Politics, Ethics & Mental Health: Embracing Dualities in a Divided World
November 20, 2025
9am - 12pm CST
Join Kelsey for this 3-hour ASWB-approved LIVE virtual workshop where you’ll master conflict resolution and cultivate inner peace. You'll learn practical techniques from DBT and Somatic IFS Therapy to manage internal tensions, culturally competent strategies for navigating interpersonal conflicts, and insights into addressing societal dynamics with empathy. This workshop provides actionable tools to enhance your practice and empower your clients while earning 3 ethics CEUs.
Transform Your practice: The and way virtual workshop for therapists
Promoting Peace, Justice & Transformative Conflict Resolution
In today’s politically charged world, conflict isn’t just on the news—it’s in your therapy room. More mental health professionals than ever are encountering clients struggling with political and ideological differences within their families, workplaces, and even themselves. How do you guide your clients through these difficult conversations without feeling drained or overwhelmed yourself?
This 3-hour, BHEC-accredited CEU interactive virtual workshop introduces The And Way, a transformative approach designed to equip therapists with the skills to navigate conflict with clarity, compassion, and confidence. By integrating ethical conflict resolution strategies into your practice, you’ll gain the tools to support clients effectively, strengthen therapeutic relationships, and protect your own well-being.
Why This Training is Essential:
Mishandling political and ideological tensions in therapy can lead to fractured client relationships, emotional burnout, and ineffective treatment. This workshop will help you foster understanding, encourage constructive dialogue, and maintain professional boundaries—all while staying aligned with your values.
What You’ll Gain:
🌿 Recognize Psychological Rigidity: Understand how psychological rigidity impacts ethical decision-making and contributes to social and interpersonal conflict.
🌿 Differentiate Between Peacekeeping and Peacemaking: Learn the difference between avoiding conflict and engaging with conflict constructively —a key shift in promoting human dignity in therapy.
🌿 Apply Conflict Resolution Skills to Therapy Practice: Discover how parts language, dialectics, and conflict resolution techniques can increase self-awareness, mental flexibility, and personal healing—essential foundations for ethical practice.
🌿 Navigate Ethical Dilemmas Using Dialectics: Develop a dialectical approach to address micro (individual), mezzo (community), and macro (societal) conflicts.
🌿 Address Dehumanization and Labeling: Learn strategies to counteract dehumanization in therapy by fostering empathy and reducing "othering", ensuring an inclusive and healing environment for all clients.
🌿Build Tolerance for Discord and Complexity: Strengthen your ability to remain engaged in difficult conversations, balance competing values, and model resilience in conflict settings—both for your clients and yourself.
Who Should Attend?
This workshop is for therapists who want to:
✔ Feel more confident and prepared to navigate politically sensitive conflicts in therapy
✔ Improve client trust and therapeutic outcomes in a divided world
✔ Enhance their own resilience and well-being while holding space for difficult conversations
✔ Gain a first introduction to The And Way™, a groundbreaking model for transforming conflict into connection
Don’t let political tensions disrupt your practice.Join us for this timely, practical, and transformative training experience.🌿
The And Way Therapy, 2298, is approved as an ACE provider to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE provider approval period: 07/16/2025-07/16/2026. Social workers completing this course receive 3 ethics continuing education credits.
“Kelsey has made it simple to begin difficult conversations. The And Way is a must for anyone who wants to bring more peace in the world.
— Recent Course Participant
Why Learn from Kelsey?
Meet Your Instructor:
Kelsey Blahnik, LCSW-S, Founder of The And Way, Therapist, Author, Speaker
With a deep passion for peace-making and community healing, Kelsey has dedicated her career to supporting vulnerable populations and equipping mental health professionals with the tools to navigate complex emotional landscapes.
Her experience spans inpatient and outpatient substance abuse treatment, the VA, and advocacy for unhoused individuals. She is also a licensed clinical supervisor and is a nationally approved Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) provider, ensuring that her expertise aligns with the highest industry standards.
Kelsey’s commitment to healing through dialogue extends beyond therapy. She actively leads peace-making initiatives through Love Anyway, where she co-hosts monthly gatherings that foster reconciliation, empathy, and resilience in communities facing polarization.
Her approach is rooted in:
✔ Psychological flexibility
✔ Assertive communication skills
✔ Conflict resolution & healing
✔ Empathy-driven engagement
A NOTE FROM KELSEY
“Navigating these layered, often emotionally charged dynamics in the therapy room isn’t easy, and you don’t have to do it alone.
That’s why I’ve developed this online course: a supportive, skills-based space where therapists can grow in confidence, competence, and connection.”
— Kelsey Blahnik, LCSW-S
Prefer to learn at your own pace?
If a live session doesn’t fit your schedule, this workshop is also available as a recorded, self-paced course covering the same material. You’ll still earn CEUs and gain access to the same expert instruction, on your own time, at your own speed.
Tell a friend about this workshop!
When they register and enter your name & email at checkout,
we’ll send YOU a
$15 Starbucks gift card*!
*The referred person must be a new participant. The referred person MUST enter your name & email at checkout for you to qualify. The person referring must have previously taken one of our workshops or courses—this is not available to those who haven't participated in a workshop/course before. The gift card will be sent within 5 business days after verification. No self-referrals. No limit—earn $10 for Starbucks for every friend who signs up! Starbucks is not affiliated with this program.
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