Florida Adlerian Society 30th Annual Conference
March 6th & 7th, 2026
Safety Harbor Resort
105 North Bayshore Drive, Safety Harbor, FL 34695
Friday, March 6th
Half Day Workshops | 9:00 AM – Noon
A1. Painless, Blameless, Peaceful: How Psychology, Spirituality, and Family Can Combine to Create a “Good Death”
– Father Stavros, Florida
Every human being will experience the death of a loved one as well as their own death. Whether one is religious or not, death brings challenges and opportunities for a meaningful goodbye.
A2. Adlerian Approaches to Relationship Readiness, Lifestyle Fit, and Sustainable Intimacy
– Calvin Armerding, MA, LPC & Lindsay Hill, M. Ed., Travelers Rest Counseling Associates, South Carolina
Grounded in Adler’s Life Tasks and the logic of social interest, this workshop offers a practical framework for evaluating relationship readiness and compatibility. Participants learn how lifestyle patterns, private logic, relational courage, and contribution shape long-term partnership function.
Half Day Workshops | 1:30 PM – 4:30 PM
A3. What is Neurodiversity? Understanding Brain Differences in the Life Task
– Brittany McBryde-Williams, LMHC, Qualified Supervisor CCTP
This workshop addresses the life task of Family and Community by exploring neurotype as cultural context within Adlerian practice. Participants will learn how neurodivergence shapes subjective reality and meaning-making, with concrete adaptations for lifestyle assessment and therapeutic interventions. A clinical case study demonstrates restoring social interest and community belonging in neurodivergent clients through neurodivergent-affirming Adlerian modifications.
A4. The Lifestyle of the Counselor: Assets and Liabilities
– Calvin Armerding, MA, LPC, Travelers Rest Counseling Associates, South Carolina
This workshop examines the counselor’s own Life Style as a powerful influence in the therapeutic relationship. Participants will explore how personal assets support encouragement, collaboration, and social interest-and how liabilities such as control, approval seeking, or avoidance can create unhelpful one-up or one-down dynamics.
A5. Recipe for the Task of Intimacy
– Geri Carter, LMHC, Carter & Evans Marriage and Family Therapy, Florida
There are many facts to having a satisfying, intimate life. This workshop will explore intimacy, desirability, eroticism, and function. How each element is needed for high satisfaction in Adler’s life tasks.
Saturday, March 7th
Keynote Address 9:00 AM – 10:30 AM
The Challenge of Marriage: Demonstration of Couples Counseling
– Timothy D. Evans, Ph. D. & Geri Carter, LMHC, Carter & Evans Marriage and Family Therapy, Florida
Love and the feeling of warmth are the consequences of a good relationship. The love task requires the most cooperation, and it is the one for which we are least prepared. We need a new tradition of marriage. Meaningful relationships are central to “the good life”, and marriage is both a resource and foundation. Equality, conflict resolution, and weekly meetings are necessary for this new tradition.
Workshop Session 10:45 AM – Noon
B1. Writing Your Life Script: An Adlerian, Experiential Approach to Discovering Purpose, Motivation, and True Self
– Gina Midyett, LMHC, Ph.D., Florida
This experiential workshop integrates Adlerian psychology with practical exercises from Dr. Gina’s book, True Self Makeover, to help participants identify lifestyle patterns, challenge mistaken beliefs, and reconnect with purpose. Through guided reflection, life-script, writing, mirror work, motivation exploration and the Five Finger Exercise, participants will gain tools to foster encouragement, emotional regulation, and meaningful personal change.
B2. The Relationship as Medicine: What Psychedelic Research Teaches About Connection -Centered Healing
– Scott Jenson, MBA, MA, NCC, RMHCI, Florida
This workshop explores psychedelic-assisted therapy and community experiences and how they can enhance empathy, emotional openness, and secure attachment in couples and communities, emphasizing the healing power of authentic connection and mutual support as central agents of change in psychological growth and well-being.
B3. Imperfect Parenting: Rethinking Beliefs and Behaviors
– Addie Carothers, MA, LMFT, CLC, Director of Wellness, The University of Tampa, CEO of Carothers Consulting, Florida
This presentation explores parenting through an Adlerian lens, emphasizing the courage to be imperfect. Parents and educators will examine why behavior modification alone falls short, how understanding goals of misbehavior matters, and how encouragement and strengths-based approaches reshape children’s beliefs about themselves—challenging perfectionistic expectations of what it means to be a “good” parent.
Workshop Session 1:30 PM – 2:45 PM
B4. Where’s Adler When I Need Him?
– Bruce H. Garver, MS, Health Connect America, Florida
This workshop will present a review of the most popular self-help books, whether for parenting, marriage, or the self. Today’s popular literature shows an ever-increasing tendency of placing the responsibility for one’s life circumstances on external forces rather than teleology. How “Adlerian” is today’s most widely read literature, and which books can be reconciled with Individual Psychology?
B5. The Role of Inspiration
– Nicola Haddak, LMHC, CMFT, Florida
Relating to one another in meaningful ways and with intention is becoming increasingly important in our disconnecting world. Despite the strides we have made in terms of technological and virtual connections, many people find themselves feeling lonely and divided. This workshop will discuss the role we all play in solving this social dilemma and how we can serve to inspire those around us.
B6. The Encouraging Studio: An Adlerian Framework for Creativity, Courage, and Movement
– Lindsey Hill, M. Ed., LPC, Travelers Rest Counseling Associates, South Carolina
This Adlerian micro-lab offers a clear, research-informed framework for shifting clients from insight to purposeful movement. Through live demonstrations and guided experiential exercises, participants observe how encouragement functions as a clinical mechanism of change. The session illustrates how creativity, somatic engagement, and metaphor strengthen belonging, courage, and lifestyle movement across Adler’s Life Tasks.
Tribute to Frank Walton | 3:00 PM – 5:00 PM
A special tribute to Frank Walton. His philosophy, videos, and contributions to us all: “When we accept ourselves and do not strive for superiority or inferiority, we free ourselves to be of help to others.”
Social Event 5:00 PM – 6:45 PM
Reception to meet, greet, and have community