Counseling & Student Affairs Workshops

5:00 PM - 6:00 PM via Zoom

This session equips counselors with a clear, clinically grounded framework for evaluating generative AI in personal and professional settings. Moving beyond basic awareness, participants will examine how AI systems function, identify ethical and clinical risks, and use an “if, when, and how” framework to make defensible decisions about AI use. Emphasis is placed on protecting the therapeutic relationship, maintaining clinical judgment, and integrating AI in ways that enhance care without compromising ethical standards.

Eric T. Beeson, PhD, LPC

5:30 PM - 6:30 PM at GRH Student Success Center

This workshop explores how school counseling professionals can integrate their authentic identities, ethical responsibilities, professional credentials, and counseling skills into diverse settings, including community organizations, nonprofit agencies, private practice, and other professional spaces.

Euphrates Deaun Catawnee

Euphrates Deaun Catawnee (formerly Brandon Deaun Green) is an educator, school counseling professional, youth development leader, author, mentor, public speaker, and community advocate. A two-time graduate of Western Kentucky University, Euphrates holds a bachelor’s degree in Social & Behavioral Science and a Master of Arts in Education in School Counseling. His professional experience spans K–12 education—including juvenile and alternative schools—higher education, workforce development, counseling, athletic coaching, and community programming. He is the Founder and Director of Student4Life, Inc. (S4L)—Educating, Coaching, and Mentoring, a Chattanooga-based nonprofit focused on empowering youth through education and entertainment, social-emotional development, athletic opportunities, professional experiences, and mentorship. Through S4L, he develops programs with schools and community centers while bridging professional services and community partnerships. Euphrates is a 2019 Kentucky Counseling Association Most Outstanding Graduate and 2020 WKU Outstanding School Counselor Graduate Award recipient, as well as the 2026 City of Chattanooga Impact Award recipient. He is a member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc., and the published author of two books: Tasteful Thoughts for the Mind and Belly (2025) and North American Tribes Word Search Book, Volume 1: Alabama–Mississippi; North American Nations (2026).

9:30 AM - 12:30 PM via Zoom

Apply the code of ethical conduct contained in 201 KAR 23:080 as it relates to ethical decision making in the context of professional practice, practice use of core values and principles of the SW profession as articulated in NASW Code of Ethics, and integrate ethical principles of NASW Code and the code of ethical conduct (KAR 23:080) via application of a model of ethic.

15:45 p.m. to TBD in Gary Ransdell Hall in the Student Success Center

4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. CST via Zoom

Gifted and talented/high ability students often differ from their same age peers in significant ways. We will discuss their characteristics and intensities and how these impact their experiences in the classroom and at home. Building on this foundation, we will focus on key elements to successfully working with gifted students in a counseling environment.

Lynette Breedlove, Ph.D.
Allen Clark, LPCA 
(Gatton Academy Staff)

Lynette Breedlove earned a bachelor’s degree at Rhodes College, a master’s degree at University of St. Thomas (Houston), and a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology with a specialization in Intelligence, Creativity, and Giftedness at Texas A&M University. She has held various roles in public education from classroom teacher and gifted education specialist to central office administrator. She is very active in the field of gifted education, having served in leadership roles within the Kentucky Association for Gifted Education, the Texas Association for the Gifted and Talented, the National Association for Gifted Children, and The Association for the Gifted. Dr. Breedlove is the Director of The Gatton Academy of Mathematics and Science where she oversees the program and staff. She also serves as mentor students and college counselor. She finds joy in interacting with Gatton students and alumni as they forge their unique paths exploring their infinite possibilities.

Allen earned bachelor’s degrees in Psychological Science and Arabic, as well as a master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Western Kentucky University. Prior to and during his graduate studies, he worked as a Residential Counselor at The Gatton Academy. He now serves as the Mental Health Counselor at The Gatton Academy, where he primarily works with gifted, high-achieving, and twice-exceptional students. Throughout his career, Allen has supported adolescent populations in roles including camp counselor, minister, college counselor, and mentor. He is passionate about helping young people develop confidence in themselves and find fulfillment in their lives and hope for their future. 

4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. CST via Zoom

This training focuses on real-world strategies for supporting neurodivergent children, adolescents, and families. Participants will learn key counseling considerations, explore common challenges such as anxiety and emotional regulation, and leave with practical tools they can immediately apply in their work.

Peyton Collins, LCSW
Sarah McMaine-Render, MAE LPCA

Peyton Collins, LCSW, is the Director of Mental Health Services at the Kelly Autism Program, where he has spent the past decade supporting autistic individuals from adolescence into adulthood. He also works as a part-time therapist with The Cognitive Refinery. Peyton specializes in anxiety, adjustment challenges, and OCD, and uses evidence-based approaches such as CBT, ACT, ERP, and ICBT to support meaningful, client-centered change.

