Up to 9.5 NBCC Credit Hours Available
Arkansas Association for the Treatment and Prevention of Sexual Abuse (AR ATSA) has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7910. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. Arkansas Association for the Treatment and Prevention of Sexual Abuse (AR ATSA) is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.
The training will be held at the Hotel Hot Springs
305 Malvern Avenue
Hot Springs, Arkansas 71901
501-623-6600
A block of rooms has been reserved at a discounted rate when you reference the Arkansas Association for Treatment and Prevention of Sexual Abuse Conference.
The conference is presented in a hybrid format with an online option
Registrants who choose the online option will receive a link Monday of the conference week.
THURSDAY DECEMBER 3rd
8:00am to 9:00am Check in at Registration Table
9:00 am -10:00 a.m. (1.0 credit hour)
Adult Female Sexual Offenders
Adult female sexual offenders are a distinct demographic, making up roughly 1% to 2% of all recorded sexual offenses, or up to 12% according to victim reports. Their uniqueness stems from differing offense patterns, deep-seated histories of trauma, and frequent involvement as co-offenders rather than solo offenders. This presentation will:
Learning Objective 1: Define the uniqueness of female sexual offending, highlighting their distinct statistical differences and typologies as compared to male offenders.
Learning Objective 2: Examine the psychological precursors that drive this behavior, such as the high rates of trauma, co-occurring mental health issues, and distinct cognitive distortions.
Learning Objective 3: Outline gender-responsive assessment and interventions, emphasizing trauma-informed care.In sibling incest cases, reunification is a process that can take many shapes, and goals can change at various points. Therapists must address treatment needs of their clients, work to enhance protective factors in the family system, and interface with courts, CPS, and multiple other stakeholders as the case unfolds. This presentation will provide suggestions for navigating the stages of treatment as a family works to establish a new normal in the context of legal, child protection and other requirements addressing the needs of the youth who harmed, the child who harmed, and the family.
Brooke Berard, Ph.D. Clinical Psychologist
Dr. Berard is a forensically-trained licensed psychologist who specializes in sexual risk assessments and the implementation and evaluation of behavioral health services in correctional settings. Currently, Dr. Berard is the Director of Sexual Behavior Programs and Services for Wellpath in Arkansas where she primarily serves as a Sex Offender Community Notification Assessment (SOCNA) Program psychologist. Dr. Berard also works as a private forensic evaluator. Dr. Berard was previously the Regional Behavioral Health Director of the Maine Department of Correction for four years and the Director of Sex Offender Program Services for the Massachusetts Department of Correction for 15 years. She earned her doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the Wright Institute in Berkeley, CA. She completed her pre-doctoral APA internship at the Whiting Forensic Unit at Connecticut Valley Hospital and completed a forensic postdoctoral fellowship through University of Massachusetts – Boston. In addition to forensic settings, her professional experiences include being an Adjunct Professor at William James College and doing mobile crisis/disaster relief work. Dr. Berard has presented extensively on sexual violence prevention and treatment effectiveness to a variety of audiences including law enforcement, clinicians, and communities.
Michael Powell, Ph.D., LPC, CFC Certified Forensic Counselor
Dr. Powell lives in NWA and has 25-years of therapeutic experience, which includes 17-years in juvenile and adult corrections. He works full-time for Wellpath as the Regional Tele-Mental Health Clinician serving patients within the Arkansas Department of Corrections (ADC). Dr. Powell also run the Sexual Trauma and Offense Prevention (STOP) program designed for lower risk youth in need of sex-specific outpatient psychosexual education. Earlier this year he and Dr. Berard wrote the female sexual offender treatment manual for the women's SOFT program in ADC.
10:15 to 11:45 (1.5 credit hours)
What Happens Before the Treatment Room? Systemic Prevention of Sexual Harm and Opportunities for Collaboration.
