Crisis, Adaptation, Trauma, and Stress

Our 2026 Summer Institute is a two-day, face-to-face workshop series, with day one centered on trauma and day two focused on the intersection of play therapy and trauma.

join us july 10 & 11

SHSU Woodlands Campus

Friday, July 10th

Helping professionals are often taught how to care for others but rarely invited to explore how their own histories, wounds, and survival adaptations influence the work they do. This course examines the concept of "unfinished business" and explores how experiences such as childhood trauma, emotional neglect, parentification, and family roles can shape professional identity, boundaries, relationships, and vulnerability to burnout. Drawing from trauma-informed, attachment, and narrative frameworks, participants will explore common adaptations such as people pleasing, imposter syndrome, overfunctioning, and the need to be needed. Participants will be invited to move beyond self-care toward greater self-awareness, authenticity, and healing, recognizing that the most powerful tools we bring to our work are often our presence, humanity, and capacity for connection.

Date: Friday, July 10th

Time: 9:00 am – 12:00 pm

Presenter: Dr. Adam McCormick

This course reimagines supervision as more than oversight—it is a relational space where the unresolved stories of both supervisee and supervisor can emerge, interact, and heal. Drawing from trauma-informed, attachment, and narrative frameworks, participants will explore how authenticity, vulnerability, and reflection can transform supervision into a space of growth and co-regulation rather than performance and compliance. Special attention will be given to emotional contagion, parallel process, shame, burnout, and the ways childhood adaptations may surface within supervisory relationships. Participants will learn how supervision can foster safety, resilience, professional development, and deeper self-awareness for both supervisor and supervisee.

Date: Friday, July 10th

Time: 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Presenter: Dr. Adam McCormick

Saturday, July 11th

This presentation will apply a trauma-informed lens to understanding practice of Play Therapy with LGBTQ+ Families. Participants will learn the impacts of structural violence and socio-political oppression on mental health of LGBTQ+ persons. Participants will practice Play Therapy strategies to affirm the identities of clients and cultivate resiliency.

Date: Saturday, July 11th

Time: 9:00 am – 11:00 am

Presenter: Dr. Steven Parks

Medical procedures, hospitalizations, injuries, and chronic health conditions can have lasting emotional and physiological impacts on children. This training explores how play therapy can be used to explore and integrate the effects of medical trauma while supporting resilience, emotional expression, nervous system regulation, and the restoration of safety. Special attention will be given to the role of therapist congruence and authentic therapeutic presence in helping children process overwhelming medical experiences. Participants will gain an understanding of how medical trauma can influence a child's behavior, attachment patterns, and nervous system functioning, and learn effective caregiver interventions. Case examples and practical applications will be provided to help clinicians integrate these concepts into clinical practice.

Date: Saturday, July 11th

Time: 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm

Presenter: Jennifer Cain LPC-S, RPT-S

EMDR is an effective treatment for PTSD and childhood attachment ruptures. Applying the eight phases of EMDR for the treatment of children necessitates developmental adaptations consistent with the therapeutic principles of play therapy. This workshop will summarize the principles of EMDR and demonstrate applications for all eight phases of the EMDR standard protocol. This will be an in person workshop with hands-on practicum experiences.

Date: Saturday, July 11th

Time: 2:15 pm – 4:15 pm

Presenter: Elizabeth Pennington, LPC-S

REGISTRATION:

If you are a student, please register here:

Student Registration

If you are not a student, please register here:

Non-Student Registration

Featured Speakers:

Adam McCormick, PhD, is a Professor of Social Work at St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas, where he teaches in both the Social Work and Master of Counseling programs. His work focuses on childhood trauma, emotional survival adaptations, authenticity, burnout, masculinity, and the inner lives of helping professionals.

Dr. McCormick is the recipient of the 2026 Minnie Stevens Piper Professor Award, Texas’s highest teaching honor for university faculty, and the 2025 Distinguished Teaching Award at St. Edward’s University. He was also the recipient of the 2025 Distinguished Teaching Award.

He is the author of the NASW Press book Healing the Helping Professional: The Unfinished Business of Childhood, which explores how childhood trauma and emotional survival roles continue shaping the lives and work of therapists, social workers, counselors, and other helping professionals. He is the author of LGBTQ Youth in Foster Care: Empowering Approaches to Inclusive Care (Routledge) and is currently authoring a forthcoming book exploring the hidden emotional and developmental costs of boyhood and masculinity.

Over the course of his career, Dr. McCormick has delivered more than 250 lectures, keynote presentations, and workshops around the country on trauma, emotional wellbeing, masculinity, foster care, helping professionals, authenticity, burnout, and trauma-informed practice. His work is known for integrating relational, reflective, and trauma-informed perspectives in ways that help people better understand both themselves and the people they serve.

Steven L. Parks is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Board Approved Supervisor and serves the Graduate College of Social Work as a full-time lecturing faculty professor. Steven also maintains a small private practice in Sugar Land, Texas and specializes in working with children, adolescents, and adults who have experienced trauma or present with depression, anxiety, or behavioral acting out. He is a Registered Play Therapist & Supervisor and holds certifications in Parent-Child Interaction Therapy and Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavior Therapy. Steven is an alumni of the GCSW and holds a BA of Psychology from Texas Tech University and an MBA and MSW degree from the University of Houston.

Steven currently serves as regional Board Representative of the Houston area for the Texas Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers (NASWTX).

Jennifer Cain, LPC-S, RPT-S, holds a Bachelors degree in Psychology from Texas A&M University and a Masters degree in Counseling from Sam Houston State University. During her graduate education, she focused on counseling with children including play therapy (Child-Centered and Adlerian).

Jennifer opened Willow Counseling Services in July of 2006, specializing in play therapy.

She has extensive training and experience working with children ages 3-12 with a variety of presenting concerns. Currently, Jennifer specializes in working with children ages 3-10, primarily with presenting concerns of anxiety, grief or trauma (including medical trauma).

Jennifer is a Licensed Professional Counselor in the state of Texas and also a Supervisor for provisionally licensed professionals. She is a Registered Play Therapist and can supervise professionals who are pursuing this certification as well. She is also a Certified Synergetic Play Therapist and a Registered Sand Therapist. She provides workshops in the community for parents, preschools, and mental health professionals.

She is an active member of the Texas Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (TACES), the Texas Association for Play Therapy (TxAPT), Association for Play Therapy (APT), and the Texas Counseling Association (TCA). She was on the Texas Counseling Association Ethics Committee in 2023-2025. She was the 2021-2022 President of the Sam Houston Chapter of the Texas Association for Play Therapy.

Elizabeth took a unique path to becoming a trauma treatment specialist. Beginning with a foundation in Biblical Studies from Moody Bible Institute and an integrated professional Master's degree from Liberty University, Elizabeth understands the needs of clients. Working with children and families for over a decade, Elizabeth has the expertise of a Registered Play Therapist and loves to combine EMDR with Sandtray Therapy.

Elizabeth is the Founder and former Clinical Director of Apollos Center for Healing and Growth and Owner of Happy Camper Child and Family Therapy. She founded Apollos Center for Training and Supervision in 2021 with the purpose of multiplying the impact of the counseling center.

Elizabeth was grateful to serve on the Sam Houston Chapter of the Texas Association for Play Therapy from 2020-2021. She is an APT Approved Continuing Education Provider and and EMDRIA Approved Advanced Training Provider.

Elizabeth enjoys spending time outdoors with her six children.