Nassau Counselors’ Association: CAP Conference

This year’s annual CAP Conference will have leading experts delve into crucial topics impacting mental health and well-being in today’s digital era. This event will feature insightful discussions on tech addiction, teen mental health, and the effective utilization of goal-setting strategies to enhance executive functioning in adolescents.

This event is free to attend. As is our NCA/CAP tradition, raffles and giveaways will be awarded at the closing of the conference.

Conference Schedule

Time	Activity
8:15 am-8:45 am	Registration and Continental Breakfast
8:45 am-9:05 am	Welcome Remarks and NCA General Membership Meeting
9:05 am-10:35 am	Keynote Speaker featuring Dr. Nicholas Kardaras
10:35 am-10:45 am	Coffee Break
10:45 am-11:45 am	Workshop Session featuring Dr. Cameka Hazel
11:45 am-12:45 pm	Lunch and Networking Information Fair
12:45 pm-1:45 pm	Workshop Session featuring Anthony Riccardo and Tiffany Belferder
1:45 pm-2:30 pm	Closing Remarks, Raffle, and Certificate of Attendance

Guest speakers

Nicholas Kardaras, PhD, LCSW

Dr. Kardaras is an Ivy-League educated psychologist, a best-selling author, an internationally renowned speaker, and one of the country’s foremost experts on mental health, addiction and the clinical and social impacts of the digital age. He is the Founder and Chief Clinical Officer of Omega Recovery in Austin, Texas and a Clinical Professor at Stony Brook Medicine in NY where he specializes in teaching the neurophysiology and treatment of addiction and has also taught neuropsychology at the doctoral-level.

Dr. Kardaras is the author of the best-selling “Glow Kids” (St. Martin’s Press, 2016), the seminal book on screen-effects (“Glow Kids” has now been translated into 12 languages) and is also the author of the recently released “Digital Madness: How Social Media is Driving our Mental Health Crisis” (St. Martin’s, 2022).

He has appeared on ABC’s 20/20, Good Morning America, the CBS Evening News, CNN, FOX & Friends, NPR, Good Day New York and in Esquire, New York Magazine and Vanity Fair, and has written for TIME Magazine, Scientific American, Psychology Today, Salon and FOX News. He was also featured on the 2019 A&E TV series “Digital Addiction”, the Amazon documentary “Screened Out” and his 2016 NY Post Op Ed “Digital Heroin” went viral with over 6 million views and shares.

Considered a pioneer in the field of tech addiction and technology’s impact on mental health and education, he has been an in-demand speaker on the subject for both national news media and as a keynote speaker at both national and international mental health and/or education conferences; he has presented in London, Athens, New Zealand, Maui, and at prestigious venues such as the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, the Colony Club in NY and at universities such as Villanova.

Cameka Hazel, EdD

Dr. Cameka Hazel is an assistant professor and clinical field coordinator in the Counseling and Psychology Department at New York Institute of Technology (NYIT). Dr. Hazel specializes in the supervision and training of professional mental health and school counselors. As a counselor educator, she is an advocate for holistic training of future counselor educators to be effectively prepared to meet the social, emotional, and educational needs of the diverse K–12 student population. Prior to joining academia and the faculty at NYIT, she worked as a school counselor, and supervisor of school counselors. She worked at various grade levels—from elementary to high school and specialized in trauma and crisis counseling in volatile school zones.

In addition to being a professor Dr. Hazel is currently a child and adolescent clinical mental health therapist. She focuses on providing mental health services to youths who are considered clinically high risk. She also now serves as the President-elect for the NYS American Counseling Association (ACA) executive board, contributing to the growth and development of the counseling profession.

Dr Hazel is an accomplished researcher and presenter. Her research includes multicultural counseling competence training in counselor education, effective mental health care for children and families of refugee/immigration status and providing trauma informed counseling for youths. Hazel has presented at national and international conferences on subjects such as helping new school counselors thrive, reducing preventive and risk factors for school counselor burnout, school counselors’ role as advocates when working with refugees and recent documented/undocumented students and Caribbean national migration experiences to the U.S., and acculturation stressors during the transition process. Hazel’s current research focuses on school counselors’ perception of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on students’ academic, social, and emotional development, youth mental health crisis post-COVID-19 pandemic and NYS new school counseling regulations implementation and its impact on student success.

Anthony Riccardo, MS-Ed, SDL, ADHD-CCSP

Currently Anthony is inspiring teachers and students as an Academic Director at Fusion Academy Long Island. He began as a NYC Teaching Fellow, Anthony is a Science Teacher with Superintendents School District License and he realizes now, more than ever, teachers need to be better prepared and supported to in turn work with our most precious resource, the young minds of our children. Anthony is a parent of 2 school aged children.

Tiffany Belferder, LCAT, ADHD-CCSP

Tiffany is the Head of School at Fusion Academy Long Island, prior to joining the world of education, she is a licensed & practiced therapist primarily with adolescent in inpatient hospital settings. Combining her social emotional expertise into the world of education, Tiffany is dedicated to empowering growth of those around her. Tiffany is also a mother of 2 young children.

Because of their combined experiences as educator, administrators, therapist and parents, Tiffany & Anthony frequently aim to provide support for parents, teachers, and clinical professionals from this unique lens. So much goes into raising and supporting children in our current day and age, that Tiffany & Anthony will be able to identify strategies, data, and ongoing research-information for all those in attendance.

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CAP Co-Chairs

Jade Frevola
Associate Director of Admissions
Adelphi University

Jill Eddings, MSED, LCAT, ATR-BC
Post Secondary Counselor/Testing Coordinator
Fusion Academy Long Island

Seeta Ramprasad
Associate Professor
Nassau Community College

For additional information or questions regarding the CAP Conference, please email capconference@adelphi.edu

This event is graciously sponsored by the Nassau Counselors’ Association.