Speaking & Training
Give people something they can use, not just something they heard.
Chris Conley, MA, LPC, is a counselor, clinical leader, educator, and experienced presenter who has spent 15 years helping people make sense of complex human issues. Every session is shaped around the audience and designed to make difficult conversations feel clear, relevant, and useful.
The Room Changes
The Need to Connect Doesn’t
Open Harbor works with audiences who care deeply about people and need more than generic inspiration. Chris adapts the language, examples, pace, and level of clinical detail to fit the room without watering down the substance.
Conferences and professional associations
Clinical teams and mental-health organizations
Businesses, nonprofits, and leadership teams
Community organizations and helping professionals
Schools, youth-serving groups, and caregivers
Churches, ministries, and faith-based organizations
Different rooms bring different histories, pressures, and levels of familiarity. The goal is not to flatten those differences. It is to meet people where they are and give them a useful way forward.
Start With the Need
Not a Canned Presentation
The strongest sessions begin with the question your people are already asking. These topic families are starting points, then we shape the emphasis, examples, and depth around your room.
Mental health and crisis response
Clear, humane guidance for responding when someone is struggling, overwhelmed, or in crisis.
Burnout, resilience, and sustainable helping
Practical ways to care deeply without disappearing inside the work.
Trauma-informed practice and communities
Understanding the impact of trauma and building responses that protect dignity, choice, and connection.
Leadership and organizational wellbeing
Helping leaders name what is happening beneath the surface and create healthier ways of working together.
Technology, culture, and human behavior
Making sense of how digital life shapes attention, identity, relationships, and wellbeing.
Faith, spirituality, religious trauma, and meaning
Approaching belief, doubt, spiritual coping, and religious harm with care, nuance, and ethical clarity.
Built to fit the room.
Some audiences need a strong keynote. Others need time to practice, ask hard questions, and work through what the ideas mean in their setting. We can shape the format around the goal.
Conference keynotes
Interactive workshops
Staff and leadership training
Multi-session learning series
Community education
Facilitated conversations
Panels
Customized virtual sessions
Designed around the people who will actually be in the room.
Before
Understand the room. We will talk through the audience, the setting, what is already working, and what you hope people leave carrying.
During
Make it clear and useful. Expect solid content, accessible language, honest conversation, and enough flexibility to respond to the people in front of us.
After
Leave with a next step. The goal is not a temporary burst of inspiration. It is a clearer way to think, talk, and act when the real situation shows up.
Across clinical, professional, community, and faith settings.
Selected conferences, organizations, and events include:
Virginia Counselors Association
University of the Cumberlands
ASERVIC
Region Ten Community Services Board
Virginia Beach Psychiatric Center
Clinician Connection Conference
Forefront Church
Mindful Journey Therapeutic Services
Smithfield Christian Church
Teen Therapy Conference
When Crisis Comes to Church
What hosts say
Depth that still feels like a conversation.
“Chris imparts the perfect blend of passion and knowledge in his talks. He shares his wisdom through insightful and engaging stories, examples, and experiences.” — Katie K. May, LPC, DBT-LBC, Founder, Teen Therapy Conference
“Chris combines deep knowledge, experience, wisdom, and humor to connect with his audience. He made a complex topic like mental health feel accessible and engaging.” — Mike Johnson, Middle School Pastor, Real Life Christian Church
A few practical questions.
Can the session be customized?
Yes. We will start with what your audience actually needs, then shape the language, examples, pace, and level of clinical depth around the room.
Do you offer both in-person and virtual sessions?
Yes. Both can work well. We will talk about the setting, group size, timing, and what kind of interaction you want.
Can you offer continuing education credit?
I am not currently able to independently offer CEs. If that is what your event needs, I may be able to work with an approved partner so we can talk through what is possible.
Is this only for clinical or faith-based audiences?
No. My work often lives near mental health, leadership, crisis response, culture, and meaning, but the room does not have to be clinical or religious. We will use the language that fits your people.
Tell me about the room you are trying to serve.
You do not need a finished agenda or the perfect topic title. Tell me who will be there, what they are carrying, and what you hope the time together makes possible.