The Selective Mutism Association’s annual conference will be on Friday, October 3 (half day) and October 4, 2025 and will be held in a fully-virtual format. This online approach allows us to continue to offer innovative, meaningful content, to share advances in the assessment and treatment of SM, and to connect with a wider audience of participants from across the world. We are also pleased to announce that we are continuing our dedicated track of content intended for individuals with SM (ages 17 and up) for free. It will be a wonderful time of gathering for the selective mutism community to learn the latest in evidence-based information, support one another and connect our community. We hope you can join us!
All sessions will be recorded and available for later viewing (until December 31, 2025) for those who register for the conference. Although we hope you can attend the conference live, if you cannot do that, you can watch all sessions later at your convenience. For professionals wishing to obtain continuing education credits, please note that these continuing education credits can only be obtained if you attend live conference sessions–you can not watch recorded sessions and obtain continuing education credits. You will not be able to register for the conference after the conference has passed to watch recorded sessions, so be sure to register prior to the conference.
Target Audience:
The target audience includes parents and relatives of individuals with selective mutism, mental health professionals, speech and language pathologists, other allied health professionals, educators, and individuals with SM (ages 17 and up).
Special Note to all Individuals with SM:
SMA recognizes that resources for older individuals who have SM are scarce and thus, for individuals with SM (ages 17 and older), SMA will be offering the Individuals with SM track for FREE! Individuals with SM will be able to attend the following sessions on Saturday: individual track sessions and general sessions such as the Hear Our Voices panel and Expert Q&A.
Individuals with SM (geared toward ages 17 and older) may register for this track for free on our registration page. Please note that those that choose this option will only have access to the Individual Track presentations as well as the general sessions on Saturday such as the Hear Our Voices and Expert Q&A panel. Individuals who register for this track will not have access to the professional and caregiver-friendly tracks. For those registrants who would like access to all talks, including the professional, caregiver-friendly, and individual tracks, you will need to register for the entire conference.
Keynote Address
The Nature and Management of Social Anxiety in Youth, Ron Rapee, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Macquarie University, Australia
Biography
Ron Rapee is Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Macquarie University where he was the Founding Director of the Centre for Emotional Health. Professor Rapee’s research specializes in mental health, especially in anxiety and related disorders across the lifespan. He has created models of the development of mental disorders and has used these theories to produce evidence-based treatment programs. One of his best known programs, Cool Kids, is used in over 25 countries and translated into more than a dozen languages. Currently, Professor Rapee has been engaged by the Australian Department of Education to develop a tool to identify students across all Australian schools who may be struggling with their mental health. Professor Rapee has been honoured by awards from both scientific and consumer groups, including the Distinguished Career Award from the Australian Association for CBT and the Distinguished Contribution to Science Award from the Australian Psychological Society. He was awarded an Australian Research Council Laureate Fellowship in 2015 and was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2012 for his contributions to clinical psychology, especially among young people.
Date and Location
The online live virtual conference will begin on Friday, October 3, 2025 (early afternoon ET) and conclude on Saturday (early evening ET), October 4. October 3 will be a half-day. Start and end times will be confirmed in June 2025 after the agenda is set. All times will be in Eastern Time. This conference will be conducted live (no prerecorded sessions); however, talks will be recorded an available for later viewing for a limited amount of time.
Conference Offers Professional, Caregiver, Individuals with SM (Ages 17 and up) Track
The conference will offer presentations for professionals, parents/family, and individuals with SM, but any person can attend any session that interests them. All registrants will have a choice of different presentations to attend. In addition to these sessions, we will offer an Expert Q&A panel and a Hear Our Voices panel where people talk about their lives and recovery from SM.
Connection Hour
A Mix ‘n Mingle is planned Friday evening to allow for people to interact and talk with one another. Break out rooms will be set up for different communities and we hope you can join us! Stay tuned for more information.
Continuing Education
The SMA conference will seek to be approved to offer continuing education credits. Please stay tuned for approvals.
Scholarships
We are excited to offer a limited number of need-based scholarships for the upcoming SMA conference.
We are offering 2 types of scholarships:
1. Caregivers:
2. BIPOC Professionals or Professionals who serve the underrepresented/BIPOC community:
If interested and in need, please complete the google form for the specific type of scholarship. As part of the form you will be required to give a statement of need as well as answer a few other questions related to each scholarship.
Please note: All scholarship submissions must be received by midnight ET on August 17, 2025. Eligible participants will be entered into a drawing, from which scholarship recipients will be selected. All recipients of the scholarships, as well as all who submitted, will be notified of their application status by September 1, 2025. Please do not register separately until you have been notified by SMA.