This collaborative session will highlight efforts of faith communities and other organizations to prevent sexual abuse and increase adequate care for survivors. It will highlight complexities and barriers to abuse prevention work within these systems. It will offer participants the opportunity to share their insight related to effective methods and opportunities for collaborating with victim advocates for the prevention of sexual harm. This session will focus on current progress in systemic abuse prevention and the potential for future improvement and effectiveness.
Learning Objective 1: Identify current efforts to implement sexual abuse prevention and survivor support within faith communities and other child-serving organizations and key barriers impacting those efforts.
Learning Objective 2: Describe how the collective understanding of abuse, organizational culture, power dynamics, and community contexts influence the prevention of sexual harm and response to disclosure of abuse.
Learning Objective 3: Identify opportunities to collaborate with other mental health professionals, victim advocates, and community-serving organizations to strengthen sexual abuse prevention and trauma-informed responses for the benefit of those who have abused and those who are vulnerable to abuse.
Christa Neal, MS, LPC, LMFT
Christa Neal is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Licensed Professional Counselor specializing in Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TFCBT), Parent-Child Interactive Therapy (PCIT), Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR).
Christa is a passionate advocate for abuse reform and mental health services and was the founding executive director of the Percy and Donna Malone Child Safety Center, where she still provides mental health counseling services to children and families. She has spent nearly two decades in the human services and mental health fields and is driven by a passion to prevent and address abuse effectively. As the Title IX coordinator at Ouachita Baptist University and Program Advisor for the Community and Family Services academic program there, Christa continues to shape the next generation of professionals in the field and oversee the campus's response to sexual misconduct allegations.
Her family’s previous service as a foster care home reflects their shared commitment to making a difference in the lives of vulnerable children. Christa is dedicated to systemic change related to abuse, evidenced by her recent role as inaugural chair of the Sexual Abuse Response and Resource Team for the Arkansas Baptist State Convention and her services as Trauma Informed mental health consultant with the 9th East Judicial District Prosecuting attorney’s office. Christa is the founder of Protect and Restore Consulting LLC and throughout her career has trained thousands of individuals and consulted with hundreds of churches and other organizations on abuse prevention, survivor care, and related topics.
11:45 to 1:00 Catered Lunch Onsite
12:00 to 1:00pm (1.0 credit hour) LUNCH SESSION
Characteristics of Juveniles Who Commit Sexual Offenses: Findings from the Arkansas Adolescent Sexual Adjustment Project
Sexual abuse of adolescents and children is an adverse event that contributes to both immediate and long-term harm. While it is widely recognized that adolescent offenders have risk factors and characteristics that differ from adult offenders of child sexual abuse, less is known about variation within the population of adolescents who sexually offend. The UAMS Family Treatment Program is leading a project examining the demographic, social, and mental health factors among a group of adolescents who have sexually offended.
Learning Objective 1: Describe demographic, social, and mental health factors among a group of adolescent offenders.
Learning Objective 2: Explore any statistically significant differences between identified groups.
Learning Objective 3: Evaluate how exploratory data from this specialized regional initiative can be utilized to design targeted prevention efforts.
Melissa Wright, Psy.D. Melissa Wright is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at UAMS. Dr. Wright earned her doctorate in clinical psychology from Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. I completed my postdoctoral training in forensic psychology at the Arkansas State Hospital in Little Rock in 2014. She worked at ASH as a forensic psychologist for the next 10 years, conducting Fitness to Proceed and Criminal Responsibility Examinations on juvenile and adult defendants. In September 2025, she accepted the position of Director of the Family Treatment Program where she provides assessment and treatment services to children with problematic sexual behaviors, as well as trauma-focused interventions to children and teen survivors of abuse.
1:15p.m. to 2:15 p.m. (1.0 credit hour)
Too Dirty to Be a Victim, Too Exploited to Have Agency? Purity Culture, Capitalism, Whorephobia, and the Politics of Consent in Sex Work
By the end of the presentation, participants will be able to: Learning Objective 1: Differentiate among consensual sex work, economic constraint, labor exploitation, sexual exploitation, and sexual coercion by examining consent, agency, power, and the ability to refuse or exit.
