About this Event
We all sense it when we provide clinical services to kids—parents are struggling, and most don’t have the tools they truly need.
The reality is even as clinicians, we may not feel fully equipped to support parents as we work with their children — especially if we’re not parents ourselves. That’s not a failure; it’s an invitation.
Right now, many clinicians are doing amazing work helping children but are unintentionally overlooking the role parents play in enhancing the therapeutic work. Yet we know that the sustainability of growth we create in therapy with kids most often relies on the caregiver’s ability to keep the principles they are learning in therapy active in the home. This training will give you practical tools to support and empower the parents you serve — helping them grow in curiosity, courage, and the ability to correct course, and enhancing the good of the therapeutic work.
The Empowered Parent Program delivers that — and more. It is not another book recommendation or list of parenting hacks generated by social media personalities. It’s a guided, experiential, and relational process that parents actually need — and clinicians can confidently offer. And it is backed by empirical support.
By integrating this resource into your practice, you’ll expand your impact, deepen the therapeutic process, and equip parents to become the change agents their children need.
Workshop Objectives
1) Participants will examine the factors that shape the experience of parent-child relationships in the modern world, including factors such as parenting style and the influence of technology in cognitive and social development.
2) Participants will explore the PERMA+4 model of well-being as it applies to working with parents and children in a therapeutic context.
3) Participants will increase their familiarity with principles of Motivational Interviewing for use with children and parents.
4) Participants will implement a variety of tools from The Empowered Parent Program through experiential learning.
Our Presenters
Dr. Laurie Heap graduated from the University of Kansas Medical School in 2001 and completed a year of internal medicine residency. While working with people in the clinical setting, she realized that her calling was to help people in a more holistic way. Over the last 20+ years, Dr. Laurie has been assimilating research from different areas of psychology, behavioral neuroscience, medicine and wellness to develop a unique program to teach people about the underlying mechanisms of happiness needed to live a balanced and thriving life. More recently, she has developed a program to help clinicians harness the power of the parent-child relationship to help improve therapeutic outcomes.
Dr. Todd Bowman received his doctorate in Counseling Psychology from Oklahoma State University in 2008, and has been practicing professional counseling since then. In 2011, he developed the Sexual Addiction Treatment Provider program at MidAmerica Nazarene University. He is an author, and presents nationally and internationally on a variety of topics including sexual health and sexually addictive behavior. Todd is an avid soccer fan and enjoys a good game of golf.
Venue
This workshop will be hosted in-person at The LightHouse at Colonial Presbyterian Church's Overland Park Campus (12501 W 137th St, Overland Park, KS 66221). The LightHouse is located behind the main church building.
***We will also be offering an online participation option. For those who wish to join us online, a Zoom link will be emailed 48 hours prior to the event. To participate online, please select the "Online" ticket option on the registration page.***
Materials
Any workshop materials will be emailed to participants prior to the workshop using the email address provided during registration.
Continuing Education Credits
Participants can earn up to 3 hours of continuing education credits upon completion of the workshop. Certificates of Completion will be provided following the event to everyone who attends the full workshop.
***Those who participate online will be sent a post-test following the presentation. This post-test must be completed before a Certificate of Completion can be issued.
Cost and Registration
The cost for this workshop is $75.
Please note we will be unable to issue any refunds after September 19, 2025. Any refunds will be issued minus Eventbrite's fees.
This workshop is prepared and presented in accordance with Kansas and Missouri licensing and continuing education requirements.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Colonial Presbyterian Church, 12501 West 137th Street, Overland Park, United States
USD 88.41
