Montana CBT Conference
Welcome to the 6th Annual Montana CBT Conference!
The Montana CBT Conference is a two-day, in-person training event for mental health professionals seeking practical, evidence-based tools for clinical practice.
While grounded in cognitive-behavioral science, the conference welcomes clinicians from all orientations and backgrounds, with a focus on skills that are broadly applicable across settings. This year’s program highlights the flexibility and reach of modern CBT and related approaches, with workshops spanning anxiety, depression, eating disorders, pediatric and perinatal mental health, neurodivergence, domestic violence intervention, and treatment effectiveness.
The conference opens with a keynote exploring experiential and real-world adaptations of evidence-based therapies, emphasizing how clinicians can translate theory into meaningful change with clients.
Whether you primarily practice CBT or draw from a range of therapeutic models, attendees will leave with immediately usable skills to strengthen and refresh their clinical work. Plus, it's a lot of fun!
Find all the details on the agenda, speakers, hotel booking, and CE information below. The full agenda may also be downloaded here.
Agenda (Be sure to view both days)
- 8:00 am - 8:30 am
Check in
Light morning snacks and coffee is available.
- 8:30 am - 10:30 am
Keynote Presentation: Stepping Outside: Experiential Adaptations of Evidence-Based Therapies, with Julian Nolen, PhD
This session explores the integration of key CBT and third-wave interventions into active, experiential contexts. For clients who need more than traditional talk therapy, we will discuss how to incorporate engaging activities, outdoor settings, and individual client interests to turn evidence-based treatments into evidence-based experiences. This workshop provides clear, reproducible strategies for assessing client strengths and translating them into dynamic interventions - ensuring that therapy is not only a place to talk about growth but one in which clients are empowered to achieve it.
- 10:30 am - 10:45 am
Break
- 10:45 am - 12:15 pm
Food, Feelings, and Function: Using CBT to Address Binge Eating Disorder & Emotional Eating, with Kyrie Russ, LCPC
When clients say they are eating for “stress relief,” they are often describing a more complex process: an attempt to escape, numb, or disconnect from difficult internal experiences, i.e. "What am I trying to feel or avoid with this behavior?" This workshop uses a cognitive-behavioral framework to help clinicians understand binge eating and emotional eating not as a failure of willpower, but as functional behaviors maintained by reinforcement, disrupted eating patterns, and difficulty tolerating emotions. Participants will learn to conceptualize binge eating and emotional eating using core CBT principles, including positive and negative reinforcement, impacts of restriction, and maladaptive beliefs about food and self-worth. Common clinical patterns will be explored, including people-pleasing tendencies, avoidance of emotions such as anger or anxiety, histories of dieting or trauma, and disorganized eating routines that increase vulnerability to overeating. Attendees will leave with a clear, functional framework and concrete tools to help clients reduce binge and emotional eating while building more adaptive, sustainable coping strategies.
- 12:15 pm - 1:30 pm
Optional Networking Lunch with Psychotherapy Trivia
Join colleagues for a tasty lunch with trivia and prizes! You must select this optional ticket upon checkout if you'd like to attend, or opt for lunch on your own.
- 1:30 pm - 3:15 pm
Two Lenses, One Goal: Integrating Parent and Child Interventions in Pediatric Anxiety Treatment, with Patricia Cooper, LCPC & Ashley Schwartzman, LCPC
Pediatric anxiety treatment is often most effective when both child and parent factors are addressed simultaneously. This presentation introduces a dual-clinician, parallel-process model that integrates developmentally appropriate cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for children with structured parent-focused intervention. Drawing from clinical work in anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), including exposure and response prevention (ERP), this model emphasizes targeting both child avoidance and parental accommodation to support meaningful and sustained progress. Attendees will learn how to implement exposure-based strategies with children while addressing parent behaviors that may unintentionally reinforce anxiety. The session will outline distinct but complementary roles for clinicians working with children and those supporting parents, with an emphasis on coordination and consistency in treatment messaging. Practical strategies will be provided for building child-friendly exposure hierarchies, externalizing anxiety, and increasing engagement in treatment. In parallel, attendees will learn how to help parents identify accommodation behaviors, respond supportively without reinforcing anxiety, and tolerate their own distress in the process. Through case examples and applied strategies, participants will leave with a clear, implementable framework for integrating parent and child interventions in pediatric anxiety treatment across clinical settings, including telehealth.
