The following workshops are designed to assist people in the helping professions and the general public drawing on my background in counselling and educational psychology. Each workshop is “individualized” to meet organizational needs. In addition to those workshops listed here, I have client-centered workshops on the following topics: conflict resolution, anger management, grieving, and  self-esteem. I also do critical incident stress debriefings for first responders and the general public.

Using Memetic Mapping to Promote Self Understanding and Empowerment in Psychotherapy 

Participants to this full day workshop will learn a method of creating maps of their clients selves, and will develop a theoretical frame for using these maps in therapy. The concept of the self as a personal theory we use to situate ourselves in past, present and future contexts and from which we may make volitional decisions is explored. Participants will relate self-mapping to client needs from the perspective of various schools of psychotherapy.

 

The Emotional and Behavioral Effects of Male Stigma with implications for Counselling 

Drawing on primary research and clinical experience, participants in this half day workshop will learn to identify male stigmatization and its effects on behavioral and emotional functioning. Implications for counselling practice are discussed.

 

The Medicine Wheel Revisited: Indigenizing the Enlightenment 

In this half day workshop, participants will develop an appreciation of indigeneity as it intersects with humanism and the Enlightenment. Participants will apply the process of indigenization to science, reason and developing the potential of the individual. Implications for both education and counselling will be discussed.

 

Stress and Eustress: Turning distress into a positive 

This half day workshop offers members of the lay public strategies for dealing with common workplace, family and achievement stress experiences. Causes of stress are reviewed and matched to personality types. On completion, participants will be able to assess their own stress level, and develop individualized plans for stress harm reduction from a menu of coping strategies.

 

Trauma Response: Building resiliency 

This workshop, available in 1 day and ½ day versions, reviews the concept of psychological trauma as an individualized response to an event perceived as threatening. Goals and objectives of trauma response are reviewed. Specialized interventions are discussed referencing immediate, intermediate and long term strategies.

 

Using a holistic community development approach to combat suicide 

This one day workshop focuses on the elements of comprehensive suicide prevention planning including early identification of risk, crisis intervention, treatment of at-risk individuals, postvention, mental health promotion and community development.  Participants will be able to identify warning signs of suicide ideation and will learn support strategies applicable to at-risk individuals. Participants will also learn a holistic model of community response.

 

A Spectrum Approach to Understanding the Aboriginal Self 

This workshop reviews conceptualizations of aboriginal identity with implications for self development and counselling. The concept of culture is examined along with a concomitant need people may have for “cultural reclamation” in a way that demystifies cross-cultural counselling. This workshop will be of interest to therapists who wish to develop a non-essentializing approach with respect to their indigenous clientele while maintaining cultural sensitivity.

 

Counselling International and Aboriginal Students 

This half day workshop deals with a novel program that was held outside of the traditional counselling paradigm and examines cross-cultural themes. Case studies displaying the value of a holistic but non-essentialist view of the individual are examined. A prototype of this workshop was originally presented to the national conference of the Canadian Association of Counsellors and University Support Services. 

 

Cultural Competence in Counselling Northerners: Colonialism, Historic Trauma and Residential Schools 

This one day workshop addressing the unique cultural and economic context of northerners began as a national webinar presented through the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association. Hinterland status is used to define “northerner” and parallels are drawn between colonialism as it affects aboriginal peoples with the economic place of non-aboriginal northerners to the economic system. Implications for counselling are presented using case examples.

 

Residential School Syndrome: Historic Context, Understandings and Treatment 

This two day workshop reviews the conditions that led to a unique set of symptoms in some survivors of Indian residential schools, and their descendants. Residential School Syndrome is compared and contrasted with the concepts of Historic Trauma and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Case studies are used as exemplars for treatment. The version of this workshop aimed at residential school survivors has an emphasis on personal self-assessment and healing. The version of this workshop aimed at people in the helping profession contains more emphasis linking treatment to existing models of psychotherapy. This workshop is grounded in a previous presentation to the Native Mental Health Association of Canada and the World Indigenous Conference.

 

Using Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition in Qualitative Self Assessment 

Uniting Two Conceptualizations of Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition (PLAR), this one day workshop explores the use of holistic methods to assist clients in gaining self-knowledge useful in career planning and self-development. This workshop is based on earlier presentations to the Canadian Association of Prior Learning Assessment, and the inaugural Canadian Counselling Psychology Conference.

 

Using Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition (PLAR) to Build the Aboriginal Self: Combining Career Counselling and Mental Health 

This two day workshop for counsellors, instructors and facilitators teaches a holistic form of PLAR that is respectful of indigenous peoples’ choices to choose from a spectrum of possibilities in building healthy personal selves. The workshop begins by examining traditional methods of documenting past experience for academic credit and how such activities generate new knowledge of one’s self. Methods of developing a holistic view of that self are presented along with exercises to facilitate goal setting and planning for positive transitional change – all in a setting of healthy identity construction. This workshop is built on previous presentations to the Canadian Association of Prior Learning Assessment, the Canadian Psychological Association, and the Native Mental Health Association of Canada.

 

Applying Learning Styles to Classroom Instruction 

This one day workshop reviews the recognition and assessment of various learning styles how such learning styles may be accommodated in classroom instruction. Teachers and instructors taking this workshop will recognize that students have individualized learning styles and preferences and will explore how such learning styles may be used in lesson planning. The view is presented that most of us have the capacity to learn in a number of styles which evolve as we mature. Teachers at the adult, adolescent and child levels of instruction will be interested in this workshop.

 

Diagnosing organizational culture and building effective teams 

Combining an assessment of organizational culture with an assessment of employee personality and conflict resolution styles, this three to four day workshop is designed to build awareness, acceptance and appreciation of diversity in meeting organizational goals. The objectives of this exercise are to improve individual and group interactions, increase employee and organizational satisfaction, increase team efficiency and reduce destructive conflicts. This workshop can be combined with pre-workshop organizational assessments and post-workshop recommendations to increase long-term organizational effectiveness.