AAPC Past Year Conference

2012 AAPC CONFERENCE WRAP-UP  April 19 - 21, 2012 Leesburg, VA

 

2012 Annual Conference Recap

Years from now, when AAPC members are asked about the 2012 conference, chances are the first thing they will talk about will be the National Conference Center and its labyrinthine complex of strangely-numbered meeting rooms, color-coded buildings and underground tunnels.  Listen carefully and you will hear a note of pride come into their voices, a sense of accomplishment in having mastered the challenges of navigating from lodging to meals to meetings and back.  You will also discover that the achievement was collective, not merely individual.  AAPC members helped each other find their way. 

It turns out that teamwork was a design objective of the building.  When the NCC was built by the Xerox Corporation as its training center the architects deliberately made the layout confusing in order to encourage groups to rely on each other.  It was fitting, then, that an AAPC conference on the theme Construction and Collaboration: Pathways to the Future should be held at a site whose construction forced us to collaborate.  We picked the perfect spot!

Our conference theme was first sounded two days before the conference itself as the Board of Directors, Division Leadership Teams, Regional Chairs and Standing Committees met together for joint planning.  These meetings generated real excitement about the possibilities for advancing the mission of AAPC through coordinated efforts across the association.

Program Planning Chair Ann Beattie and Conference Chaplain Nat Milton opened the conference with creative portrayals of hands at work and small-group conversation oriented around construction with Legos.  A presidential address brought lessons learned from collaboration in road construction.  Plenary speaker Harlene Anderson spoke to us about doing counseling in a collaborative mode.  She graciously returned the following day, filling in for an ailing Pamela Couture, and demonstrated supervision from a collaborative perspective, first working with a volunteer supervisee, then engaging a reflecting team to work with her and deepen the experience.  Ron Manderscheid described the large-scale changes coming to mental health care over the next few years.  He urged AAPC members to begin to build networks of care, collaborating with community partners to deliver whole-person care.

Some thirty workshops related to the conference theme added to the educational richness of the gathering, demonstrating the vast range of interests and expertise among AAPC members.  At the Town Meeting we remembered colleagues who died this past year, recognized new Diplomates and re-accredited institutions, announced amendments to the Code of Ethics dealing with electronic means of counseling, and received cards highlighting the association's anti-racist multicultural competency commitments.  In one of the most eagerly-awaited moments of the conference the new AAPC web site and blog were unveiled. 

As is our custom, we closed the conference with a festive banquet, awards, and the installation of new leaders.  Past President Joretta Marshall was honored with the Distinguished Contribution Award for all she has done to promote pastoral counseling.  Alice Graham's installation as AAPC president marks the first time we have chosen an African American to head the association.  We are grateful that Alice has offered her gifts to all of us in this way.

A well-run conference resembles a swan on a lake: serene movement above the water and powerful paddling under the surface.  Thanks to all who paddled this conference along: Program Planning Chair Ann Beattie and her committee; Michele Rogers Brigham, Cody Sanders, Kirsten Oh and Alice Graham; Conference Chaplain Nat Milton and fellow Local Arrangements Committee member Sue Cross; singer Randy Simmonds; and, especially, the Association staff; Sharon Sheflett, Ann Martin, Brenda Martin, Barbara Nyman and Doug Ronsheim.  Their collaboration gave us a conference to remember.

Doug Thorpe, Past President

 

 

Dr. Douglas M. Thorpe, President's Address THE BLADE MAN

 

Dr. Harlene Anderson, Gathering of the Community 301

THE PHILOSOPHICAL STANCE: THE ART AND SPIRIT OF COLLABORATIVE PRACTICE

THE HEART AND SPIRIT OF COLLORATIVE THERAPHY (PPT)

 

Dr. Keith Coleman Workshop 101

NEUROTHEOLOGY MIND BODY MEDICINE MEETS PASTORAL PSYCHOTHERAPY (PPT)

BRAIN PLASTICITY AND EMOTIONAL REGULATION  (PPT)

CHANGING THE WORLD ONE NEURON AT A TIME

CLINICAL APPLICATIONS (PPT)

NEUROCARDIOLOGY HEARTMATH (PPT)

THE BRAIN STORE

AAPC CONFERENCE READING LIST

 

Dr. Ron Manderscheid Workshop 302

USING THE FUTURE TO FOSTER TRANSFORMATION (PPT)

BEHAVIORAL HEALTHCARE ONLINE AND JOURNAL COMMENTARIES ON NATIONS

CDC MENTAL HEALTH ACTION PLAN

 

 

Rev. Emlyn Ott Workshop 403

 FAMILY SYSTEMS THEORY IS NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART (PPT)

 

Rev. Genny Rowley   Workshop 409

ECOTHERAPY AND ECOTHEOLOGY

 

Rev. Emlyn Ott Workshop 503

 THE CHALLENGES OF EMOTIONAL PROCESS WORK (PPT)

 

 

Dr. James Pruett and Dr. Dael Waxman Workshop 505

 GUIDELINES FOR ASSESSMENT OF THERAPY PAPERS

 BRAIN AND BIOLOGICAL BEHAVIOR

 EXERCISE YOGA MEDIATIONS

 PHYSIOLOGY

 TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY

 

Dr. Robert Menz Workshop 509

EMPOLOYEE ASSISTANCE PROFESSIONALS (PPT)