Plenary Sessions

Friday, March 14, 2025 | 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM ET
Opening Plenary Session: “I Know I Should…But I Don’t Feel Like It”: Countering Client Inertia with Clinical Hypnosis
Presenter: Michael D. Yapko, Ph.D.

About Dr. Yapko:
Dr. Michael D. Yapko, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist recognized worldwide for his transformative work in applying clinical hypnosis to psychotherapy, particularly for treating depression. With over 30 years of experience and groundbreaking contributions, Dr. Yapko has shared his expertise in more than 30 countries across six continents.

  • Author of 16 books, including the widely acclaimed textbook Trancework (6th Edition, 2025).
  • Developer of the mental health app Claria, created with Mindset Health.
  • Recipient of lifetime achievement awards from the American Psychological Association, the International Society of Hypnosis, and the Milton H. Erickson Foundation.
  • A Fellow of ASCH with an impressive portfolio of award-winning publications.

Session Highlights:
In this plenary address, Dr. Yapko will dive into the challenges of client passivity and inertia in therapy. He will discuss:

  • Why clients sometimes struggle to act, even when they want to change.
  • The use of hypnosis to foster agency and encourage action.
  • Practical strategies, including addressing rumination, global thinking, and seeding homework assignments.

Learning Objectives:
Attendees of this session will learn how to:

  1. Define the client’s role as an active participant in therapy.
  2. Identify specific pathways into client passivity.
  3. Utilize hypnosis in at least six ways to promote active engagement.
  4. Apply multi-level strategies to enhance therapeutic activation.
Saturday, March 15, 2025 | 11:00 AM ET – 12:00 PM ET |
Plenary Session:"Lessons from 25 Years of Conversations with the Subconscious"
Presenter: Ran D. Anbar, MD, FAAP

About Dr. Ran D. Anbar
Dr. Ran D. Anbar is the President and Founder of Center Point Medicine, with practices in La Jolla, California, and Syracuse, New York. He is board-certified in pediatric pulmonology and general pediatrics and specializes in offering hypnosis and counseling services.

A leader in clinical hypnosis, Dr. Anbar has been practicing since 1998 and has treated over 8,000 children using hypnosis techniques. He is a past President, Fellow, and Approved Consultant of the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis (ASCH). For 21 years, he served as a professor of pediatrics and medicine and as the director of pediatric pulmonology at SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, New York.

Dr. Anbar is the acclaimed author of:

  • Changing Children’s Lives with Hypnosis: A Journey to the Center
  • The Life Guide for Teens: Harnessing Your Inner Power to be Healthy, Happy, and Confident

Session Highlights: “Lessons from 25 Years of Conversations with the Subconscious”
In this inspiring and insightful plenary session, Dr. Anbar will share his experiences of accessing the subconscious to enhance therapy, including how it can facilitate spiritual understanding. The session will include demonstrations of subconscious conversations through video and audio segments, along with a summary of existential thoughts gathered from the subconscious of 20 individuals ranging in age from 9 to 64.

Learning Objectives
By attending this session, participants will:

  1. Describe at least 10 different ways to access the subconscious.
  2. Apply an understanding of subconscious abilities and knowledge in working with clients.
  3. Incorporate interactions with the subconscious to integrate spirituality into therapeutic practice.
Sunday, March 16, 2025 | 4:15 PM ET – 5:15 PM ET
Closing Plenary: "Capturing the Future to Enhance Treatment Outcomes"
Presenter: Moshe Torem, MD, ABPN

About Dr. Moshe Torem
Dr. Moshe Torem is a senior psychiatrist and psychotherapist with specialized training in Psychosomatic Medicine. He is a distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and a Life Fellow and former President of the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis (ASCH). Currently, Dr. Torem serves as a Professor of Psychiatry at Northeast Ohio Medical University (NEOMED) and is the former Chair of Psychiatry at both NEOMED and Akron General Medical Center.

With a career spanning decades, Dr. Torem has published extensively in the fields of psychiatry, psychotherapy, guided imagery, mind-body integrative medicine, hypnosis, and behavioral sciences. Certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, he brings a wealth of clinical experience and expertise to his practice.

Dr. Torem has delivered lectures and workshops across the U.S. and internationally, covering topics such as:

  • Hypnosis and psychotherapy
  • Mind-body integrative interventions
  • Guided imagery and mindful meditation
  • Future-focused therapeutic strategies

Session Overview: “Capturing the Future to Enhance Treatment Outcomes”
Traditional hypnosis literature often emphasizes age regression techniques to explore the past. However, age progression strategies—focused on envisioning the future—are less frequently explored. In this thought-provoking plenary session, Dr. Torem will demonstrate how a future-focused orientation through hypnotically mediated age progression can significantly transform behavior, alleviate symptoms, and enhance healing outcomes.

By guiding clients to envision a positive and plausible future, therapists can help them internalize these experiences, both consciously and subconsciously. This approach allows clients to return “back from the future” equipped with a powerful sense of possibility and actionable steps toward achieving their best outcomes.

Learning Objectives
Participants attending this session will learn how to:

  1. Use hypnotically mediated age progression techniques to guide clients toward positive, realistic future outcomes.
  2. Help clients internalize memorable future experiences that influence their present behavior, thoughts, and physiology.
  3. Apply future-focused therapeutic strategies to improve symptom alleviation, healing, and overall treatment outcomes.

*To register, you’ll need an account on the ASCH portal. If you’re new, follow these instructions. Existing account holders can simply sign in to complete their registration.