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Mid-Atlantic Group Psychotherapy Society

The Mid-Atlantic Group Psychotherapy Society (MAGPS) is a regional affiliate of the American Group Psychotherapy Association that serves group therapists in Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia.

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MAGPS CONFERENCE SERIES

REGISTER for the 2025 Fall Conference

The Cultural Mother in Group Psychotherapy: 
Deepening our Engagement with Difference
with Paul LePhuoc, PhD, CGP

November 7-9, 2025
Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace Hotel

ABOUT OUR CONFERENCES

MAGPS hosts two annual conferences, one in the fall and one in the spring. These conferences are designed to bring together members of our community who are interested in coming together to learn about group therapy and group dynamics in a warm, collegial environment.

It is the mission of MAGPS to establish a safe, unique, creative learning environment for all attendees by hosting conferences that offer both didactic and experiential learning through participating in whole group and small group processes.  Throughout small group sessions over the course of conference weekends, challenging dynamics may emerge requiring participants to respond to, witness, take responsibility for, and self-reflect upon microaggressions, power and privilege dynamics, effectively manage ruptures, and to the degree possible, restore or repair relational ruptures.  While Small Groups can be a powerful learning tool, this experience has harmed colleagues holding marginalized identities in the past.  Prior to registering for a conference, please review MAGPS Safe Environmental Guidelines, as well as the following recommendations made by the AGPA Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Task Force, by clicking on the hyperlinked text AGPA Guidelines for Creating Affirming Group ExperiencesYou may also find it beneficial to review our Conference Guidelines for Participation

MAGPS conferences are intended for psychologists, counselors, psychiatric nurses, psychiatrists, and social workers. Conferences offer both didactic and experiential learning experiences to deepen attendees' understanding of topical content in preparation for introducing the gained knowledge into their group therapy work. CEs are available for interested participants; please read our conference registration packet to ensure that your discipline is covered.  

While we offer conference registration discounts for MAGPS members, attendees do NOT need to be members of MAGPS or AGPA to attend, nor do they need to be actively practicing group therapy, or live/work in the Mid-Atlantic region. 

Scholarships are available for students and first-time attendees. Click here for more information and apply for a scholarship.

Please reach out to us at conferences@magps.org if you have any questions. We hope to see you at an upcoming event!  


ALL UPCOMING EVENTS

    • 26 Oct 2025
    • 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
    • Online (Zoom)
    Register


    MAGPS Anti-Racism White Affinity Group

    Sunday October 26, 2025
    Virtual from 3:00-5:00 PM

    Join us for the MAGPS White Affinity Group:  Sunday, Oct. 26th, from 3:00-5:00pm  ET. 

    This group is for white participants and is co-convened by Barbara Cristy and Jill Penaloza.

    The MAGPS White Affinity group meets the fourth Sunday of each month from 3-5pm ET. Save the date for our next meeting on November 23rd! 

    This is a virtual meeting. You will receive the Zoom meeting link after you have registered.  

    In this meeting we discuss our own experiences of identity, race and racism, and how white supremacy culture and consciousness affects us, our practices, and MAGPS. 

    Although these groups are not traditional interpersonal process groups, we do expect to be attuned to what comes up in the here and now. The purpose is not to enhance clinical group skills but to use group process to deepen our awareness of how we can become anti-racists in an anti-racist organization.

    The MAGPS BIPOC Consultation Group meets on the 3rd Sunday of each month. You will receive an email to register for these meetings or you can register by going to the MAGPS website and clicking on Events. For more information about affinity groups and other anti-racism programming at MAGPS, please reach out to JEDI@magps.org

    All registrants will get the Zoom Meeting Link emailed to them. 

    Affinity groups are free and we welcome all MAGPS Members.
    Click here to renew or join MAGPS for 2025.

    If you have any questions about this event, please email our JEDI Chairs at JEDI@magps.org

    • 7 Nov 2025
    • 6:00 PM
    • 9 Nov 2025
    • 1:30 PM
    • Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace Hotel 202 E Pratt Street Baltimore, MD 21202
    Register

    Register for the 2025 Fall Conference!

    The Cultural Mother in Group Psychotherapy

    Deepening our Engagement with Difference

    Presented by Paul LePhuoc, PhD, CGP
    Please visit our conference website for more details about the conference, including the conference schedule, recommended readings, and transportation information. 

    We invite you to join us and our conference speaker Paul LePhuoc, PhD, CGP on November 7-9, 2025 in Baltimore, MD at the Renaissance Harbor Hotel.

    The specter of difference is upon us--our bodies, our individual and collective psyches. The immense difficulty in discussing these incendiary topics, as well as the often-unrecognized complicated trauma undergirding differences, highlights the need for a nuanced, theoretically complex engagement. This workshop will present the Theory of the Cultural Mother as an engaging lens for understanding difference in our own lives, our patients' lives and our experiences in group. We will discuss techniques that provide the group leader with effective tools to engage with "difference as hierarchy" (e.g., sex, gender, race, gender identity, sexual orientation, physical disability), enabling a fuller and deeper attunement to our members' experiences.

    LEARNING OBJECTIVES

    At the conclusion of this program, attendees will be able to:

    1. Describe two components of the theory of the Cultural Mother.

    2. Explain how the Cultural Mother impacts group members' transferences.

    3. Explain how the Cultural Mother impacts the group leader's countertransference.

    4. List ways of building insulation for members when systems of oppression are stimulated and revived.

    5. Discuss modern analytic concepts and techniques that are useful in exploring difference in group.

    --

    Paul LePhuoc is a licensed psychologist and a Certified Group Psychotherapist (CGP) in Houston, Texas, where he maintains a full-time private practice that includes both solo and co-leadership of therapy and training groups. He is a graduate of the Center for Group Studies program in Modern Analytic Group Leadership. He is also Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Baylor College of Medicine and has served on the Board of the Houston Group Psychotherapy Society and the International Board for the Certification of Group Psychotherapists for the American Group Psychotherapy Association. He has presented at the local and national level on the topics of race, difference and psychoanalytic group psychotherapy. Paul and his husband, Jimi, stay very busy raising their seven-year-old son, Kai, who loves show tunes, art, Legos and martial arts.


    10.5 CE/CME
    available for psychologists, social workers, counselors and physicians *pending approval.

    *The content for this activity has been submitted for continuing education credits. For questions email: cce@ubhc.rutgers.edu.

    REGISTRATION RATES AND INFORMATION

    Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace Hotel

    202 E Pratt Street
    Baltimore, MD 21202

    Click Here to Book Your Room

    Conference Fees:

    MAGPS Member: $395
    Non-member: $450
    New Professional: $250
    Student/Retiree: $150
    *Group rate: $325
    Scholarship Recipients: Free
    Small Group Leaders: Free
    **CE/CME Processing Fee: $50

    *Group rate available for 4 or more members from same organization. Please contact our Conference Chairs to receive the group registration code. 

    **Note: For attendees who are interested in obtaining continuing education credit for this activity, an additional CE/CME Processing Fee will be applied. Payment can be processed at time of registration.

    Registration Deadline: 
    Friday, October 24, 2025

    Cancellation Policy:
    Full refund less $25 if cancellation made by October 17;
    No refunds after that date.

    For registration assistance, or to register by phone, contact our conference registrar at registration@magps.orgFor more information, visit our Conference website or contact the conference co-chair, Jill PeƱaloza, at conferences@magps.org.

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