- 3:15 pm - 3:30 pm
Break
- 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm
Working With the Neurodivergent Mind: Adapting Mindfulness for ADHD and Autistic Adults, with Mary Corelli, LCPC
Mindfulness is widely used across clinical settings to support emotional regulation, awareness, and overall well-being. However, many traditional mindfulness practices were developed with neurotypical cognitive and sensory styles in mind. Clinicians working with ADHD and autistic adults often find that standard approaches (such as sustained attention to breath, body scans, or non-adaptive stillness) can be inaccessible or even dysregulating for neurodivergent clients. This workshop explores practical ways to adapt mindfulness-based approaches for neurodivergent individuals. Participants will learn how differences in attention, sensory processing, emotional regulation, and cognitive style influence how clients engage with mindfulness practices. Emphasis will be placed on flexible, permission-based approaches that honor neurodivergent ways of sensing, moving, and relating to experience. Through case examples and experiential exercises, participants will leave with concrete, accessible strategies to help neurodivergent clients engage with mindfulness in ways that feel supportive, regulating, and sustainable.
Conference Speakers
Kyrie Russ, LCPC
Kyrie is a psychotherapist in Montana and the owner of Mount Helena Counseling, PLLC, an NBCC approved continuing education provider. Her practice focuses on providing evidence-based treatments, such as Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) in its multitude of applications, Exposure with Response Prevention, Inference-Based CBT, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and Metacognitive Therapy. Her clinical practice predominately serves clients with OCD, Anxiety and Phobias, Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors, and disordered eating. Kyrie is a native Montanan who is passionate about ensuring that clients in rural areas have access to high quality mental health services. She expanded her practice into training and consultation and founded the Montana CBT Conference, as she has noticed gaps in educational opportunities for behavioral health providers in rural areas. She offers trainings throughout the year to state and national audiences, as well as individual and small group case consultation programs related to treating OCD, eating disorders, and basically anything related to CBT! She additionally provides consultation related to the business of private practice and clinical documentation.
Julian Nolen, PhD
Dr. Julian Nolen is a pediatric psychologist, private practice owner, and department chair at Carroll College. He has worked with children and families for more than 20 years, in settings ranging from maximum security corrections to homeless shelters and chronic health clinics. Dr. Nolen provides consultation and training seminars throughout the Western U.S., often focusing on experiential interventions, trauma-informed care, and child/adolescent development.
Ashley Schwartzman, LCPC
Ashley Schwartzman, MA, LCPC is a therapist at Big Sky Counseling LLC, a specialized practice dedicated to the treatment of anxiety disorders and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). She provides services to children, adolescents, and adults using evidence- based approaches, including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), Inference-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (ICBT), and Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions (SPACE). Ashley's clinical work emphasizes the implementation of response prevention strategies to reduce reliance on compulsions and safety behaviors, helping clients build confidence in their ability to tolerate uncertainty and distress. She is particularly passionate about supporting families in reducing accommodation patterns that inadvertently maintain anxiety and OCD symptoms. Her approach is grounded in increasing awareness and accurate understanding of OCD and its underlying mechanisms. Ashley is committed to advocating for and delivering empirically supported treatments that effectively interrupt the OCD cycle, enhance psychological flexibility, and promote meaningful, long-term recovery.
Patricia Cooper, LCPC
Patricia Cooper, LCPC is a therapist in private practice who specializes in treating anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP). She works with both children and adults, with a strong focus on helping families break cycles of avoidance and accommodation that keep anxiety stuck. Her clinical approach emphasizes practical, real-world application of skills, particularly in working with children and coaching parents to respond in ways that support long-term change. She is passionate about making evidence-based treatment accessible, engaging, and effective for both kids and their caregivers. She has been in private practice since 2021 and provides telehealth services across Montana, Alaska, and South Carolina.
