2023 Conference Hosted in Kjipuktuk (Halifax) and Online

The CACBT’s 2023 conference, held May 4-6, marked its 13th annual conference and its first in a hybrid format. The conference had its best attendance ever, at 397 delegates, approximately half of who attended in person.

There was great enthusiasm for the theme, Toward Culturally Responsive CBT, and a distinctive sense that delegates were coming together because of a shared commitment to better serve racialized and other marginalized clients and communities. The conference speakers epitomized high-quality CBT, yet also made clear the need for adaptation, cultural responsiveness, and humility.

Dr. Christine Padesky provided a master class in Engaging Clients in Collaborative Case Conceptualization, and Dr. Philippe Shnaider facilitated a workshop entitled Improving Your Socratic Dialogue Skills in the Treatment of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Both made excellent use of clinical demonstrations, beautifully modelling what Dr. Kelly Koerner refers to as location perspective. They communicated a genuine curiosity, a desire to truly understand the client, and then conveyed “of course you are [this place] given your [social context/experiences]. It makes perfect sense. Anyone in your [location] would feel the same way.” Their compassion, warmth, and unconditional positive regard was palpable and infectious.

Dr. Sarah Victor’s call to destigmatize mental health problems among those in our field (From a Culture of Silence Toward a Culture of Inclusion: Destigmatizing Mental Illness Among Mental Health Providers, Researchers, and Trainees) – in part by sharing our lived experiences – and Dr. Judith Beck’s discussion of the role of values work in cognitive therapy (Recovery-Oriented Cognitive Therapy) set the stage for the other, more specific, conference topics. They laid the foundation for other speakers to bring warmth, genuineness, curiosity, and openness to learning about the location perspectives of specific racialized and/or otherwise marginalized groups.

Each of Ms. Charity Fleming (Introducing Mikwendaagwad “It is Remembered” Sacred Circle CBT), Drs. Jude Mary Cénat and Angela Haeny (From a Colourblind Approach to Antiracist CBT), Dr. Nigel Lou (The Dual Pandemic of COVID and Racism: Asian Canadian Experiences), Dr. Ghayda Hassan (Identity, Belonging, and Mental Health of Children and Adolescents from Ethnic/Religious Minorities), and Dr. Taylor Hatchard (Healing Minority Stress Among the 2SLGBTIAQ+ Community Through CBT) brought their personal histories, lived experiences, and wisdom into their presentations, individualizing and exemplifying how colonial laws, customs, and values have shaped and continue to affect our work in mental health – and how we can bring acknowledgement of systemic and structural discrimination, humility, and responsivity into our clinical practice.

Dr. Marjory Phillips embodied these same values in her skills training, Adapting CBT for Children and Youth with Neurodevelopmental Disorders. And finally, in their research symposium, Drs. Sherry Stewart, Hanie Edalati, Christopher Mushquash, Laura Lambe, and Patricia Conrod discussed the importance of responsivity to personality traits in adapting PreVenture, an intervention for youth substance misuse, to varying populations. 

CACBT-ACTCC was pleased to congratulate: