Share Your Knowledge!
AMHCA is a growing community of over 7,000 mental health counselors. As stewards of the profession, our members are committed to furthering the education of licensed mental health counselors. Join this community of experts by submitting a presentation. We want you to share your expertise on key counseling topics. If accepted, programs will be presented at the 2019 AMHCA Annual Conference in Herndon, Virginia on June 26-28. You will engage counselors and students from all over the country and be given the means to stay connected with them year-round. Don’t miss this opportunity to influence the next generation of mental health counselors and inspire passionate discussion among your peers. Submit your program today.

ABOUT THE CONFERENCE
The American Mental Health Counselors Association (AMHCA) Annual Conference is the only national professional conference for licensed mental health counselors. AMHCA members, mental health counseling students, and other mental health professionals are invited to present their research and share their expertise at this conference. Take this opportunity to get involved and share your work with your colleagues. AMHCA is an approved CEU provider for NBCC. As an NBCC ACEP provider, AMHCA is responsible for ensuring that all aspects of our CEU offerings are in compliance with the NBCC Continuing Education Provider Policy.


PRESENTATION FORMAT
There are two presentation categories:

1. ORAL PRESENTATIONS:
Presentations can be either in Breakout format (50 min, 1.5 hours or 3 hours, including Q/A), Research Spotlight (15 min), or Innovation Spotlight (15-30 min live clinical demonstration). Presentations are designed to be interactive and produce identifiable outcomes. Presentations may be made by single or multiple presenters, or in panel formats.

This year, we are seeking presentations in the following areas:

• Children/Adolescents
• Couples/Family
• Developmental Disability
• Geriatric
• Integrated Care, Practice Issues, and Healthcare Reform
• Military and Veterans Issues
• Substance Abuse and Co-Occurring Disorders
• Trauma - Assessment and Treatment
• Biological Bases of Behavior/Neuroscience
• Specialized Clinical Assessment
• Technology Assisted Treatment (Telemental Health, Virtual Reality, Biofeedback, etc)
• Supervision
• Ethics
• General/Other

Other topics we are especially interested in include such as
Crisis counseling
Program development and evaluation
Emerging Professionals (aka., students, new graduates)
Human trafficking
Immigration
Diversity and multicultural
Advocacy and leadership

2. POSTER PRESENTATIONS:
Posters are displays of innovative practices and award‐winning programs, documents and ideas/questions. Posters will be placed throughout the conference and presenters will be available at select times to answer questions about the materials displayed. AMHCA will provide easels for your poster presentation. Posters should not exceed the standard poster board size of 36” x 48”.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES Deadline: Presentations must be received in the online portal by December 31, 2018.
Required Content ─ Abstracts must include the following information, as indicated on the online form:

• Primary Presenter Contact Information, including AMHCA Membership Category
• Presentation Title (75 Characters Maximum)
• Program Categories
• Type of Presentation (Oral or Poster, Single or Multiple Presenters, Panel)
• Level of Program: Introductory, Intermediate or Advanced
• Contact Information for Co‐Presenters
• CV/Resume for all presenters (to include all licenses and degrees)
• Short Biography for Each Presenter (50 Words Maximum for Each Presenter)
• Presentation Annotation (50 Words Maximum – for use in program, web, etc.)
• Program Description to include:

• Abstract to be used in conference program (400 Words Maximum, follow APA style requirements). Please describe your program in a way that engages potential attendees and clearly identifies what they will take away.
• Learning Objectives: Please share 3 learning objectives from this presentation. Please focus on what attendees will be able to do after attending your presentation.
• Supporting evidence (What is the evidence to support your proposal? Does it rest on or extend an existing body of literature? Does it show an innovative application of existing evidence? Do you have any anecdotal or program evaluation data to support your claims? Please briefly synthesize the evidence to justify the merit of your proposal).
• Description of presentation format. (Provide a rough outline of what you will do during your session. For instance, will it be primarily didactic/lecture with questions at the end or more interactive with activities and questions throughout? Be sure to connect the format with the type of presentation you selected and account for enough time matching your selected length.)
• Description of accompanying materials or handouts
• How does your presentation address multicultural perspectives and elevate diversity?
• How does your presentation align with conference theme of “Embracing the Possibilities: Connect. Innovate. Act.”
• AV Needs: All rooms will have an LCD projector with screen. Any additional equipment (computers, phone/internet connections) MUST BE PROVIDED BY THE PRESENTER OR ARRANGED DIRECTLY WITH THE CONFERENCE ORGANIZERS AT THE PRESENTER’S EXPENSE

• Agreement to all Terms & Conditions, including AMHCA Conference Disclosure Requirements
• Presenters must also be prepared to answer the following questions:

• Marketing: Are you selling or endorsing a product or service?
• Commitment: Do you agree to register for the conference and be present for the presentation? Failure to register by January 18, 2018 may result in losing the privilege to present.
• Audio Recording Release: Are you willing to have the session audio-recorded?

If any of this information is not included, the presentation will be considered incomplete and will not be reviewed.

NEXT STEPS
1. Create a user account in the online portal. Start by clicking the 'Join Now' button located at the top of this webpage.
2. Follow the instructions in the portal to submit your program by answering the required questions.
3. AMHCA will acknowledge receipt of all proposal applications via email immediately upon submission. You can also save your application and come back to it before submitting; your username and login will be emailed to you by the system.

Abstract Review Process: The AMHCA Conference Planning Committee, chaired by President-Elect Eric Beeson, and a team of AMHCA members will review all presentations. Presentations will be selected based on topic, relevance to conference theme (Innovate and Advocate: Advocate and Advance the Clinical Counseling Profession), speakers’ qualifications on the topic, and intended audience. The Committee will send notification by email to the presenters of acceptance or rejection. The main presenter will be responsible for notifying others participating in the program of the outcome. All applicants will be notified of the status of their submissions by January 2019.

Registration and Travel Costs: All accepted lead presenters must register for the conference and pay a reduced presenter rate by January 18, 2019. Travel costs are the responsibility of the presenter and will not be paid by AMHCA. Details on this process will be sent once you are accepted.

If you do not receive an email acknowledgment upon submission of your program, please contact Rebecca Gibson, at rgibson@amhca.org. Each applicant is responsible for verification that his/her proposal has been received.

PLEASE NOTE - AMHCA will only acknowledge programs received via the Online Program Submission Management system.

AMHCA actively works to ensure compliance with the Americans with Disabilities (ADA) Act.
Tips for Preparing a PowerPoint Presentation:
• Use a sans serif font that is at least 22 point
• A light colored background with dark text is preferred 
• Use a plain background without any watermark, photo, or design behind the text
• Use a PowerPoint as an outline for your presentation, with only short sentences and/or bulleted phrases (about 4 lines of text / 40 words per slide) 
• Keep it short. As a rule, one slide for every two minutes of speaking time 
• Photographs, images, clip art, graphics, maps, and charts cannot be read by screen readers - embed "Alt Text" descriptions with images
• Include verbal descriptions of all photos / images during your presentation


Start by clicking the 'Join Now' button located at the top of this webpage to create an account and submission.