SATURDAY, MAY 16

 

COMMUNITY workshops are designed for a general audience.

CLINICAL workshops are intended primarily for health and mental health professionals.

However, attendees are welcome to attend the workshops of their choice.

 

 

All Attendees: Title, Description, and Speaker Bio Forthcoming
Robin Kampf

 

 

 

 

COMMUNITY: The Relationship Beneath the Relationship: Internalized Bias in Adult Intimacy
Uchenna Lizmay Umeh (Dr. Lulu), MD, MBA, FAAP, CLC (she/her)

This community workshop explores how internalized bias—learned through family, culture, and lived experience—shapes adult intimacy, boundaries, and relational decision-making, often without conscious awareness. Rather than treating relationships as isolated dynamics, the session centers the self-relationship as an underlying influence on attraction, conflict, and relational patterns. Through guided reflection and structured worksheets, participants will examine how internalized narratives about identity, worth, and belonging can quietly inform relational choices that feel instinctive but may be misaligned with personal values. While internalized homophobia is named as one example, the session broadens the lens to include other forms of internalized bias that affect adult relationships across identities. Designed as an educational and reflective experience—not therapy—this workshop offers language and tools to support awareness, agency, and more intentional relational decision-making. After attending this workshop, attendees will be able to:

 

• Identify how internalized bias can influence adult intimacy, boundaries, and relational decision-making

• Differentiate between instinctive, conditioned responses and values-aligned relational choices

• Recognize common patterns through which internalized narratives show up in adult relationships

• Apply reflective tools to pause, examine internal narratives, and make more intentional relational decisions

Speaker Bio:

Dr. Lulu (Uchenna Lizmay Umeh, MD) is a Black queer immigrant physician, speaker, author, and leadership educator whose work centers how internalized, learned, and unconscious bias shapes thought patterns, decision-making, behavior, and outcomes across personal, professional, and communal life. Trained in pediatrics, Dr. Lulu brings a systems-informed and human-centered lens to understanding how early conditioning and unexamined beliefs quietly influence what people desire, what they tolerate, and how they show up in the world. At the core of Dr. Lulu’s work is helping individuals and organizations pause long enough to recognize how bias—absorbed through family, culture, institutions, and lived experience—operates beneath conscious awareness. She focuses on how these internalized narratives shape instincts, judgments, and actions, often leading people to make decisions that are misaligned with their stated values or true intentions. Her work invites reflection not for self-blame, but for agency: the ability to choose differently once patterns are seen. Dr. Lulu is the creator of the Bias Begins at Home™ framework, which examines how early-learned bias influences later outcomes in healthcare, leadership, parenting, education, and community life. While much of her work addresses systemic and institutional harm—particularly in healthcare settings—she also explores how these same internalized beliefs show up in interpersonal dynamics, including boundaries, intimacy, and relational decision-making. In this way, relationships are not treated as an isolated issue, but as one of many places where internalized bias becomes visible. A nationally recognized speaker, Dr. Lulu has delivered keynotes, plenaries, and workshops across healthcare systems, academic institutions, nonprofits, and community spaces. She previously served as a closing plenary speaker for the Contemporary Relationships Conference, an experience she describes as deeply affirming of both her work and the community. Her sessions are known for their clarity, rigor, and accessibility, offering structured reflection without pathologizing or positioning participants as broken. Dr. Lulu is the bestselling author of About Your Black Transgender Child, a widely used resource for parents, caregivers, clinicians, and educators. She is also a contributor to Proud Outtakes, where her writing reflects on identity, belonging, and the long-term impact of internalized narratives on lived experience. Through facilitated dialogue, structured worksheets, and leadership-informed frameworks, Dr. Lulu creates spaces where participants can examine how bias shapes outcomes—and how intentional awareness can restore alignment between values, choices, and results. Her work emphasizes that while bias is learned, it is not destiny, and that conscious reflection is a powerful tool for ethical leadership, relational integrity, and meaningful change. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, Dr. Lulu continues to engage nationally as a thought leader, consultant, and educator committed to helping individuals and systems move from reflexive patterns toward deliberate, values-aligned decision-making.

