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CALL FOR PROPOSALS — Graduate Student Virtual Conference 2026

Submission Deadline: March 15th

Theme: Counseling in a Hostile Sociopolitical Climate: Graduate Student Perspectives on Training, Practice, and Professional Identity
 April 25, 2026
10:00 AM – 4:00 PM (Virtual)
Open to Counseling Graduate Students Nationwide
Up to 4 CE Hours Available

This graduate student–centered conference provides a developmental, supportive space for counselors-in-training to explore how contemporary sociopolitical climates shape counseling practice, supervision, ethics, and professional identity. Graduate students occupy a unique position—simultaneously learning theory, engaging in clinical practice, and navigating systems of power and policy in real time. This conference centers those emerging voices.

We welcome works-in-progress, applied reflections, pilot research, case conceptualizations (de-identified), advocacy initiatives, supervision insights, and early-stage scholarship.

Conference Themes / Suggested Topics:

  • Counseling training in hostile sociopolitical climates

  • Mental health in the era of state violence and surveillance

  • Whose safety? Whose care?

  • Counselor education and supervision under systems of oppression

  • Professional identity development for counselors-in-training

  • Graduate student perspectives on ethics, advocacy, and care

Presentation Formats (50 min each, CE-eligible):
Roundtable Discussions
Guided Paper / Practice Sessions
Skills & Intervention Workshops

Low-anxiety, developmental space

  • Cameras optional

  • Slides optional

  • Works-in-progress welcome

Why Present?

  • Share emerging scholarship in a supportive environment

  • Strengthen professional identity

  • Gain CE-eligible presentation experience

  • Engage critically with peers navigating similar sociopolitical tensions

  • Contribute to a national graduate-centered professional community

Submission Deadline: March 15th
Submit Here: https://forms.gle/ofMokAyMdL3XfGpNA