If you have been following Walking With HER for a while, you may have noticed that I have been a little quieter here over the past few months.

The truth is, the work has not slowed down. It has been growing.

Since my last article this summer, much of my attention has been focused on building the Restoration Psychology Institute™, developing new scholarly and practical resources, preparing for an upcoming conference season, and continuing to shape the research and conversations surrounding Restoration Psychology™.

Walking With HER has given me a place to share so much of this journey over the years, including my work as a scholar, educator, researcher, and advocate. As that work continues to expand, the Institute is becoming another important home for the research and collaborative work that has grown from it.

And there is quite a bit happening behind the scenes.

A Growing Conference Season

I am preparing for a full 2026–2027 conference season, with opportunities to connect with scholars, educators, practitioners, and others interested in many of the questions that continue to shape my work.

Over the coming months, I am planning to attend:

• Harvard University, The Human Flourishing Program: Christianity & Public Health Conference | October 24, 2026 | Cambridge, MA

• National Organization for Human Services (NOHS) 2026 Conference | November 6–8, 2026 | Jacksonville, FL

• Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP) Annual Convention | February 11–13, 2027 | Philadelphia, PA

• Eastern Psychological Association (EPA) Annual Meeting | February 25–27, 2027 | Philadelphia, PA

• Christian Association for Psychological Studies (CAPS) International Conference | March 18–20, 2027 | Dallas, TX

• International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA) 10th World Congress on Positive Psychology | July 7–10, 2027 | Istanbul, Türkiye

Some of these conferences are still several months away, and I am waiting to hear about proposals submitted for consideration at several of them. As those plans become finalized, I will share more.

One conference that is already confirmed is the National Organization for Human Services conference in Jacksonville this November, where I will have the opportunity to contribute in two different sessions.

I will be presenting “The Addictions We Don’t See: Recognizing and Responding to Process Addictions in Human Services Practice,” as well as facilitating a 90-minute workshop “Restoring the Practitioner: A 5-Step Model for Intentional Practice in Complex Human Services Environments.”

I am especially excited about the opportunity to bring conversations about Restoration Psychology into spaces where scholars and practitioners are already asking important questions about resilience, human flourishing, caregiving, identity, meaning-making, psychological restoration, and what it means to support people not simply in surviving difficult experiences, but in rebuilding afterward.

Let’s Connect

One of the things I am looking forward to most about this next season is simply meeting people.

If you are attending one of these conferences, live nearby, or are working in an area of scholarship that intersects with Restoration Psychology™, I would genuinely love to connect.

Maybe that means attending one of my sessions. Maybe it means meeting for coffee between conference events. Maybe it means sitting down to talk about a research idea, a potential collaboration, or a question we have both been thinking about from different disciplinary perspectives.

My current areas of research and scholarly interest include Restoration Psychology™, the 5R Restoration Model™, psychological restoration and identity reconstruction, emotional regulation, resilience and post-adversity adaptation, human flourishing and positive psychology, caregiving and family systems, grief and meaning-making, higher education and student development, process addictions, and human services education and practice.

If your work touches any of these areas, I hope you will reach out.

What We Are Building Next

There is also more happening through the Restoration Psychology Institute™ than conference preparation.

Behind the scenes, I have been working on the development of a doctoral research award, along with the possibility of additional emerging scholar awards designed to encourage and recognize scholarship that advances our understanding of restoration, resilience, human flourishing, and related areas of psychological and human services research.

There is still more work to do before I can share all of the details, but I am looking forward to announcing more about the award program in November.

The Institute is also continuing to translate this growing body of work into practical resources. These include the RESTORE™ Practical Framework, the developing Restoration Assessment Suite™, and additional educational resources designed to help move the principles of Restoration Psychology™ from scholarship into application. New opportunities for research and scholarly collaboration are also continuing to take shape.

So while things may occasionally look quieter here at Walking With HER, there is quite a lot happening.

In many ways, this season has been about building the infrastructure for what comes next.

Stay Connected

If you have followed my work through Walking With HER, I would love for you to also follow what is developing through the Restoration Psychology Institute™.

Over the remainder of this year, the Institute newsletter will include updates about the research award program, upcoming conferences, new resources, opportunities for collaboration, and the continued development of Restoration Psychology™.

There is much more taking shape behind the scenes, and I am looking forward to sharing more of it in the months ahead. I am grateful to those of you who have continued to follow this work, and I hope you will join me as it continues to grow.