 

 

 

COMMUNITY: Title, Description, and Speaker Bio Forthcoming

 

 

 

CLINICAL: Practicing Ethically While Under Attack: Moral Injury in Queer-Affirming Care
Erin MacDonald, LCSW-S, QTAP

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Many LGBTQ+ clinicians are providing care in a social and political landscape that is increasingly hostile toward queer and trans people. For queer clinicians working with queer clients, this environment can create profound ethical strain and experiences of moral injury—the distress that arises when professionals are unable to practice in alignment with their values due to systemic constraints, discrimination, or institutional policies. This session explores the intersection of professional ethics, moral injury, and identity for queer clinicians serving queer clients. Participants will examine how legislation, institutional policies, and cultural stigma can create ethical dilemmas for clinicians. The presentation will also address strategies for navigating these challenges while maintaining ethical integrity, professional sustainability, and affirming care for LGBTQ+ clients. This session invites reflection on how clinicians can ethically respond to systems that may harm the communities they serve, while also acknowledging the emotional and professional toll these conditions place on queer providers themselves. Participants will:

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• Define moral injury and its relevance to LGBTQ+ clinicians.

• Identify ethical dilemmas that arise when providing affirming care in hostile environments.

• Identify ways to navigate moral injury and potential burnout/fatigue when working within oppressive systems.

 

Speaker Bio:

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Erin (she/her) has a private psychotherapy practice which specializes in the treatment of eating disorders and co-occurring diagnoses, treating individuals in the LGBTQ+ community, and providing clinical supervision. In addition, MacDonald is a Boardmember of the Center for Contemporary Relationships,is a Faculty Member and Consultation Provider for the QTAP (Queer and Trans Affirming Professionals) Certificate Program. She is an active member of Central Texas Eating Disorder Specialists, and enjoys teaching and training on the topics of Health at Every Size (HAES), Eating Disorders, as well as the intersections of queerness and mental health. Erin holds a BA in Communications from The University of Tennessee, Knoxville and a Master of Science in Social Work from The University of Texas at Austin, and a graduate certificate in LGBT Health Policy & Practice from The George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

 

 

 

COMMUNITY: Talk It Out: A Practical Introduction to Nonviolent Communication in Mental Health & Relational Life
Rodrigo Bravo, MPH, MD(c) (he/him)

Most relational stress does not come from saying the wrong thing—it comes from never being taught HOW to clearly express what we need. In families, friendships, and intimate relationships, unmet or unspoken needs often drive emotional reactivity, conflict, and disconnection, even when care and goodwill are present. This interactive workshop introduces Marshall Rosenberg’s Nonviolent Communication (NVC) as a practical, needs-based approach to navigating everyday challenges to mental health and relational life. Participants will learn a formula to shift conversations away from inadvertent blame or defensiveness and toward clear, emotionally neutral expressions of need. Drawing on real-world examples, including experiences common within LGBTQ communities and other contexts shaped by difference, attendees will practice applying NVC tools to conversations that matter most to them. This session offers concrete skills for communicating with greater honesty, stability, and emotional neutrality—without self-erasure or escalation. By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:

 

• Identify how the needs-literacy gap connects personally unmet or unspoken needs with emotional reactivity, relational stress, and mental health strain in everyday relationships

• Apply the core Nonviolent Communication framework to express needs clearly while reducing defensiveness and escalation in interpersonal conversations

• Practice translating real-life relational challenges into emotionally-neutral, needs-based language that supports emotional regulation, relational clarity, and community building

Speaker Bio:

Rod Bravo, MPH, is an MD Candidate at the University of Arizona College of Medicine-Tucson. He holds a BA in Neuroscience & Psychology from Harvard University and a Master of Public Health focused in Healthcare Management and Policy from the Yale School of Public Health in conjunction with the Yale School of Management. He is a Co-Founder of RAPHI, a digital health platform bridging globally sourced healing modalities for patients enduring chronic and complex illness, as well as Co-Founder of Bravo Conscious Health, a boutique wellness practice focused on emotional wellness and biofield therapy. His previous clients, advisees, and collaborators have included Forbes alumni, Fortune 500 executives, Harvard & Yale faculty, and patients with conditions resistant to conventional treatment—generally spanning across medicine, the life sciences, and social-good enterprises. His passion for community health and relational communication draw from his time creating anti-heteronormativity and healthy relationship programming at Harvard College, establishing a free community clinic in Tucson, AZ, and teaching patients practical tools within mind-body medicine to support emotional and physical well-being across all areas of functional living.


