Description: This panel explores cultural difference as a living, relational process rather than a checklist of competencies. Through stories, clinical examples, and cross-cultural encounters, the speakers examine identity, historical trauma, language, ritual, and the subtle ways misunderstanding begins in perception and judgment. The conversation invites therapists to listen more carefully, question assumptions, and work with culture as something dynamic, personal, and deeply tied to healing and connection.
Marilia Baker, MSW, is a multicultural, multilingual Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist based in Scottsdale, Arizona. She is a Board member of the Phoenix Institute of Ericksonian Therapy; member of the Advisory Board for Phoenix Friends of C.G.Jung; International Advisor and Consultant, Centro Ericksoniano de México, and Institutes Editor for the Milton H. Erickson Foundation Newsletter. She conducts presentations and workshops locally and internationally. Ms. Baker is the author of A Tribute to Elizabeth Moore Erickson: Colleague Extraordinaire, Wife, Mother, and Companion, also published in Spanish, Portuguese, and French.
Robert Dilts, has been a developer, author, trainer and consultant in the field of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) - a model of human behavior, learning and communication - since its creation in 1975 by John Grinder and Richard Bandler. A long time student and colleague of both Grinder and Bandler, Robert also studied personally with Milton H. Erickson, M.D., and Gregory Bateson.
Joyce C. Mills, PhD, LMFT, Registered Play Therapy Supervisor is the Founder/director of the Story- Play® Center in Scottsdale AZ and Co-director of the Phoenix Institute of Ericksonian Therapy. Recipient of 1997 Annual Intern Play Therapy Award for an “outstanding career contribution in Child Psychology and Play Therapy.” An internationally recognized trainer speaker, consultant, and program development specialist, author of eight books, including the award- winning Therapeutic Metaphors for Children and the Child Within and Reconnecting to the Magic of Life.
Lilian Borges, MA, LPC, is a licensed professional counselor with more than 18 years of experience doing and teaching psychotherapy, Ericksonian hypnosis and brief therapy. She is an invited teacher at the Milton Erickson Foundation for their extensive hypnosis training programs. Lilian has been conducting seminars in the United States and internationally about couples therapy, and Ericksonian therapy.