Mental health professionals, educators invited to symposium
Learn more about a number of topics facing those in the mental health field during University of Houston-Clear Lake’s 25th annual Emily G. Sutter UHCL Symposium: Current Issues in Clinical, Health and Applied Science April 10, 8:30 a.m. – 6 p.m., at the university, 2700 Bay Area Blvd., Houston. Robert J. McLaughlin, associate professor and interim dean of the School of Allied Health Sciences at Baylor College of Medicine, will be the keynote speaker at the event. “We think this year’s symposium will benefit a number of mental health practitioners as well as educators,” says UH-Clear Lake Associate Professor of Psychology Mary Stafford. “Sessions will cover a broad range of topics including specific treatments of behavioral disorders, school discipline and ethical issues facing public schools.” McLaughlin will speak about “Gender Dysphoria: Issues Across the Lifespan, and Implications for Education and Intergenerational/Extended Family.” A clinical psychologist, researcher and educator, McLaughlin is also a Certified Group Psychotherapist, licensed sex offender treatment provider and a member of the international Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers. For the past four years, he and colleagues, known as Gender Infinity, have co-sponsored annual interdisciplinary training conferences for numerous professionals discussing approaches to work with gender-variant and transgender children and their families.
“Dr. McLaughlin will cover a very important and timely topic,” says Stafford. “We look forward to hearing from him.” University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center Professor Warren L. Holleman will also speak. His afternoon presentation is titled “Managing the Ethical and Emotional Demands of Mental Health Professionals.” Holleman also serves as the director of the Faculty Health & Wellbeing Program at the cancer center. Other sessions cover suicide prevention, working with families with disabilities and more. The symposium honors UHCL Professor Emerita Emily G. Sutter who joined the university in 1981and retired in 2005. While at UHCL, Sutter served twice as interim dean of the School of Human Sciences and Humanities, and participated in numerous committees that helped shape the university. During one of her tenures as interim dean, she proposed the development of the symposium, which proved successful because of the respect many in the psychological community had for Sutter. With more than 150 publications and presentations, she received the Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award from the Texas Association of School Psychologists and the Texas Psychological Association. Fees for the symposium are $120 for mental health professionals, with discounts available to those in the education field as well as university students.
To find out more, visit http://www.uhcl.edu/psychsymposium or call the Psychological Services Clinic, 281-283-3330.
