2026 NSSCA - Renewing the Work: Motivation, Resilience & Counseling Practice

This session is intended for the tasks of ONLY the planning and hosting team(s) of the Professional Association. 

The work of supporting, advocating for, and pouring into others is deeply meaningful, but it can also be emotionally heavy and mentally demanding. School counsellors and helping professionals often spend so much time carrying the needs of others that they forget to pause and refill themselves.

In this powerful and engaging presentation, Tia Upshaw shares her journey through adversity, resilience, and entrepreneurship while creating space for participants to reconnect with their purpose and remember why they first entered this work. Through lived experience, storytelling, practical reflection, and honest conversations, attendees will be reminded that their work matters, their impact is lasting, and taking care of themselves is not optional.

Participants will leave feeling renewed, motivated, and equipped with a deeper understanding of how resilience is built, sustained, and protected while serving others.

Participants will walk away with:

• A renewed connection to their purpose and "why"
• Practical strategies for navigating emotionally demanding work
• Tools for sustaining resilience and preventing burnout
• A reminder of the lasting impact they make, even when they cannot immediately see it

BIO:
Tia Upshaw is an award-winning entrepreneur, international speaker, author, business coach, and Founder & CEO of Blk Women in Excellence (BWIE), a nationally recognized organization dedicated to empowering Black women and underserved communities through entrepreneurship, education, and leadership development.

As a mother of three, serial entrepreneur, and community leader, Tia has transformed lived experience into purpose. Overcoming significant barriers and adversity throughout her journey, she has built multiple successful ventures while becoming a powerful voice for resilience, empowerment, and creating opportunities where few exist.

Tia is known for her authentic storytelling, ability to deeply connect with audiences, and her no-fluff approach to helping people move from survival to purpose. Her work has impacted thousands across Canada through speaking engagements, mentorship, educational programming, and media platforms. She currently serves as a recurring contributor through her segment Tuesdays with Tia and has been recognized through numerous awards and honors for her leadership and community impact.

Through every stage and every platform, Tia's mission remains the same: helping people remember their worth, reclaim their voice, and step boldly into what is possible.

Overall Abstract
This three-part presentation introduces experienced school counsellors to the principles and practices of Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) most relevant to school settings. Participants will learn how to conceptualize student difficulties through a DBT lens; strengthen the use of validation and dialectical thinking; teach mindfulness, emotional regulation and distress tolerance skills; and apply DBT-informed approaches to challenging and high-need student presentations. This three-part presentation emphasizes a practical application of DBT rather than comprehensive DBT treatment. The series provides counsellors with evidence-informed strategies that can be integrated into everyday school counselling practice.
Overall Learning Outcomes
By the end of the series, participants will:
1. Have a clear, practical understanding of emotion dysregulation in students
2. Understand how to apply DBT-informed strategies in brief counselling interactions
3. Increase their confidence in managing complex student behaviours
4. Gain concrete skills to support student regulation and well-being
Presentation 1
A DBT Lens for School Settings: Validation, Dialectics and Wise Mind
School counsellors frequently encounter students whose emotions, behaviours, and choices appear difficult to understand or influence. This presentation introduces the foundational principles of Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) and explores how a DBT-informed perspective can enhance engagement and interventions with students. Participants will learn how emotional vulnerability, environmental factors, and invalidation contribute to student distress, while developing practical skills in validation, dialectical stance, and the practice of Wise Mind to strengthen students’ emotional resilience. Counsellors will gain new ways of understanding student behaviour that reduces power struggles, strengthens therapeutic relationships, and creates opportunities for meaningful change.
Objectives
1. Understand DBT’s biosocial model and use it to reframe “difficult” or “oppositional” student behaviour
2. Strengthen validation skills
3. Apply a dialectical stance
4. Use Wise Mind as a framework for clinical decision-making and intervention

Presentation 2
DBT Skills for Emotion Regulation and Resilience
Many students seek support when emotions become overwhelming, whether due to academic stress, interpersonal conflict, family difficulties, anxiety, or loss. This workshop focuses on two of DBT's most practical and transferable skill sets: emotion regulation and distress tolerance. Participants will learn how to help students identify, understand, and manage intense emotions while building emotional resilience. The presentation will emphasize brief skills that can be taught during individual counselling sessions, crisis encounters, and small-group work. Counsellors will develop a practical toolkit for helping students navigate emotional challenges more effectively.
Objectives:
1. Understand the function of emotions
2. Help students regulate acute emotional states
3. Teach distress tolerance skills
4. Apply emotion regulation strategies to support anxiety, ADHD, and overwhelm

Presentation 3
Working Effectively With Complex and Challenging Student Presentations
Even experienced counsellors can feel challenged by students who present with chronic crises, emotional dysregulation, anger outbursts, self-harm behaviour, repeated help-seeking, or resistance to change. This presentation examines how DBT principles can be applied to complex student presentations commonly encountered in educational settings. Participants will explore strategies for balancing validation with accountability, maintaining engagement when students appear "stuck," and responding effectively to behaviours that can evoke frustration, helplessness, or burnout in counsellors. Through applied examples, counsellors will strengthen their confidence and effectiveness when working with some of most vulnerable and challenging students.
Objectives:
1. Apply DBT principles to complex student situations
2. Learn practical de-escalation approaches for emotionally charged and high-risk situations
3. Apply a dialectical stance: balancing compassion and validation with boundaries and accountability
4. Learn strategies to reduce counsellor frustration and burnout

BIO:
Shelley McMain, Ph.D., C.Psych
Dr. Shelley is Head of the Borderline Personality Disorder Clinic and a Senior Scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health) (CAMH) in Toronto. She also serves as Director of the Psychotherapy, Humanities, and Psychosocial Interventions Division and is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto. In addition, she is the founder and co-Director of the Centre for MindBody Health, a private psychotherapy clinic in Toronto.

Shelley is a recognized expert in the treatment of personality disorders. Her research focuses on clinical trials and the translation of evidence-based treatments into clinical practice. She investigates the psychological and biological correlates of personality pathology and treatment response, as well as the mechanisms and mediators that explain how therapy brings about change. Her clinical and research interests include psychotherapy process and outcomes, Dialectical Behavior Therapy  (DBT), borderline personality disorder (BPD), and trans diagnostic factors such as the therapeutic alliance and emotion regulation.

Shelley has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed publications in high-impact journals across psychiatry and related disciplines, including Nature Genetics, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, The American Journal of Psychiatry, and BMC Psychiatry. She has written 11 book chapters and co-authored 4 books.

Shelley has secured $13M+ in research funding as a Principal and/or co-Investigator from agencies such as the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Ontario Mental Health Foundation. Her contributions to research and clinical innovation have been recognized through international awards from the European Society for the Study of Personality Disorders, the American Psychoanalytic Association, the International Society for the Improvement and Teaching of Dialectical Behavior Therapy and the Personality Disorders Institute at New York-Presbyterian Hospital and Weill Cornell Medical College. In 2026, Shelley was awarded the John Gunderson Distinguished Career Contribution from the International Society for the Study of Personality Disorders. 

Shelley has received multiple teaching awards from the University of Toronto, including the 2021 Excellence in Teaching Award for the DBT Certificate Course, the 2021 Ivan Silver Award for Excellence in Continuing Professional and Practice Development, the 2010 Colin Woolf Award for Excellence in Course Coordination, and the 2009 Ivan Silver Award for Excellence in CME Teaching.

She has held numerous professional leadership roles, including the first President of the World Dialectical Behavior Therapy Association (WDBTA) Transitional Board and the President of the Society for Psychotherapy Research. She currently serves as Past President of the WDBTA.