Mary Corelli, LCPC
Mary Corelli, LCPC, is a psychotherapist, assessment provider, and mindfulness teacher specializing in neurodivergence, trauma, and mindfulness-based approaches. She has over ten years of clinical experience and works with teens and adults navigating attention differences, emotional regulation challenges, and complex life transitions. Mary has been leading mindfulness groups locally in Bozeman, MT and online for six years. Her work integrates mindfulness, somatic awareness, and parts-based approaches to support nervous system regulation and self-understanding. She is particularly interested in helping clinicians adapt therapeutic practices to better align with neurodivergent ways of thinking, sensing, and experiencing the world.
Shauna Green, LCPC
Shauna Green is a dedicated mental health professional and entrepreneur, committed to improving lives through expert care and intervention. Living on the river in Cascade, Montana, she owns and operates Green Apple Behavioral Health, a mental health centers in Great Falls and Bozeman, along with Rocky Mountain Intervention, a sister company that provided services for legal involved individuals needing court appointed programming. With nearly a decade of experience in the mental health field, Shauna specializes in domestic violence intervention and criminal thinking, accumulating over 200 hours of advanced training in these critical areas. She works closely with probation offices in Great Falls and Bozeman, partnering with the legal system to provide offender rehabilitation, mental health assessments, and structured intervention programs aimed at breaking cycles of abuse and criminal behavior. As a survivor of domestic abuse, Shauna brings a deep personal commitment to her work, ensuring that victims and offenders receive the support needed for lasting change. Her approach focuses on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), accountability and rehabilitation, equipping individuals with the skills to transform their lives.
Jonathan Sky Cova, LCPC, LAC
Jonathan Sky Cova, LCPC, LAC, is a clinician in Missoula, MT. He graduated from the University of Montana’s Counseling program in 2017. He presented at the Montana CBT Conference in 2025 and has worked for Tamarack Grief Resources Center, Pacific Quest in Hawaii, Intermountain, and Recovery Center Missoula. He has been in private practice in Missoula since 2020 through Sky Counseling PLLC.
Rebecca Price Orr, LCPC
Rebekah Price Orr is the owner of Nature and Nurture Counseling Services, a group private practice in Helena, MT. She earned her MS in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. She specializes in perinatal mental health and grief counseling, with a special interest in where these seasons of life intersect. Rebekah is passionate about client advocacy and serves as the president of the Helena Village Collective, a nonprofit that supports perinatal parents in her community. She has previously presented at the Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Conference and has provided a number of trainings about maternal mental health for doulas and hospital-based providers. Through these speaking engagements, she aims to provide education to healthcare professionals and communities to help reduce stigma around perinatal mental health struggles. In addition to her clinical work, Rebekah is a clinical supervisor dedicated to strengthening the quality of mental health services across the state of Montana.
Continuing Education (CE) Information
**This is a LIVE-ONLY, in-person training. There will not be a recording available or the opportunity to obtain CEs for sessions you did not attend.
12 CE hours for both days of conference. Participants must sign in and out with the time each day to document attendance. You will only receive CE hours for the sessions you attended fully.
Mount Helena Counseling, PLLC has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7345. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. Mount Helena Counseling, PLLC is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.
Participants will receive a certificate of completion which documents date, name, title , trainer, and hours earned. Content meets criteria for CE requirements in the state of Montana for LCPC/LCSW/LAC/LMFT. Check with your particular licensure board rules for specific requirements for your license type, if your license is not listed.
Participants living outside of Montana are responsible for verifying that their state licensing board accepts NBCC approved courses for annual training requirements.
Hotel Information
The conference will be held at the Delta Hotel Helena Colonial. A discounted room rate of $159/night is available through the conference block rate. You must use this Block Rate Booking Link
or call the hotel directly and ask for the Montana CBT Conference block rate. Phone: 406-443-2100.
**You must book by 10/8/26 to receive the block rate.
Fairfield Inn and Suites is an alternative lodging option that is a short walk away from the conference hotel. Check here for rates.
Tickets for good, not greed Humanitix dedicates 100% of profits from booking fees to charity
