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Presenter Information

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In-person workshops offered in Pocatello, Idaho Falls and Meridian. Webinar options are also available. Continuing education credits are supported at 3, 6, 12 and 15 credit/hour increments.

 

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Presenter Biographies

Erin Burgess, MS, LPC (she/they) is a doctoral student in Counselor Education & Supervision at ISU specializing in Marriage, Couple, and Family Counseling. She completed her MS in Mental Health Counseling—Addictions at Lewis & Clark College and was awarded the NBCC Foundation Minority Fellowship in Addiction Counseling. Her research interests include how to prepare CITs to help clients explore sexuality and best practices in the treatment of clients with SUDs. In addition to her clinical work with individuals and couples, she has developed group counseling curriculums using creative interventions when working with Black and Brown youth.

Sarah Campbell, Ph.D., NCC, ACS earned her MS in Mental Health Counseling and PhD in Counselor Education and Supervision from Capella University. Her dissertation examined the lived experiences of counselors in training (CIT) and their process of becoming social justice advocates. She holds the following credentials: National Certified Counselor (NCC), Approved Clinical Supervisor (ACS), and Board Certified Telemental Health (BC-TMH) through the CCE and her counseling license and standard school certification in social work in the State of New Jersey. Campbell has diverse clinical experience, with most of her experience in school-based, drug and alcohol, and private practice treatment settings. Campbell has over ten years of online teaching experience in counselor education. Additionally, she has developed academic and training curriculum for counselor education, student success, and psychology programs. She has also produced programming for non-profit agencies focusing on international adoption and family homelessness. Most recently, Campbell has served as a social-emotional learning coordinator for an at-risk school district. As a social-emotional learning coordinator, she developed and ran programming for the students, their families, and the staff post-COVID. Campbell has been involved in local, regional, and national service activities, including service activities with the NBCC, ACES, and NARACES. Campbell has co-authored a chapter on using Digital Storytelling in support of the CIT process of becoming a social justice advocate.

Alex Green, PCLC is a clinician from Bozeman, MT. She completed her MS in Mental Health Counseling at MSU and proceeded to work at an outpatient clinic serving a diverse population of clients across Montana. After realizing there seemed to be a high need for assessment in her area, she transitioned to a clinic specializing in assessment. Her clinical interests now include neurodivergence and traits as well as trauma-informed counseling. The populations she primarily works with include veterans, active-duty military, first responders, survivors of domestic violence, and neurodivergent individuals.

Ananda Lettner, M.S., LPC is a doctoral student in the Counselor Education and Counseling program at Idaho State University specializing in clinical mental health counseling. She completed her Master's of Mental Health Counseling at Viterbo University in Wisconsin and has been working as a counselor in Idaho since late 2021. She has interests in rural and underserved communities, somatic interventions, resilience, and trauma-informed work.

Darleen Dempster, Ph.D., LPC/S, NCC, ACS is a Clinical Faculty with Southern New Hampshire University's CACREP accredited Clinical Mental Health Counseling Program. She has 24 years of clinical experience and is state licensed (AL) and credentialed as a counselor and supervisor. She has over two decades of clinical experience, with a specialty in sexual assault. In addition, she has extensive experience with teaching (trauma course lead), supervising, publishing, presenting, and prevention programming on topics of sexual assault.

Ngonidzashe Mpofu, Ph.D., M.Ed., CCMHC, CRC, NCC received her Ph.D. in Rehabilitation Counselor Education and Supervision from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and her M.Ed. in the dual emphases of Clinical Rehabilitation and Clinical Mental Health in School and Communities from the Pennsylvania State University – University Park. She recently joined Idaho State University faculty as an Assistant Professor within the Department of Counseling and the Program Coordinator of Clinical Rehabilitation Counseling. Dr. Mpofu’s primary line of research focuses on workplace well-being, sustainable community health practices, and quality of life across the lifespan of diverse populations and in various settings around the globe. She is an author and co-author of several book chapters and articles in leading titles within the rehabilitation, mental and community health, and human resources fields, attending and presenting on these topics at local, regional, national, and international conferences. Dr. Mpofu is a professional workplace wellbeing consultant to organizations, creating and facilitating operation plans aimed at the recruitment and retention of regional and front-line managers, team leaders, and staff workers, centering on employee career skills development and training.

