This is the final part of my series sharing my experience at the International Association for Counseling (IAC) 2025 Annual Conference in Malta. In the first two posts, I talked about the incredible energy of the global community and our team's research on forgiveness.

For this final post, I want to share the "big picture" takeaways—the future trends I saw, and the one powerfully reinforced for me that will directly benefit you, our clients at Vannest Counseling.

My Biggest "Aha Moment"

When asked about my most significant "aha moment," it wasn't a single keynote speech.

It was the experience of connecting with other professionals from all over the world who do the same thing I do. I was fascinated to hear how they were experiencing specific problems within their communities, and then using research, science, and data to find answers.

I listened to a researcher from Palo Alto talk about their community's schools struggling to meet the needs of traumatized children. They didn't just shrug their shoulders; they researched to measure the problem, make steps toward a solution, and then measure the outcomes to see if it was effective.

It's so easy to stand around and feel anxious or fearful about all the chaos and struggles in the world. It was incredibly encouraging and uplifting to be with a group of people using data to understand problems and find potential solutions.

The Next Big Thing: AI and Mental Health

It will probably surprise no one that Artificial Intelligence was the "next big thing" discussed at a global conference.

AI is impacting every field, and mental health is no exception. It was eye-opening to see how the global community grapples with this—how to integrate AI into the humanistic process of two people sitting across from each other, working toward better mental health.

It was fascinating and motivating, and it’s a destructive and potentially beneficial conversation. It started me thinking about how we can use this technology to help forward our goals of creating better mental health outcomes in our community.

What This Conference Confirmed for You

When asked to name the one thing I learned in Malta that will directly benefit clients at Vannest Counseling, my answer was clear. The experience re-established and confirmed in my own mind our most important commitment: We must be reliant on established, peer-reviewed research.

We all see a cartoon version of therapy in movies and on TV: The therapist just nods and, no matter what the client says, responds with, "And how does that make you feel?" repeatedly.

I love that analogy because it reflects an experience many people have actually had. I've had clients come in and complain about past experiences where they felt the clinician wasn't using targeted strategies, and they left feeling like therapy was a waste of time and money. I call it "lazy therapy".

While there is undoubtedly a time and place for asking how you feel, that is not what therapy should be.

My job—and the job of every clinician at Vannest Counseling—is not to "make up" strategies, give you ad-hoc advice, or just tell you what worked for us in our own lives.

Our job is to dig into the research and use best practices. We need to know what the research recommends as most beneficial for someone navigating trauma, obsessive-compulsive disorder, or any other specific mental health struggle.

That is my promise to you. At Vannest Counseling, we are not making up the medical interventions we use. We are referring to research and considering what is currently recommended in our field before recommending interventions.

This conference was a powerful reminder that people want and deserve research-based medical interventions. That is the experience we are committed to providing: a compassionate, human connection guided by the most effective, research-based practices available.