MO-AFCC Spring Conference

The Missouri Chapter of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (MO-AFCC)

Personality Disorders in Family Law:
​Clinical, Legal and Ethical Considerations

​Presented by Rod E. Hoevet, PsyD


​Friday, April 10, 2026 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

This year's spring conference is an in-person, one-day conference.
​Enjoy informative sessions on the most pressing issues of the day, offered by leading experts in the field.
​View the full agenda below and scroll down to register for this event.

Agenda

LApril 10
  • 8:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. | Registration; Coffee & Pastries
  • 9:00 a.m. – Noon | "Personality Disorders in Family Law: Clinical, Legal and Ethical Considerations," Part I - with Rod E. Hoevet, PsyD
  • Noon – 1:00 p.m. | Lunch
  • 12:45 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. | MO-AFCC Annual Membership Meeting; Ellen Cowell Award Presentation
  • 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. | "Personality Disorders in Family Law: Clinical, Legal and Ethical Considerations," Part II - with Rod E. Hoevet, PsyD 
  • 3:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. | Break, Professional Networking
  • 3:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. | Panel Discussion with Hon. Lisa M. Dubé, 16th Cir.; Lynne Harris, LPC, LCSW; Rod E. Hoevet, PsyD; Henry Miller, JD; Hon. Gretchen Yancey, 13th Cir.; moderated by Kevin Chafin, LPC

About the Sessions

This interdisciplinary conference focuses on effective, ethical and sustainable work with adult clients who present with personality disorders—primarily Cluster B, with relevant considerations from Clusters A and C—in the context of family law and co-parenting cases. 

Designed for family law attorneys, mental health professionals and guardians ad litem, the program explores how personality traits can impact parenting capacity, co-parenting dynamics and children’s well-being.

Participants will gain practical guidance on recognizing specific patterns of behavior and tools to deal with them, anticipating high-conflict dynamics and developing appropriate, legally sound parenting plans. 

The conference will also address professional self-care, boundary setting and risk management, including how to recognize when services are no longer clinically or ethically appropriate and how to terminate involvement safely and effectively. 

The practical tips and guidance of this program are designed to help achieve high standards of practice and reduce exposure to ethical or board complaints and lawsuits.

Learning Objectives
By the end of this conference, participants will be able to:
  1. Describe core features and behavioral patterns associated with Cluster B personality disorders, with relevant considerations from Clusters A and C.
  2. Describe how these patterns commonly manifest in parenting, co-parenting and high-conflict family law cases.
  3. Evaluate the impact of personality traits on intimate partners, former partners, children and family court professionals, including risks related to loyalty conflicts, emotional dysregulation, boundary violations and triangulation during separation and divorce.
  4. Develop parenting plans and recommendations that account for personality-driven behaviors, emphasizing structure, predictability, communication limitations and child-focused safeguards.
  5. Identify effective intervention and management strategies used by legal and mental health professionals when working with adult clients with personality disorders, including techniques to reduce escalation, manipulation and professional splitting.
  6. Apply ethical and professional boundary-setting practices to minimize burnout, countertransference and role confusion when working in high-conflict cases involving personality disorders.
  7. Recognize indicators that continued professional involvement may be ineffective, unsafe or unethical, and determine appropriate steps for modifying services, consulting with colleagues or transitioning out of the case.
  8. Implement best practices for ethical and defensible termination of services, including documentation, communication strategies and risk-management considerations to protect clients, children and professionals.

