MSTAR 2025: Resilient Justice
Resilient Justice
Directions for Getting CE Credit
Please complete the following evaluations if you attended the session and then we will send you your CE certificate within the next couples of weeks.
How Multicultural Orientation Can Cultivate Connection in a Polarized World
The Kaleidoscope of Multicultural Orientation: Rethinking Responsiveness in a Complex World
Cultural Humility and Supporting International Students in Times of Uncertainty
Competence, Self-Care, and Impairment: Ethical Challenges in Stressful Times
MSTAR will be hosted on 4/26 this year in room 150 of the College of Education and Human Development (30 Pryor Street). This is our third annual meeting (see 2024 and 2023). We have spots for around 50 people (free), so please register now if you plan on attending. We will have four 90-minute sessions (6 CE hours total available).
Timeline
Keynote Talks
Virtual Poster Session
Pre-Conference Workshop and Fellowship Opportunity
Life Worth Living: Integration into Clinical Training of Counselors and Psychologists
Date and location: Friday 4/25, room 1030
Time: 9:00am to 12:00pm
Session Leaders: Donnie Davis, Jamian Coleman, and LWL fellows
Description: Fellows will each give a brief presentation based on their ideas for expanding the Life Worth Living pedagogical network drawing on an integration of cultural humility, positive psychology/wellness, principles of expertise development, and a communitarian ethic related to clinical training. We are actively recruiting potential fellows.
Sustainable Habits of Therapist Formation
Time: 1:00pm to 5:00pm
Session leaders: Sara Van Tongeren, Kirk Brink, Lavonne Zwart Schaafsma
Description: The purpose of this workshop is to train people to lead a peer-consultation or group consultation group. Sara Showalter Van Tongeren, Kirk Brink, Lavonne Zwart Schaafsma will be co-presenting a Therapeutic Group Consultation model that encourages lateral and hierarchical feedback, clinical consultation, and intergroup reflection. This approach seeks to bridge the gap between clinical supervision and interpersonal/group dynamics. The Therapeutic Group Consultation Model was developed by Kirk Brink and Richard Raubolt from years of clinical practice and implementation of this model. This presentation will introduce the main framework of this novel, yet needed, approach. Additionally, there will be an immersive component to increase insight and personal experience with this model.
Speaker Bios
Sara A. Showalter Van Tongeren, LCSW: Sara is the founder of a Telehealth based mental health group practice, The Flourishing Collective and provides biweekly case consultation to TheFloCo team. She has co-authored a book titled, The Courage to Suffer, as well a peer reviewed theory paper on the Existential Positive Psychology Model of Suffering and a chapter on a model of existential hope in The Handbook of Existential Psychology. She is currently working on an upcoming book to be published in 2026 by APA on helping therapists support their clients through religious change. Sara is a board-certified therapist that is licensed in New York, Michigan, and Virginia who specializes in trauma, attachment focused therapy, mindfulness, existential psychotherapy, narrative therapy, liberation psychology, Brainspotting, and relational psychoanalysis. Sara works from an existential-positive psychology framework that is trauma- and attachment focused, and utilizes somatic based healing through Brainspotting. Sara won the 2020 Social Justice Award given by the City of Holland for her work in helping to pass the city’s first Non- Discrimination Ordinance. Additionally, she leads group consultation for therapists wanting to enhance their practice by focusing on their personal growth and self-awareness.
Kirk L. Brink, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist in Michigan with a distinguished career spanning over four decades. He began his professional journey in 1975 as a staff psychologist at Pine Rest Mental Health Center in Grand Rapids and became a licensed clinical psychologist in 1980, at which point he established his private practice. Over the years, Kirk has made significant contributions to both clinical practice and education. He has served as an adjunct faculty member at several institutions, including Trinity Christian College, Hope College, Aquinas College, Grand Valley State University, Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, and the Institute for Individual and Group Psychotherapy (IIGP). In addition to his work in teaching, Kirk has maintained an active practice, providing individual, group, couples, and family psychotherapy, and offering supervision to other therapists. He has also provided consulting services to mental health agencies, businesses, and regional hospitals. For the past 20 years, Kirk has been an engaged board member of both the Michigan Group Psychotherapy Society and IIGP. In 2022, he co-authored Opening Hearts, Opening Minds: Therapeutic Group Consultation with Richard Raubolt, further contributing to the field of psychotherapy and group consultation.
Lavonne Zwart Schaafsma, Psy.D, is a licensed psychologist in Michigan with over 30 years of experience spanning academic leadership, research, teaching, and private practice. In the last decade, she has focused on supporting therapists in her mission to provide "healing for healers." Her approach combines consultation and therapy to help therapists explore their emotional reactions, biases, and feelings toward clients, fostering deeper self-awareness and improving therapeutic outcomes. Lavonne has recently completed certification in Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy and is beginning to incorporate ketamine, the first legal psychedelic, into her practice. She also leads group consultations for therapists, offering a supportive space for professional growth and self-reflection.
Good Life Research Network, Measurement Group Fellowship
We have a group of scholars focused on supporting each other with measurement-related research project. Most projects are at the intersection of positive psychology and other interdisciplinary or cultural themes aligned with the priorities of the Good Life Research Network.
Cultural and Humanities Critiques of Positive Psychology Competition
Positive psychology has transformed the field of psychology, but cultural and humanities critiques have challenged its universal applicability. The winner will receive a $1000 honorarium, and they will have the opportunity to adapt a variation of their talk for the next issue of the positive psychology section of Division 17.
The goal of this competition is to explore ideas that could catalyze the usefulness and trustworthiness of positive psychology in the day to day practice of counseling and psychotherapy. Counseling and Counseling Psychology are ideal subfields to being to explore room for potential innovation in theory, research, and practice. This competition invites talks (15 minutes or less) draw on critiques of positive psychology to propose ways to improve strength-focused approaches to multicultural training. Applicants from any discipline (e.g., philosophy, anthropology, theology, gender studies) or sub discipline (e.g., social psychology, cognitive psychology).
We have included a sampling of readings to guide your alignment with the goals of the competition.
Potential topics include:
1. Cultural limitations: How do cultural values influence the interpretation and application of positive psychology concepts?
2. Power dynamics: Does positive psychology inadvertently reinforce existing power structures or social inequalities?
3. Philosophical critiques: How do philosophical perspectives challenge the assumptions and methodologies of positive psychology?
Submissions will be evaluated on their potential to: (a) spark dialogue and challenge conventional thinking; (b) advance research by identifying new areas of inquiry; and (c) inform practice by offering culturally humble and socially just approaches to counseling.