A Continuing Education Conference for Clinicians Who Believe Stories Matter
Fandom & Feelings is a 2-day continuing education experience designed for clinicians who recognize that the stories people love can offer meaningful pathways into identity, connection, healing, and therapeutic work.
This conference explores the clinical lessons found within Disney, Marvel, wrestling, and other areas of fandom, with practical applications clinicians can bring directly into the therapy room.
Held in the Cleveland suburb of Avon, Ohio, Fandom & Feelings creates space for clinical learning, creativity, and community to coexist.
Why Fandom & Feelings?
Because the stories that stay with us often reveal something important about who we are, what we have survived, and what we still hope is possible. This conference asks a different question: “What if the stories our clients love are not distractions from the work, but doorways into it?”
Conference Details
Location: Avon, Ohio - About 20 minutes west of Cleveland
Dates: May 13–14, 2027
CEs: Earn Up to 12 NBCC Continuing Education Hours
Cost: $1099 Registration
Conference registration includes continuing education programming, materials, and scheduled conference activities.
Meet the Speakers
We’ve assembled a wonderful lineup of clinicians and fandom enthusiasts who believe stories can open meaningful doors in therapy. From Disney and Marvel to wrestling, gaming, horror, and beyond, these speakers are bringing clinical insight, practical tools, and their full nerdy selves to the stage!
Samantha Willi, LPCC-S
Host, Owner of Once Upon a Practice
Behind the Mask: Lucha Libre, Therapeutic Identity, and the End of the Blank Slate Therapist
Patrick Casale, MA, LCMHC
Keynote Speaker
There and Back Again: What Middle Earth Taught Me About Burnout, Illness, and Coming Home to Myself
Blaise Harris, LCMHC
The Culture is the Coping Skill: Music, Movement, Fandom, and the Expressive Arts in the Black Experience
Sarah Gilbert, LCSW
Finding Freddie: Fame, Fluidity, and the Formation of Identity
Halle Schelb, LPCC-S
The Heart Behind the Hero: Understanding Grief and Coping Through Marvel
Rachel Bentley, MA, LPC
We Don’t Need Their Acceptance to be Good Enough: What Being a Lifelong Pistons Fan Taught Me About My Own Healing and the Healing of Others
Emily Hundley, LISW-S
Dark Passengers: What Dexter Can Teach Us About Treating and Learning to Champion Morally Grey Clients
Paul Allen Jr, LMFT
Bending the Narrative: Avatar and Culturally Responsive Care
Matthew E. Morgan, LPCC-S
More than a Costume: What Cosplayers Teach Us About Identity Work
Chris Conley, LPC, Doctoral Candidate
With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility: Meaning-Making and the Grief We Carry Forward
Jennifer Rivera, LCSW
The Baymax Brain: Medical Trauma, Hypervigilence, and Parenting After the NICU
Wednesdae Reim Ifrach, LPC, REAT, ATR-BC
“What’s Your Favorite Scary Food?:” Unpacking Control, Rules, and Survival in Eating Disorders Through the Scream Franchise
What We’ll Explore
This conference explores how fandom, storytelling, and pop culture can create meaningful pathways into identity, connection, emotional processing, and therapeutic work. Attendees will leave with practical, creative strategies that can be thoughtfully incorporated into clinical practice.
Topics include:
Using fandom and storytelling as tools for clinical connection.
Exploring identity, grief, trauma, and resilience through familiar characters and narratives.
Understanding parasocial relationships and emotional attachments to fictional worlds.
Incorporating clients’ interests into therapy without minimizing or pathologizing them.
Using metaphor, character development, and story arcs to support insight and emotional expression.
This is not about forcing pop-culture references into therapy. It’s about recognizing when the stories that matter to our clients can help us understand what matters within them.
The Conference Experience
This is not another clinical conference filled with disconnected lectures, but an immersive learning experience built around the stories that stay with us.
2 days of live, in-person continuing education.
Engaging presentations connecting fandom with practical clinical applications.
Opportunities for reflection, discussion, creativity, and community throughout the conference.
A welcoming environment where enthusiasm, curiosity, and showing up as your full nerdy self are encouraged.
Other Notes
This is an educational conference for mental health professionals.
Travel and accommodations are booked separately.
Attendees must attend scheduled sessions and complete required evaluations to receive CE credit.
Space is limited to support an engaging and connected conference experience.
Accessibility is what Once Upon a Practice was founded on. If you’re a member of the BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, or neurodivergent community, you’re invited to use code 20EQUITY for 20% off. No application, explanation, or proving your identity required.
Sponsorship
The first-ever Fandom & Feelings Conference is coming to Avon, Ohio and we’re looking for sponsors who want to help us bring this one-of-a-kind experience to life!
Choose the sponsorship level that best fits your organization:
Once Upon a Practice LLC been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No.7876. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. Once Upon a Practice LLC is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.
