Dangerous Stories · October 1–3, 2026
THE
PROGRAM
Three days, two rooms running at once, and an art exhibition open the whole time.
- 3 days
- Thu–Sat, October 1–3
- 3 keynotes
- polanco · Liu · Hoff
- 14 sessions
- Two running at once
- You choose one
- Venue
- Beckman Center
- Irvine, California
Up to 16 CE hours · CAMFT provider #1000083 · What counts
Program as of September 2026 · updated as sessions confirm
The rooms
Auditorium · Huntington Room · Atrium · Newport Room
The workshops run two at a time, one room each. Every session below says which, and all four are on the first floor. See the venue
THURSDAY
Day one · October 1
Up to 6.5 CE hours
All day
The art exhibition is open throughout — one piece in the Newport Room, one sited around the building. Come and go as you like.
8:00 AM
30 min
Informal conversations
With the day’s keynote, before the room fills.
Not for CE credit
8:30 AM
60 min
Keynote
marcela polanco
Living Otherwise
Auditorium · Plenary · everyone together
9:30 AM
Break · 15 minutes
9:45 AM
90 min
Choose one
Larry Zucker
Helping Couples Reclaim the Relationship They’d Meant to Create
Auditorium
J D’Arrigo
Who Has the Right to Mandate Living?
Huntington Room
11:15 AM
Lunch · 90 minutes
Lunch is not provided. Where to eat nearby
12:45 PM
90 min
Choose one
Jonathan Miranda
A Human Experience
Auditorium
Courtney Olinger
Huntington Room
2:15 PM
Break · 15 minutes
2:30 PM
90 min
Choose one
Heather Black-Coyne
Unreasonable Curiosity: The Problem is not the Problem
Auditorium
Danny Livingston
Reclaiming the Myth
Huntington Room
4:00 PM
60 min
Closing plenary
Salsa
Heather Sprague
Embodied Connection - Beyond the Thinking Mind
Sage Dance Co.
Atrium · Everyone together
FRIDAY
Day two · October 2
Up to 5.5 CE hours
All day
The art exhibition is open throughout — one piece in the Newport Room, one sited around the building. Come and go as you like.
8:00 AM
30 min
Informal conversations
With the day’s keynote, before the room fills.
Not for CE credit
8:30 AM
60 min
Keynote
Catherine Liu
Trauma and Transference
Auditorium · Plenary · everyone together
9:30 AM
Break · 15 minutes
9:45 AM
90 min
Choose one
Will Sherwin
Notes from My Suicide Reading Project
Auditorium
Stacy Marsh
Eating Disorder Resistance and Recovery
Huntington Room
11:15 AM
Lunch · 90 minutes
Lunch is not provided. Where to eat nearby
12:45 PM
90 min
Choose one
Charley Lang
First Couple Session
Auditorium
Danielle Samuels
Huntington Room
2:15 PM
Break · 15 minutes
2:30 PM
90 min
Plenary
Casey Tucker & Mariia Shurkhal
Huntington Room · Everyone together
4:00 PM
60 min
Social
Happy hour
Not a session. An hour to keep talking. Details to come.
Everyone welcome · Not for CE credit
SATURDAY
Day three · October 3
Up to 4 CE hours
All day
The art exhibition is open throughout — one piece in the Newport Room, one sited around the building. Come and go as you like.
8:00 AM
30 min
Informal conversations
With the day’s keynote, before the room fills.
Not for CE credit
8:30 AM
60 min
Keynote
Chris Hoff
Beyond Therapy
Auditorium · Plenary · everyone together
9:30 AM
Break · 15 minutes
9:45 AM
90 min
Choose one
Kamran Afary & Pam Dunne
Auditorium
Michelle Myers
Huntington Room
11:15 AM
Lunch · 90 minutes
Lunch is not provided. Where to eat nearby
12:45 PM
90 min
Choose one
Jonny Kosmo
Scribbling Your Practice
Auditorium
Ciaran Phelps
Queering a Life: Tales of a Nonbinary Misfit
Huntington Room
2:15 PM
Break · 15 minutes
2:30 PM
Closing ceremony
End of the salon
Auditorium · Everyone together · Not for CE credit
THE EXHIBITION
All three days · open throughout
Dea Jenkins
The Library of Repair
Newport Room
Finishing School
Classified
Throughout the building
Where, exactly, is not being published. That is part of the piece.
CE CREDIT
Up to 16 CE hours · CAMFT provider #1000083
Not every hour of the three days carries CE credit. This section sets out what counts, what does not, and the terms CAMFT asks us to share before you register.
CAMFT approval
Course meets the qualifications for 16 hours of continuing education credit for LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs, and/or LEPs as required by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences.
California Family Institute is approved by the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists to sponsor continuing education for LMFTs, LCSWs, and LPCCs (CAMFT provider #1000083). California Family Institute maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
- The course
- Dangerous Stories: A Therapy Salon
- October 1–3, 2026 · The Beckman Center of the National Academies, Irvine, California
- Who it is for
- LMFTs, LCSWs, and LPCCs
- Everyone is welcome at the salon. CE credit is available to these licences.
- The hours
- Up to 16 CE hours
- Thursday 6.5 · Friday 5.5 · Saturday 4
Counts toward CE
- Keynote 3 × 60 minutes 3
- Concurrent sessions, two at a time 7 × 90 minutes 10.5
- Salsa 1 × 60 minutes 1
- Plenary 1 × 90 minutes 1.5
Total 16 CE hours
Not offered for CE credit
- Informal conversations 3 × 30 minutes —
- Break 6 × 15 minutes —
- Lunch 3 × 90 minutes —
- Happy hour 1 × 60 minutes —
- End of the salon —
These are all part of the three days and we hope you will join us for them. They are simply not included in the 16 CE hours.
If something is not named in either list — the art exhibition, for instance, or a block you are not sure about — please ask Jonathan Miranda and we will confirm it for you in writing.
Before you register
CAMFT asks that all of this be available to you before you buy a ticket. Where we have not written it on this page yet, email us and we will send you what we have.
- Learning objectives
- We publish these against each session as its title and objectives are confirmed. Write to us any time and we will send you what is written so far.
- Refunds and cancellation
- The full policy applies to every ticket type, and we are glad to send it over. Please do ask before you buy if it might affect your decision.
- Grievances
- If you have a concern about this course, its content, or the way it was run, we will send you the written procedure and follow it.
- Accommodations
- Let us know what you need and when you need it. The venue can arrange more with more notice, so the earlier you tell us, the better we can do.
- Certificates of completion
- Issued after the salon from the session sign-in sheets.
Jonathan Miranda · CE Program Administrator, California Family Institute
jonathanmiranda@californiafamilyinstitute.org
CE details as of September 2026 · updated as sessions confirm
With support from
Funding only · no role in content
Residential and outpatient mental health treatment for adults and teens.
Home-based clinical care for families in Orange County.
Professional liability insurance and risk management for mental health professionals. trustinsurance.com — The Trust, opens in a new tab
Our supporters help fund the salon. They have no role in selecting content, presenters, or continuing-education material. California Family Institute maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
STILL NEED A TICKET?
Three days of bold conversation, up to 16 CE hours, and 100% of proceeds supporting CFI’s sliding-scale therapy mission.
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