About the Presenter and Panelists

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Rod E. Hoevet, PsyD - Rod is a clinical psychologist, having received his doctoral degree from the University of Denver in 2005. He has many years of clinical experience providing assessment, therapy and other clinical services in university, forensic and group practice settings with nearly every psychological problem. He has spent much of his career working with inmates and forensic psychiatric patients and has conducted evaluations for courts and served as an expert witness. He also has extensive experience working with anxiety, depression, trauma, major mental illness and personality disorders, and has conducted psychological testing to clarify diagnoses and address a variety of questions and concerns. He has served in various leadership positions, including several years overseeing the clinical operations of a forensic psychiatric hospital, providing training and supervision to professionals and serving in church leadership. He has worked closely with attorneys, judges, law enforcement authorities, medical and mental health professionals and pastors, and has collaborated on the creation of policies, best practices and initiatives to better serve the mentally ill. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Forensic Psychology at Maryville University in Saint Louis and works in independent practice where he provides clinical and forensic services. He is fully licensed in Missouri and Illinois and holds a PsyPact license, which permits him to provide services in participating states. He has been a member of MO-AFCC for several years.
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Kevin Chafin, LPC - Kevin Chafin is a Licensed Professional Counselor and mediator in private practice. Coparenting counseling is a large part of Kevin’s practice, often with high conflict families. He is a presenter on topics related to mediation as well as court involved counseling with parents and children. Kevin lives and practices in Kansas City, Missouri. He is a past president of the board of the Missouri Chapter of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (moafcc.org).
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Hon. Lisa M. Dubé, 16th Cir. - Commissioner Dubé was appointed by the judges of the 16th Judicial Circuit as Family Court Commissioner of Division 43 on September 11, 2020.  Commissioner Dubé presides over a contested domestic docket, which includes dissolution of marriage actions, paternity actions, modifications, private and State filed contempt actions, and family access motions.  At the time of her appointment, Commissioner Dubé was the supervising permanency attorney for the Missouri Department of Social Services, Children’s Division in Kansas City. She represented the agency in child abuse and neglect cases, termination of parental rights cases, minor and adult guardianships, paternity actions and custody modifications.  Previously, she was an attorney in private practice in the area of family law with the firm of Richard T. Bryant & Associates P.C., and worked during law school with the firm of deVries & Associates P.C.  Commissioner Dubé earned a B.A. degree in Psychology from Rockhurst University in 2005, and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Missouri—Kansas City Law School in 2008.  She is a member of the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association, the Association of Women Lawyers of Greater Kansas City, Missouri Bar Association, Kansas Bar Association, and the National Association of Counsel for Children.
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Lynne Harris, LPC, LCSW - Lynne is a licensed Professional Counselor, a licensed Clinical Social  Worker, and a Court-approved Mediator, with an office in Columbia, Missouri. She has forty years of experience in providing psychotherapy services to children, teens, and adults in individual and family therapy, as well as working on co-parenting relationships. Her current focus is Mediation and Co-parenting Counseling and assisting parents and children through separation and divorce including understanding the grief process, keeping children out of the middle, creating developmentally sensitive parenting plans, assisting children in understanding their parent’s divorce, parental alienation, estrangement, and helping parents to minimize conflict in their parenting relationship. She has been a member of MO-AFCC since 2015 and in 2025 received the Chapter's Ellen Cowell Award. 
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Henry Miller, JD - For over 25 years, Henry “Hank” Miller has expertly represented clients in family law matters, including those with complex assets in high net worth.  He handles many types of Missouri family law related matters, his practice areas include Family Law, Divorce, Child Custody & Visitation, Mediation, Parental Coordination, Motions to Modify and Juvenile Law. He also has extensive training in mediation and works hard to see if a case can be amicably resolved before the case becomes a battle. Hank also acts as a parent coordinator and serves as a Guardian Ad Litem in divorce cases, representing the best interest of the child. He was selected for inclusion in Super Lawyers, Missouri and Kansas in 2015 and every year since. Hank serves as a volunteer attorney on a regional committee for the Missouri Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel.  Appointed to this role by the Missouri Supreme Court, Hank and the other members of the committee review and investigate allegations of attorney misconduct. Hank was born and raised in St. Louis and continues to live there with his wife and two sons. He has been a member of MO-AFCC since 2016.
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Hon. Gretchen Yancey, 13th Cir. - Commissioner Gretchen Yancey, Family Court Commissioner, Division VIII, 13th Judicial Circuit (Boone/Callaway County), was appointed in 2024 and primarily presides over dissolutions, motions to modify, and paternity cases.  Prior to her appointment, she had over twenty years of experience in family law litigation, mediation, and guardian ad litem work in mid-Missouri.  She is a frequent presenter with the local and state bar associations, and has also presented at judicial college. Commissioner Yancey graduated from Drury University in 1998 with a double-major in English Literature and Speech Communication, with Women's Studies emphasis; she earned her JD in 2000 from University of Missouri – Columbia School of Law.  She currently serves on the board of the Missouri Chapter of the Association for Family and Conciliatory Courts, and is a former Board Member of the Missouri Bar Association Family Law Committee; she also served as President of the Boone County Bar Association in 2021. Commissioner Yancey lives in Columbia with her husband Jim; she has adult twin daughters who have given her a first grandson in October 2025, and the second is due to arrive in June 2026.

Continuing Education Credit 

Approved for 6.5 APA, 6.5 CEU, 7.2 CLE (+ GAL, Mediation), 4.0 Ethics CLE and 7.8 Kansas CDRE credits 
​AFCC maintains responsibility for the program and its content.

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Location and Accommodations 

  • In-person conference – Columbia, Missouri (no virtual option offered)
  • University of Missouri School of Law, Hulston Hall 
  • Meals included with registration: Coffee & Pastries and Lunch 
  • Parking included with registration – Parking permits for on-campus parking at the Turner Avenue Parking Garage
  • Skipping the wee-hours commute? Consider staying at the Hampton Inn – Blocked rooms available (under "MOAFCC"), $149 per night, (573) 214-2222, 1225 Fellows Pl, Columbia, MO 65201 ​(Booking link available upon registration - special rate expires 3/20 at 11:59 p.m.)
  • Why not join us Thursday evening, April 9, for dinner and social networking from 6:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. at the Kitchen, 3711 Discovery Parkway, Columbia, MO 65201

Registration
    Conference Accommodations

Cancellations

No refunds will be issued.