenting problems brings non-monogamous clients into therapy.

  b. Participants will be able to name 3 communication interventions that can be used with agreement making for non-monogamous relationship systems.

  c. Participants will be able to identify 5 different theories of marriage and family therapy that can be used when working with non-monogamous systems.

  d. Participants will be able to state the 4 main principles of structuring agreement conversations effectively.

  Bio: Jimmy Bridges (he/they), PhD, LMFT, CFLE Jimmy is a licensed couple and family therapist in Massachusetts and Vermont, a certified family life educator through NCFR, an AAMFT approved supervisor and clinical fellow, and part-time faculty at National University in the MFT masters and doctoral programs. He received his doctoral and master’s degrees in Couple and Family Therapy from Kansas State University. He also received two graduate certificates in Gender, Women, & Sexuality Studies and Social Justice Education from Kansas State University. His clinical specialization is working with queer and non-monogamous clients. He has presented in university settings, conferences, regional organizations, and online platforms on non-monogamy and couples therapy models. Jimmy has worked in community mental health, group practice, and currently works in private practice with their nesting partner, who is also a therapist.

  Grievance:

  While the Central Coast Chapter of CAMFT makes every effort to assure fair treatment for all participants and attempts to anticipate problems, there may be occasional issues with regard to presentations/workshops which will require intervention and/or action on the part of the board. This procedural description serves as a guideline for handling such grievances.

  When a participant files a grievance and expects action on the complaint, the following actions will be taken:

  1. The participant(s) will be asked to put concerns in writing (this can be in electronic form, such as an email).
  2. If the grievance concerns a presenter, the content presented by the speaker, or the style of presentation, the individual filing the grievance will be asked to put their comments in written format. The Board will then pass on the comments to the speaker, assuring the confidentiality of the grieved individual.
  3. If the grievance concerns a presentation/workshop offering, its content, level of presentation, or the facilities in which the workshop was offered, the Board will mediate and will be the final arbitrator. If the participant requests action, the Board will:

  • provide a credit for a subsequent presentation/workshop or
  • provide a partial or full refund of the presentation/workshop fee

  Refund policy: registrants must cancel their registration within 10 days of the event to receive a refund minus a $5 administrative fee.  Exceptions can be made for 48-hour notices in case of an emergency.  If you need to cancel, please contact Event Chair, Kim Richards: richardskimlmft@gmail.com. 

  Special Accommodations
  If you require a reasonable accommodation in order to participate in any of our events, please contact Event Chair Kim Richards within 10 days of the upcoming event at 805.458.8063 or email Kim Richards at richardskimlmft@gmail.com.

  Show details