Learning Objective 2: Identify how purity culture, whorephobia, and “ideal victim” assumptions can produce two opposite assessment errors: erasing sex workers’ agency and minimizing their victimization.
Learning Objective 3: Consider a choice framework when assessing commercial sexual encounter to assess consent, harm, available options, coercive influence, control, and ability to exit without relying primarily on moral judgments about sex work.
Paul Moore, M.S., LPC, LMFT is a Licensed Professional Counselor Supervisor, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Supervisor, National Certified Counselor, and AASECT Certified Sex Therapist with more than 18 years of experience in healthcare, mental health, and correctional settings. Paul holds a master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy from John Brown University. His professional background includes clinician development, prior service on Arkansas Board of Counseling Examiners, advocacy for undocumented immigrants, and supporting workers’ rights and community empowerment and assisting persons recovering from toxic Christianity.
2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. (1.0 credit hour)
Assessment and Risk Evaluation of Juvenile Sex Offenders
This presentation provides an overview of juvenile sex offenders, with an emphasis on assessment and risk evaluation. We will explore psychopathology, risk factors, and offending patterns, with particular focus on tools such as J‑SOAP‑II, ERASOR, and JSORRAT‑II. The session demonstrates how practitioners assess risk, differentiate between static and dynamic factors, and integrate research on recidivism. Participants will understand how assessment informs treatment, supervision, and placement decisions.
Learning Objective 1: Explain the purpose and core components of structured risk assessment tools.
Learning Objective 2: Identify key static and dynamic risk factors.
Learning Objective 3:Apply assessment findings to practice.
Attapol Kuanliang, Ph.D., PLPC is a professor of criminal justice and serves as the director of the Institute of Juvenile Justice at Midwestern State University. He also works as a mental health counselor at the university's Counseling Center. Dr. Kuanliang has also collaborated with the juvenile sex offender program at Wichita County Juvenile Probation in Texas.
3:45 p.m. to 4:45 p.m. (1.0 credit hour)
Addressing Ethical Challenges when Working with Adult Sex Offenders
Many times when working with sex offenders, therapist find themselves in uncomfortable positions and in need of making decisions that can ruin the progress and gains for their clients who have abused others sexually, due to their over-arching responsibility to public safety concerns. This presentation discusses some of these double-binds, explores the means by which guidance and support can be sought, and the means by which professional collaboration may be of benefit.
Learning Objective 1: Learn how to manage conflicts of interest, boundaries, and dual relationships that may develop when working with others who have sexually abused others..
Learning Objective 2: Identify challenges in developing an empathetic therapeutic alliance persons who have sexually abused others
Learning Objective 3:Explain how professional collaboration can help in maintaining ethical standards when working the persons who have sexually abused others.
Robert D. Hanser, Ph.D., LPC-SA, LAC-CCS Dr. Hanser has worked with the sex offender population for over 12 years at Richwood Correctional Center (RCC) and the Louisiana Transitional Center for Women (LTCW) and in the community. He also works with community-base treatment programming for persons who have sexually abused others. He was the program director for the criminal justice program at the University of Louisiana at Monroe for 24 years and is now with the Marriage and Family Therapy program at the same university.
THURSDAY 6:00 P.M. Dinner Provided
FRIDAY DECEMBER 4th
8:30 am to 10:00 a.m. (1.5 credit hours)
Understanding Traumatic Stress & Problematic Sexual Behaviors in Autistic Youth
Distinguish Trauma Symptoms from Autistic Traits
Neuroaffirmative Care Settings & Adapting Treatment for those with Autism
Adapting Evidence-Based Treatment for Youth with Autism
Psychosexual Development and Problematic Sexual Behaviors in Youth with Autism
Develop Collaborative Multidisciplinary Support Plans