2026 Delta Kappa Leadership Conference

Get ready for the 2026 Delta Kappa Leadership Conference - a virtual gathering of top leaders learning from leaders in the field.

Welcome to the 2026 Delta Kappa Leadership Conference!

Hosted by Delta Kappa, the International Marriage and Family Therapy Honor Society, the 2026 Leadership Conference is the 2nd annual event dedicated to developing leadership, scholarship, and service among graduate students and professionals pursuing careers in marriage and family therapy (MFT).

All attendees are eligible for 3 hours of Continuing Education Units (CEU's).

EVENT SCHEDULE (in central time zone)

10:00am - Welcome

10:15am - Keynote speech from Dr. Lexx Brown-James, LMFT, CSE, CSES - From Physics to Pleasure: A Journey to Finding the Field

Join internationally recognized sexologist Dr. Lexx Brown-James for an inspiring and candid conversation exploring her unique journey into the field of sex therapy, sexuality education, and intimacy work. In this engaging presentation, Dr. Lexx shares the path that led her from the world of physics to becoming a leading voice in pleasure-centered, shame-free sexuality education and relational healing.

Through storytelling, professional insight, and real-world experience, attendees will explore the intersections of identity, education, systemic barriers, pleasure, intimacy, and professional growth within the sex therapy field. Whether you are a student, clinician, educator, advocate, or simply curious about the evolving world of sexuality and relational work, this presentation offers both inspiration and practical insight into building a career rooted in authenticity and connection.

11:00am - Discussion Breakout - a time to connect with one another and reflect on Dr. Brown-James' keynote

11:15am - 11:30am - BREAK

11:30am - 12:30pm - Workshop 1

• Option #1: Nicole "Coach Coley Cole" Williams - Creative, Compliant, and Courageous: Navigating the Pitfalls of Building a Private Practice

Starting a career in mental health can feel overwhelming, especially when clinicians are balancing clinical growth, ethical responsibility, business development, burnout prevention, imposter syndrome, and the realities of building a sustainable private practice. In this empowering and honest presentation, Nicole “Coach Coley Cole” Williams shares the lessons, setbacks, and breakthroughs she experienced throughout her journey in the mental health field and private practice ownership.

Through storytelling, practical guidance, and real-world insight, attendees will explore how to creatively grow within the field while remaining clinically compliant, ethically grounded, and authentically themselves. This presentation is designed to support new and emerging therapists who may feel intimidated by the business side of mental health work or uncertain about how to navigate the challenges of entrepreneurship within helping professions.

• Option #2: Coreen Haym, Ph.D, LMFT, LCPC - Beyond "The Talk": Reimagining Teen Sexuality Through a Pleasure-Based Model

Working with adolescents around sexuality requires clinicians to navigate conversations that are often layered with shame, stigma, fear, identity development, family dynamics, cultural expectations, and systemic messaging. In this thoughtful and clinically grounded presentation, Dr. Coreen Haym explores a pleasure-based model for working with teens on sexuality that centers curiosity, consent, authenticity, safety, and relational connection.

Attendees will gain insight into how therapists can support adolescents in developing healthy relationships with their bodies, identities, boundaries, communication, pleasure, and emotional wellbeing while navigating the realities of social media, cultural narratives, family systems, and evolving relational norms. This presentation encourages clinicians to move beyond fear-based or pathology-centered frameworks toward approaches that are affirming, developmentally appropriate, trauma-informed, and culturally responsive.

12:30pm - 12:45pm - BREAK

12:45pm - 1:45pm - Workshop 2

• Option #1: Kamber Peerboom, MBA, MSW, LICSW - Dear Insurance, Mind Your Businss: How to Document for Insurance Compliance Without Oversharing Client Information

Most therapists were taught one of two extremes when it comes to documentation: write the bare minimum and hope it passes, or document everything and accidentally turn progress notes into full therapy transcripts. Neither approach truly protects the client or the clinician.

In this refreshingly honest and practical training, Kamber Peerboom breaks down what insurance companies are actually looking for in clinical documentation and how therapists can meet compliance standards without over-disclosing sensitive client information. Attendees will learn how to create documentation that is clinically solid, ethically grounded, audit-ready, and protective of client privacy while still clearly demonstrating medical necessity and maintaining the “golden thread” throughout treatment.

• Option #2: Ronald J. Chenail, Ph.D. - Curious about Research? Finding Your Place in Research

For many new therapists, research can feel intimidating, inaccessible, or disconnected from the “real work” of therapy. Yet research remains one of the most important ways clinicians strengthen the field of Marriage and Family Therapy, advocate for clients, improve clinical practice, and amplify the stories and experiences of diverse communities. In this engaging and encouraging presentation, Dr. Ronald J. Chenail shares his personal journey into research, the evolution of qualitative inquiry within the MFT world, and how emerging therapists can begin developing confidence and curiosity as researchers early in their careers.

Drawing from decades of experience as a family therapist, educator, researcher, editor, administrator, and mentor, Dr. Chenail explores how research does not have to be reserved for academics alone. Instead, he invites clinicians to view research as a relational, creative, and clinically meaningful process that can directly inform therapeutic work, supervision, advocacy, and systemic change.

1:45pm - 2:00pm - Closing Remarks