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AFTNC clinical members are MFTs, psychologists, social workers, and counselors with special interest in working with families and couples. Members may work with indivdual adults, children, adolescents, and groups as well as doing conjoint therapy

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HomeAnnual Conference

Strengthening Family Connections: Relational Practice with Queer and Trans Youth and Their Parents
with Katie Heiden-Rootes, PhD, LMFT

 

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Come join Katie Heiden-Rootes, PhD, LMFT, for a weekend workshop! 

This two-day workshop offers a relational, systemic approach to working with queer and trans youth and their parents, with a focus on strengthening family connections even amid difference, distress, and uncertainty. Participants will explore how to maintain an affirming stance with youth while also engaging parents in ways that reduce defensiveness and open space for reflection and change. Drawing on family therapy frameworks and queer intersectional feminist practices, the workshop emphasizes how therapists can hold multiple truths in the room where parents become change makers and queer and trans youth reclaim wholeness. Through case discussion, reflexive inquiry, and live demonstration, clinicians will deepen their capacity to stay relationally present in complex family systems and support pathways toward increased safety, understanding, and belonging.


Dr. Katie Heiden-Rootes is a professor in the department of Family and Community Medicine in the School of Medicine and has a dual appointment as a Special Assistant to the Provost at Saint Louis University. Her scholarship aims to advance clinical training and research for the health of the LGBTQIA+ community and their families. She is a prolific scholar with over 60 published peer reviewed articles, book chapters, and public scholarship pieces. Katie is currently writing a forthcoming book on family therapy with LGBTQ youth (publication date in 2027; PESI Publishing). Clinically, she co-founded the LGBT Wellness Clinic @ SLU in the Center for Counseling and Family Therapy, a community-facing and accessible resource for mental health services. As an educator, she teaches in classrooms, professional conferences, and community organizations who serve youth. 

About the Conference


This year, the AFTNC conference will be held at the SF LGBT Center. For more information about the AFTNC Conference, please email drkeith@drkeithsutton.com. 


Students - As with each conference, we encourage students to join, and schedule a lunch with students and the presenters.  

When: Saturday, October 24th and Sunday, October 25th, 2026, Time: To be determined


Where: In Person: SF LGBT Center

Schedule:

Saturday, October 4th
8:30am-9am   Registration and Breakfast
9am-9:30am Welcome, Land Acknowledgment, and Introductions
9:30am-10:45am

Morning Session I — Foundations: A Relational, Systemic Lens on Queer and Trans Youth in Families
10:45am-11am Break
11am-12:30pm

Morning Session II — Holding Multiple Truths: Affirming Youth While Engaging Parents
12:30pm-1:30pm Lunch with Students
1:30pm-2pm Break
2pm-3pm

Afternoon Session I — From Defensiveness to Reflection: Working with Parents as Change Makers
3pm-3:15pm Break
3:15pm-4pm Afternoon Session II — Reflexive Inquiry Practice Lab
4pm-4:30pm  Day 1 Closing Reflection
   
Sunday, October 5th
8:30am-9am Registration and Breakfast
9am-9:15am

Framing the Live Demonstration
9:15am-11am

Morning Session — Live Therapy Demonstration
11am-11:15am Break
11:15am-12pm

Integration I — Small Group Debrief
12pm-1pm Lunch
1pm-2:30pm

Integration II — Bringing It Back to Your Caseload
2:30pm-3pm

Closing Remarks & Evaluation



Conference Costs:

Category In-Person
  Virtual
Member
  $350
 $275
Non-member
  $450
 $375
Student Member
 $175
 $150
Student Non-member
 $210
 $180


Continuing Education Credits - CE sign up and payment will be an option during each conference day.

Please email vanpeltcounseling@gmail.com to be added to the waiting list for any specific option below that is listed as "filled: on the registration page.

**Scholarships and Work Study are available for those with financial needs**

Register Now