Eastern will host its second annual suicide and depression conference April 5, featuring leading psychotherapist Donald Meichenbaum.

The conference, “Ending the Silence,” sponsored by Eastern’s Counseling Center and the Thomas A. Bonine Rainbow of Hope Fund, will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union’ s Grand Ballroom.

It is designed to educate and spread awareness on suicide prevention programs and depression, said David Onestak, director for the Counseling Center.

Meichenbaum will use video demonstrations as part of his presentation on assessment and treatment strategies for depression in children, adolescents and family members, a press release said.

“We are very fortunate to have Dr. Meichenbaum (leading this conference),” Onestak said. “He was voted one of the 10 most influential psychotherapists in the past century.”

Meichenbaum is professor emeritus at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, and directs the Melissa Institute of Violence Prevention and Treatment of Victims in Miami, Fla.

He also is a founder of Cognitive Behavior Modification and has authored and coauthored numerous publications.

Onestak said the conference’s audience will consist of mental health professionals from across the state and throughout the Midwest as well as Eastern faculty and graduate students whose backgrounds are in the field of mental health.

The number of mental health professionals who registered to attend this year’s conference has already far surpassed the number of attendees at last year’s conference, Onestak said.

He said the approximately 130 people who will participate in this year’s conference is nearly double the number of participants who attended the event last year.

“We have been very successful at this point (in the registration process),” Onestak said.

He said Meichenbaum is one of the best presenters of psychology he has seen.

“I have previously attended several of Dr. Meichenbaum’s workshops,” Onestak said. “There is simply no one better at conveying information in a usable and interesting manner.”

Preregistration is required by Monday and cannot be done on the telephone. To get a register form, call the Counseling Center at 581-3413.