This conceptual presentation explores peace as an embodied and spiritually integrated construct in the context of anxiety. Drawing from evidence-based anxiety treatment, evolving literature, and Christian integration, the presentation examines how anxiety disrupts nervous system regulation, presence, and agency, and how cultivating embodied peace may support healing. Participants will leave with implications for counseling practice, supervision, and spiritually integrated care are discussed.
African American female college students, particularly those attending rural institutions, remain underrepresented in this literature. The present study examined perceptions and practices surrounding tattoos and body piercings and their relationships with alcohol use, drug use, and sexual activity among African American female undergraduate students at a rural university.
This session explores positionality-conscious activism in counselor education research in response to national and global humanitarian crises (e.g., genocide in Gaza, violence against immigrant communities, anti-DEI executive orders). Positionality-conscious activism, grounded in anti-oppressive leadership frameworks, calls researchers to leverage their power and privilege to take an anti-oppressive stance in all stages of the research process and enact social change using research as advocacy.
Teaching research and assessment can be daunting, especially when students are unenthusiastic about learning the material. In this session, we will discuss creative and innovative teaching approaches counselor educators can use to meet CACREP student learning objectives in a fun and approachable manner. We will include a discussion of teaching both research methods and assessment. This will be an interactive session, and participants will leave with usable teaching tools.
Suicide gatekeeping trainings are often evaluated with self-report measures, which capture perceived confidence but provide limited evidence of performance. This session will present a pilot study (n = ~30) examining suicide gatekeeping competence among high school students across pre-, post-, and 6-week follow-up. We will compare self-reported gatekeeping self-efficacy with performance on an AI-simulated risk assessment module to show how simulation-based assessment can complement self-report i
This presentation examines how Christian counselors navigate the tension between religious beliefs and ethical obligations when working with LGBTQ+ clients. Using self-report measures and the Implicit Association Test (IAT), we compare counselors' stated attitudes with their implicit biases and broaching behaviors. Findings carry implications for research on religiosity and clinical bias, as well as practice-level guidance for supervisors, training programs, and ethical standard development.