Sarah McMaine-Render, MAE LPCA is the assistant director of the Kelly Autism Program. She has been with the program for over 20 years and has supported autistic individuals, primary aged through adulthood. Sarah recently returned to school to obtain her second Master’s in Clinical Mental Health Counseling to better support the students within the programing. Sarah uses Solution Focused, ACT and Person-Centered Approaches when working with students.

4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. CST via Zoom

Ethical practice is not a destination, it is a continuous, active process of professional discernment. For licensed counselors and counselors-in-training, the obligation to practice ethically and within the boundaries of the law is not simply aspirational; it is a foundational professional imperative, a condition of licensure, and a protection for the clients and communities we serve. Yet ethical and legal standards are not always the same thing, they do not always align, and navigating the space between them requires knowledge, skill, and the willingness to tolerate complexity.

This one-hour program provides licensed counselors and counselors-in-training with a structured, practical examination of the relationship between ethical standards and legal requirements in clinical practice. Using the ACA Code of Ethics as the primary professional framework, participants will explore the foundational moral principles that anchor ethical decision-making in counseling — autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, justice, and fidelity — and examine how these principles guide practice when ethical obligations and legal mandates converge, conflict, or exist in tension with one another. Special focus on effectively supporting children and adolescents, and their families, will be given.

Dr. Hannah M. Coyt, LPCC-S, NCC, CCMHC

Dr. Hannah Coyt has been a licensed professional counselor in Kentucky since 2000 and brings 26 years of experience across diverse populations, including SMI adults, children, adolescents, geriatric clients, veterans, first responders, families, couples, and substance use. Since 2001, she has been a board-approved supervisor, mentoring over 50 counselors-in-training. She served on the Kentucky Board of Licensed Professional Counselors beginning in 2020 and as Board Chair from 2022–2024. In this capacity, she led regulatory initiatives, oversaw compliance processes, and represented Kentucky at national forums. Dr. Coyt also serves as Kentucky’s alternate delegate to the Counseling Compact and is an active member of the Compact’s Compliance and Elections Committees. Nationally, Dr. Coyt is the current President of the Association of State Counseling Boards (AASCB), where she has worked to strengthen collaboration among licensing boards, improve regulatory alignment, and support ethical, consistent standards across jurisdictions. She has participated extensively in committee work and conferences for AASCB, CRBS, and other regulatory bodies. Dr. Coyt presents regularly at state, regional, and national conferences and has published on topics including Appalachian culture, counselor education in crises, trauma, grief, addictions, and law enforcement wellness.Her clinical practice continues part-time with a focus on trauma, grief, and first responders, and she is certified in EMDR. Through her combined roles as an educator, regulator, and clinician, Dr. Coyt is committed to advancing ethical practice, protecting the public, and strengthening the profession through innovative regulatory leadership.

12:45 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. CST in Gary Ransdell Hall Auditorium, Room 1074

This presentation will educate clinicians on an introductory level of the integrative approach to mental health.

Cathy Gamm, MA, LPCC-S

Cathy has been a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor for over 15 years. She received her designation as Supervisor in 2014. In addition to receiving her Masters in Mental Health Counseling & Marriage & Family Therapy, Cathy has gone on to receive a Certification as a Brain Health Coach from the Amen Clinics and certification as a Certified Integrative Mental Health Provider and Mental Health & Nutrition Clinical Specialist. Cathy has experience working with teens, college-age, and adults dealing with depression, anxiety, stress, low self-esteem, relationship issues, self-harm and suicidal thoughts. She works from an integrative mental health perspective for all clients to address the Bio-Psycho-Social-Spiritual aspect of whole mind-body wellness.

4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. CST via Zoom

Dr. Sauerheber, WKU’s CACREP Accreditation Liaison, will share insights into the process of developing and maintaining a CACREP-accredited program. She will explain how accreditation learning standards are integrated into the curriculum and discuss the impact these standards have on students’ clinical practice and professional development. Dr. Sauerheber has extensive experience in accreditation, having served as a CACREP Site Team member, led the department’s most recent successful re-accreditation self-study, and assisted with self-studies for two other institutions.

Dr. Jill Sauerheber, CACREP Liaison and former CACREP Site Team Visitor

Jill Duba Sauerheber is a Professor and Department Chair of the Department of Counseling and Student Affairs at Western Kentucky University. She serves as the Program Coordinator for the MCFC and CMHC programs, CACREP-accreditation liaison, Program Administer for NBCC ACEP; and Coordinator for the Gottman Couples Therapy Method University Outreach. She earned a B.S. in biology at Saint Xavier University (Chicago), a M.A. in Marriage and Family Counseling at Governors State University, and a Ph.D. in Counselor Education and Supervision, with a cognate in marriage and family counseling at Kent State University. Dr. Sauerheber became a Hilltopper in 2004 when she was hired as a Marriage, Couple and Family Counseling faculty member within the Department of Counseling and Student Affairs. She has taught courses housed in all of the department's program areas.