ANI Summer Conference 2026 (Online)

Published: Wednesday, 18 March 2026 15:42

Welcome to our 2-day Virtual workshop.
May 16th and May 17th 2026

Over these two days we will cover the topics of:

• The Courage to Change with Peggy Pelonis and
• Private Logic in Love. How Early Conclusions Shape Adults Intimacy with Lindsay Hill

The Courage to Change with Peggy Pelonis

Day 1 and Day 2 Mornings 9am to 1pm

The Courage to Change is a reflective and experiential workshop grounded in the understanding that change is inevitable, yet deeply personal, and often challenging.

Whether change is actively chosen and welcomed or arrives unexpectedly and unwanted, the way individuals experience and navigate it is shaped by their unique personality, coping style, and core beliefs. Recognizing that human beings naturally resist change and gravitate toward the predictable and familiar, this workshop explores both the universal psychological process of change and the individualized ways people respond to it. Through a series of experiential exercises and the use of Basic Lifestyle strategies, participants gain insight into

1. Their strengths and vulnerabilities, and available resources,

2. Underlying beliefs, and maladaptive reactions that can emerge when coping with transition.

3. Self-awareness and understanding, to clearly identify their individual coping style.

4. Comprehend the stages of change they move through.

5. Develop the courage and flexibility needed to adjust their path when current strategies are no longer effective.

You will leave better equipped to cope with change in your own lives, and also to support others through change with greater empathy and confidence.

Private Logic in Love. How Early Conclusions Shape Adults Intimacy with Lindsay Hill

Day 1 and Day 2 Afternoons 2pm to 6pm

Why do couples remain stuck in the same painful patterns, even when there is love, insight, and effort?

From an Adlerian perspective, relationship distress is not the result of deficits or incompatibility, but of discouraged movement shaped by early conclusions about belonging, safety, and worth.

Using Adlerian lifestyle investigation, early recollections, and a relational mapping process, therapists will learn how partners unknowingly compete to move away from felt minus experiences (feeling insignificant) and toward deeply personal goals.

Couples conflict is conceptualized as purposeful and in this workshop emphasis is placed on encouragement and the Crucial Cs—Connected, Capable, Count, and Courage—as pathways back to cooperation and equality.

Couples rarely come to therapy because of a single disagreement. They come because they feel caught in the same cycle again and again, increasingly discouraged, misunderstood, and unsure how to move differently. From an Adlerian perspective, these patterns are not signs of pathology or poor communication, but predictable outcomes of two lifestyles interacting under stress.

This training offers a clear Adlerian framework, practical conceptual tools, and experiential processes that support meaningful and lasting relational change.

About the Presenters: Peggy Pelonis

Peggy Pelonis is President at the American Community Schools; a K-12 International school in Athens Greece. She is an educational leadership trainer, a licensed Family Therapist, National Certified Psychologist and Educational Leadership facilitator. Her work and research in Educational Leadership looks at the complexities of professional development in international schools. She is devoted to facilitating positive change in people’s lives and has developed a ‘Process of Change’ Model to help individuals strengthen the skills needed to cope with life transitions, as well as developing psychological muscle in young people through Responsible Global Conscious Citizenship. Her combined work in educational leadership and mental health has led to the expansion of a “Personal Leadership Thread” model that considers the development of personal leadership based on numerous influences since childhood.

Dr. Pelonis has been on the faculty of the Master’s Psychology programs for the California State University of Fullerton, the University of LaVerne and has taught at the University of Malta. She is a transnational Psychotherapist and Educator currently on the staff of the International Committee of Adlerian Summer Schools and Institutes (ICASSI). She works with the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools as a Commissioner for school accreditation across the globe; she is on the Board of the European Collaborative for International Schools (ECIS). Her work in international education also includes speaking engagements for the United Nations (New York), The World Innovation Summit in education (WISE) and the Alliance for International Education (AIE), The Council of Europe and UNESCO as well as numerous conferences worldwide. She has been featured on the cover of Business Partners magazine for her Conscious Global Citizenship model and has received the Lifetime Leadership Award as well as the Ideagen Global Impact Award. She is the author of numerous professional journal articles in education, three books on change and resilience, and a recent book publication: Igniting Excellence inFaculty Development at International Schools: Beyond Borders.

About the Presenter: Lindsay Hill

Lindsay Hill is a Senior Associate, Counselor, at Travelers Rest Counseling Associates, South Carolina and the Co-founder, Alfred Adler Fellows Program. She is a faculty member of the International Committee of Adlerian Summer Schools and Institutes (ICASSI), where she has presented numerous times. She is a skilled and dedicated Adlerian counselor providing high-quality, effective, and socially responsible therapy to adolescents, adults, and couples. Lindsays work promotes Gemeinschaftsgefühl (social interest) and the development of prosocial, purpose-driven goals —not merely symptom reduction. In addition to her clinical focus on couples and intimacy, she offers Adlerian-based public speaking, supervision, and experiential training rooted in encouragement, curiosity, and contribution.