Join us for FCA's
2025 Virtual Traumatology Symposium!
"Healing Fractured Identities:
Advancing Mental Health, Social Justice,
and Self-Empowerment in the Face of Inequity"
Friday, June 13, 2025
9:00 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. EST
Approved for 6.0 Hours of CEs from the
Florida Board of CSW/MFT/MHC and NBCC
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!
Andrea Garraway Counseling PLLC
Infinite Potential Counseling and Consultation
The Florida Counseling Association warmly invites you to the 2025 Virtual Traumatology Symposium “Healing Fractured Identities: Advancing Mental Health, Social Justice and Self-Empowerment in the Face of Inequity” on Friday, June 13, 2025 from 9 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time.
The Traumatology Symposium provides an opportunity for professional counselors and mental health professionals to come together and share their expertise, insights, and research on how to support trauma survivors, counselors, and communities by honoring the intersectional and cultural identities of the populations we serve.
Learning Objectives:
- Learn and apply various evidence-based culturally sensitive and trauma-informed models of treatment for populations and communities impacted by adverse life events and trauma;
- Understand how disparities in access to resources, opportunities, and overall well-being can lead to increased mental health concerns;
- Identify and address barriers, including structural and systemic barriers to building resilience in mental health professionals, diverse populations, and communities;
- Explore historical, socio-political, and systemic contexts that contribute to trauma among diverse populations;
- Increase cultural competence working with intersecting identities and special populations impacted by trauma;
- Develop professional skills and interventions for enhancing resilience and mental health in diverse populations, communities, and the mental health professional; and
- Define and understand vicarious trauma and resilience and learn how to enhance vicarious resilience through structured activities and connection.
Registration Fees:
- FCA Members: $50 (includes CEs as requested)
- FCA Student/Retiree Members: $40 (includes CEs as requested)
- Non-FCA Professional Members: $75 (includes CEs as requested)
- Non-FCA Student/Retiree Members: $65 (includes CEs as requested)
We have an exciting line up of speakers and topics! Check out our list of presentations below!
Keynote Speaker, Dr. Alecia Rodriguez
"Breaking the Cycle: Understanding the Impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) on Families"
In this keynote, we’ll look at how trauma shows up in BIPOC communities and celebrate the cultural strengths that help individuals heal. Drawing on
Dr. Rodriguez’ own experience as a former foster youth and her work in culturally aware care, we’ll show how unfair systems and how passed-down trauma affect mental health. You’ll walk away with simple, practical steps to bring community-focused, fair-minded strategies into your trauma work—tools that help BIPOC clients take back control and build their own paths to healing.
Here is our list of presentations!*
- Restoring the Self: Clinical Approaches to Identity Based Trauma; Presented by Dr. Lourdes Araujo
- Vicarious Trauma and Compassion Fatigue: Equipping Service Providers to Care for Themselves; Presented by Dr. Michelle Harrison
- Rooted in Strength: Empowering Collective Resilience in Marginalized Communities; Presented by Dr. Lotes Nelson
- Beyond the Mask: Healing Trauma in Adolescents on the Spectrum; Presented by Whitey Lake, Kelly Timmins, and Courtney Bishop
- Counseling Autistic Clients Through a Trauma-Informed Lens; Presented by Dr. Ali Cunningham Abbott and Amy Geissler
- When Safe Places, Aren’t Safe: Community Healing Post-School Shooting; Presented by Dr. Christopher LaFever, Susana Garcia, Tsz Yu Cheung, and Anna Rogers
- Conceptualizing Cultural Implications of Traumatic Loss through EMDR and Griefwork; Presented by Dr. Thomas Foster and Amberly Hunter
- Family Reunion of Parts; Presented by Kayla Crawford
- Healing Fractured Identities Through Advocacy and Empowerment; Presented by Dr. Jil Hus and Dr. Lourdes Araujo
- Grief Between the Lines: Ambiguous Grief and Late-Diagnosed Neurodivergent Adults; Presented by Whitney Lake and Kelly Timmins
- Unpacking Internalized Homophobia through IFS Legacy Unburdening; Presented by Dr. Christina McGrath
- Trauma Counseling in the Context of Genocide and War; Presented by Dr. Debra Ainbinder and Shahaf Bachar
- Human Trafficking: Trauma-Informed, Social Justice, and Culturally Humble Implications for Counseling Professionals; Presented by Dr. Letitia Browne-James
- Rooted Resilience: Mindful Self-Compassion for Culturally Empowered Trauma Recovery; Presented by Dr. Eric Thompson
- Breaking the Cycle: Understanding the Impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) on Families; Presented by Julie Uribe
- Healing Across Generations: Addressing Trauma and Resilience in Caribbean and Immigrant Communities; Presented by Dr. Andrea Garraway
Plenary Speaker, Dr. Frank Gorritz
"Navigating Trauma and Resilience in The Face of Inequity: A Counselor’s Journey Toward Advocacy and Empowerment"
This plenary session will critically examine the systemic oppressions that challenge the healing efforts of Florida counselors and highlight the advocacy needed to uplift and empower minoritized communities. Drawing on personal and professional experiences, the speaker will examine how systemic oppression impacts both clients and clinicians in Florida’s marginalized communities. Through the lens of lived resilience shaped by marginalized identity, participants will be invited to reflect on their own values, renew their commitment to social justice, and restore their inner resolve as helpers. By integrating lived experience with advocacy tools, this session aims to inspire collective healing and empower counselors to address inequity while nurturing their own mental health.
Click here for our complete program*! Hot off the press!
On behalf of the 2025 Virtual Traumatology Symposium Committee, we hope to see you there!
*Subject to Change
Continuing Education (CE) Approval of 6.0 hours: The Florida Board of Clinical Social Work, Marriage and Family and Mental Health Counseling has approved this course under continuing education provider BAP#50‐15249 and National Board of Certified Counselors Provider #2010 materials prepared for FCA, 2750 Taylor Avenue, A36, Orlando, FL 32806.