 

COMMUNITY: Queer Death Café
Melissa Delizia, MSW, LSW, DSW (she/they)

This 60-minute experiential workshop invites participants into a queer-centered Death Café: a supportive space to talk openly about death, grief, and mortality. Grounded in death positivity and collective care, we will explore the unique needs and strengths of LGBTQ+ communities, from chosen family to inclusive deathcare. Participants will engage in reflective conversation and a writing activity, crafting a eulogy for themselves or for someone they are grieving, whether through physical death, a breakup, or another life transition. Attendees will leave both nurtured in their own reflections and equipped with tools and inspiration to create queer-affirming Death Cafés in their own communities. They will:

 

• Describe key principles of death positivity and their relevance to queer and trans experiences of grief and mortality

• Experience the impacts of participating in a Queer Death Café

• Develop strategies and resources to create and host affirming grief-support spaces in their own communities, learning the core components and facilitation practices of a Queer Death Café

Speaker Bio:

Melissa Delizia, MSW, LSW, DSW (she/they) is a death doula, educator, writer, and professional coach whose work lives at the intersection of sacred care, transformative education, and social justice. With a Doctorate in Social Work from Monmouth University focused on human rights leadership, Melissa’s scholarship and practice center queer and trans experiences of death, dying, and grief, and the urgent need to bring these narratives into educational and communal spaces. Through LaMort and other community projects, they teach classes in death coaching, hold grief-writing workshops, and create spaces for collective mourning and mortality awareness. Certified in grief companionship, deathcare, and sacred ceremony, Melissa integrates ancestral connection, mediumship, and energy work with clinical insight. As an adjunct professor and facilitator, they are dedicated to reshaping how death is taught and understood—centering marginalized experiences, challenging systems of harm, and cultivating spaces where grief and identity are honored in all their complexity.


 

CLINICAL: Reflections On Trauma, Addiction, and Recovery: A Dialogic Journey with a Client and His Therapist
Adriana Gil-Wilkerson, PhD, LMFT-Supervisor, AAMFT Approved Supervisor, QTAP (she/her/they/them), Marsha McDonough, PhD (she/her), James Boucher, Consultantee (he/him)

Two colleagues and one of their clients engage in a dialogic consultation about the process of psychotherapy that led to significant changes in the client’s life. After attending this presentation, attendees will be able to:

 

• Describe Collaborative-Dialogic Practices as a relationally responsive process for working with clients in recovery from addiction and trauma 

• Experience and participate in a live consultation exploring the complex story of a member of the LGBTQIA+ Community

• Explore the significance of approaching conversations about trauma, addiction, and mental health diagnosis with a Postmodern: Dialogic/relational lens

Speaker Bios:

Adriana Gil-Wilkerson is an Assistant Professor and the Program Director of the MS Psychology-Marriage and Family Therapy Program at Our Lady of the Lake University-Houston. She has worked with the LGBTQIA+ community for over 20 years. Her areas of interest remain close to her own journey of becoming a therapist and educator. Her parents are immigrants and she lived the first generation experience in a rural area near Houston, TX. Her awareness of disparities and discrimination towards anyone who was different in her town, prepared her for a lifetime of being attuned to the needs of people who were often othered. Her passion in her field is fueled by the audacity that she may contribute to generating more resources for people from the LGBTQIA+ communities, immigrant communities, and for first generation immigrants. Adriana is a storyteller and has shared the love for co-constructing stories with all her conversational partners. She is a maker, a tinkerer, and a plant rescuer and lives in Houston with her husband, their two teenagers, and their two fur babies: Sil E. Cat and Dolly Pawdon.
 

Marsha McDonough is a therapist in private practice in Austin, TX. She has many years experience working with clients who may often have been refused service at other practices or counseling centers. Marsha has been involved in the Collaborative-Dialogic Practices International community as a trainer, supervisor, presenter, and author. She has a long standing consultation group that has met since the better part of 25 years, in the hopes of promoting collaborative-dialogic work and supporting therapists and their clients as they navigate this way of working together.
 

James Boucher is entering an exciting part of his life about which he has not shared broadly. This work has been developed through the discoveries he has been making in therapy; and he joins us with an intention of sharing his own experience of the collaborative-dialogic practices and their role in his story.