Katie Sacco, Ph.D., LPC, C-AAIS (she/her) is an Assistant Professor in Idaho State University's Department of Counseling. Her areas of expertise include ecotherapy, adventure-based counseling, and animal-assisted interventions in counseling. She is the Program Coordinator for both the School Counseling and the Student Affairs Counseling tracks at ISU. She continues to integrate ecotherapy principles into her work with clients through small private practice in the Eastern Idaho region. In her free time, she enjoys spending time outdoors with her family, dog, and horses.

Leslie Stewart, PH.D., LCPC, is a licensed clinical professional counselor and associate professor in Idaho State University's Department of Counseling. Her areas of expertise include animal-assisted interventions in counseling and supervision, trauma-informed counselor preparation, Motivational Interviewing, and counselor training with experiential and expressive modalities. Before beginning her career in counseling and counselor education, Dr. Stewart facilitated therapeutic horsemanship as a Professional Association for Therapeutic Horsemanship (PATH, Intl.) instructor. Since then, Dr. Stewart has incorporated animal-assisted interventions (AAI) with dogs and rabbits in college counseling and juvenile detention settings. At Idaho State University, Dr. Stewart directs the Certificate Program in Animal Assisted Interventions in Counseling, offers AAIs in her clinical supervision, and incorporates AAIs in her teaching across the CACREP Core. Dr. Stewart is the primary author of the American Counseling Association Competencies for Animal Assisted Therapy in Counseling while currently serving as the chair of Ethics and Standards for the Human-Animal Bond Advisory Board (HABAB), and a subject matter expert consultant of the American Psychological Association's Human-Animal Interaction Division. Dr. Stewart shares her life with several species of animal family members including dogs, rabbits, mice, a cat, and a ball python. In her free time, Dr. Stewart volunteers at a local zoo that houses injured or unreleasable native wildlife species and enjoys hiking, camping, kayaking, and wildlife viewing in the beautiful Rocky Mountain wilderness.

Pam Vance, LPC, CRC (she/her) is a first-year doctoral student in Counseling Education and Counselor Supervision at Idaho State University. Her professional interests include de-stigmatizing disability, increasing actionable allyship practices, and exploring disability identity with clients. She works to integrate eco-counseling practices with clients to explore their connection to themselves and their environments.  Currently, she works in a small counseling practice in Boise, Idaho, and as a graduate teaching assistant at Idaho State University-Meridian.  Pam recently graduated with her master’s degree in clinical rehabilitation counseling which emphasizes disability wellness and disability counseling competencies. During her studies, she interned as a counselor-in-training at Idaho Division of Vocational Rehabilitation and Ada County Treatment Center. She has presented at ICA and WACES conferences about disability allyship and multicultural considerations in disability. Prior to her master’s degree, she worked with individuals experiencing psychiatric disabilities, learning disabilities, and developmental disabilities. Currently, she supervises CRC master’s students while also working professionally with clients who experience chronic pain and other chronic conditions

Peter Mortola, Ph.D. is a Professor in the Counseling, Therapy and School Psychology Department at Lewis and Clark College's Graduate School of Education and Counseling. He is the author of Windowframes: Learning the art of Gestalt play therapy the Oaklander way (Routledge/Gestaltpress, 2006), the culmination of 10 years of inquiry and research on Violet Oaklander’s methods of both child therapy and adult training. Windowframes has been translated into German, Spanish, Romanian, Italian and Korean. He is also the co-author of BAM! Boys Advocacy and Mentoring: A leader’s guide to facilitating strength-based groups for boys (Routledge, 2008), and The Bear Inside (19th Avenue Press, with Illustrator Mark Molchan), a children's book about managing strong emotions. The Bear Inside has been translated into Spanish, Bulgarian, Russian, and Sinhala versions.

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