Desert–CAMFT
presents
in collaboration with the Central Coast chapter
Practical Strategies for Using AI in Couple and Family Therapy While Protecting Ethics and Trust
with Shiri Sadeh-Sharvit, PhD
Friday, February 27, 2026 9:30am-11:30am
Online Via Zoom
(link will be provided in confirmation and reminder emails)
2 CE Credits
Description
Artificial intelligence is rapidly shaping how individuals, partners, and families seek support, gather information, and communicate about their mental health. Couple and family therapists are already encountering clients who use chatbots for emotional support, rely on AI companions during periods of conflict or loneliness, or bring AI- generated content into sessions. At the same time, clinicians are exploring AI tools for documentation, case formulation, and care coordination. Many LMFTs want guidance on how these tools fit within a systemic model of care.
This presentation introduces a grounded, relationship-centered approach to evaluating and integrating AI in couple and family therapy. We will look at how AI affects family dynamics, attachment patterns, conflict cycles, parent–child interactions, and caregiver burden. Participants will learn how to talk with clients about their use of AI tools, how to protect confidentiality and prevent triangulation with technology, and how to assess the appropriateness of AI tools for different relational systems. The session is practical, nontechnical, and rooted in systemic principles that honor culture, context, and the therapeutic alliance.
Education Goals
This training is designed to help couple and family therapists evaluate and integrate AI tools in ways that strengthen relationships, support ethical care, and improve communication within families and couples.
Learning Objectives
Identify three ways AI tools are currently influencing couple and family dynamics, including communication patterns, emotional regulation, and problem solving.
Describe at least three ethical risks specific to relational therapy, such as triangulation with chatbots, confidentiality concerns, and uneven access to tools within a family system.
Identify two culturally responsive strategies to recognize and mitigate bias when using or recommending AI tools with diverse families and youth.
Apply a structured decision-making framework to a relational case scenario, determining when AI may support or undermine therapeutic goals within a couple or family system.
Shiri Sadeh-Sharvit, PhD is a Stanford-trained clinical psychologist and Distinguished Professor of Research at Palo Alto University. With more than two decades of experience treating complex mental disorders, she specializes in developing and evaluating AI-based tools that support therapists and clients. Dr. Sadeh-Sharvit has delivered invited keynotes and workshops for the American Psychological Association, the Academy for Eating Disorders, state associations, and international conferences. Her work bridges evidence-based clinical care and emerging technology, helping mental health professionals prepare for the future of practice.
Cost/Registration
$25 for Desert-CAMFT Members
$15 for Prelicensed Members
$35 for Non-members or Guests
Closing date for registration is Thursday, February 26, 2026.
Questions
Please email Chaundra Prehara, Director of Events at chaundraprehara@yahoo.com.
Culturally Affirming Boundary Setting
with Pauline Yeghnazar Peck, MA, MMFT, PhD
Friday, March 13, 2026 9:30am-11:30am
Culturally Affirming Boundary Setting with First- and Second- Generation Clients is a continuing education workshop that challenges the dominant, white, Western, and individualistic frameworks through which boundary setting is typically taught in clinical training and practiced in clinical settings. While traditional models often prioritize autonomy, separation, and individuation, these approaches can be misaligned - or even harmful - when applied uncritically to clients from immigrant families, where relational identity, interdependence, hierarchy, high-context communication, and real material and caregiving needs shape family dynamics. This workshop invites clinicians to move beyond a one-size-fits-all model of “healthy boundaries” and instead examine how boundaries function differently within collectivist, intergenerational, and migration-shaped systems.
Through a culturally responsive and trauma-informed lens, participants will learn how to support clients in discerning what boundaries are right for them, not in opposition to their culture, but in relationship with it. The training will explore the different cultural conceptualization of I and We, family roles and hierarchies, systemic pressures, and survival-based expectations that influence boundary decisions for first- and second- generation clients. Clinicians will be introduced to practical strategies and language that help clients set boundaries that preserve dignity, connection, and cultural integrity. Emphasis will be placed on flexibility, values-alignment, and relational attunement, equipping clinicians to facilitate boundary work that honors both individual well-being and collective belonging as determined by their clients.
Education Goals/Learning Objectives
Identify four key principles of culturally affirming boundary setting with first- and second- generation clients.
Name four culturally congruent ways boundaries can be set within collectivistic and immigrant family systems.
State three reasons why traditional Western models of boundary setting may be misapplied or harmful when working with clients from immigrant families.
Identify four ways clinicians’ own cultural conditioning, training, countertransference, and value systems may become activated during boundary-setting work.
Dr. Pauline Yeghnazar Peck is a first generation Iranian-Armenian trauma-informed psychologist who specializes in working with the children of immigrants and intercultural couples. She focuses on the ways that culture impacts mental health, supporting clients in actively engaging with the goodness available in their culture while also doing the work of breaking cycles of intergenerational trauma. She operates a group practice in California called Noor Therapy and Wellness specializing in providing culturally-informed, trauma-informed care for children of immigrants/BIPOC folks, as well as provides coaching, speaking, consulting, and community education through her company Bridging Gaps, Breaking Cycles.
Closing date for registration is Thursday, March 12, 2026.
Membership!
Desert Chapter — California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (DESERT-CAMFT)
For general info, please email: desertcamft1@gmail.com. For specific departments, please click "Contact" in the menu above.
