Video Online Seminar • Monday, February 22, 2010 • 12:00 PM - 1:30PM CST • $304

Threat Assessment ... Behavorial Intervention Teams ... Risk Rubrics ...

There’s got to be a better way to help depressed and mentally ill students.

Every year, residential life staff and student affairs counselors see an increasing number of students enter college with some type of psychological problem or mental illness. They are presented with reams of data and survey results highlighting the increased risk and problems this generation of students has to face when going to school.

And every year, you take the same approach in what feels like a losing battle:
• You talk about problems.
• You scrutinize symptoms.
• You assess risk and look for ways to reduce these symptoms

Note that everything here focuses on the negative–the student's problems. And therein the problem lies.

We focus so much on the negative in these cases, that we overlook one of the most distinctive and powerful human traits of all: Our ability to be mentally tough. To be resilient. To show fortitude in the toughest of times.

All these traits exist in your most troubled students. And while you may know this to be intuitively true, you’ve never had the tools or the training to help students fight their way through the tough times.

Until now.

The online seminar How to Help Students Build Resiliency and Overcome Their Obstacles, co-presented by Dr. Brian Van Brunt and Dr. Perry Francis, will help you focus on a student’s strengths, living life in balance, and building positive connections with other students.

It breaks from the mindset of medicating and pathologizing.

It uses tools, such as the “7 ways to build resiliency”, which include learning how to practice optimism, understand happiness, and use the heroic journey to inspire hope and perseverance.

Ultimately, it’s a proven alternative that can help you aid a student population with an increasing number of problems and mental health concerns–many of which are treatable through this method.

After participating in the seminar, you’ll understand:

• What are the concepts of positive psychology, resiliency model of care, narrative therapy and change theory. More importantly, you’ll see how these concepts apply to students.
• How the approach works. We’ll review five detailed case studies where student behavior was re-conceptualized into a more positive, resiliency-focused manner.
• How to apply these theories in real-life situations. We’ll show practical skills that will help you see students from a positive psychology/resiliency model.
• What the standard “medical model” approach looks like compared to the positive psychology approach. We’ll demonstrate through role-play scenarios.
• Why building community and seeking peer support is so important, and how to do it. We’ll show you how student-run programs and online resources can help achieve both goals.
• What methods work best for de-stigmatizing the referral process for mental health care. You’ll see how to make treatment as accepted as nutrition counseling, advising or tutoring.

Who should attend:
Anyone occupying the following positions in a two or 4-year, public or private college or university:
• Resident Advisors
• Resident Directors
• Deans of Student Affairs
• VPs of Student Affairs
• Student Affairs Staff
• College Counselors

The size of your enrollment does not matter, you will find valuable information you can use right away in this seminar.

Our Seminar is Live and Interactive.
Our presenters will incorporate question-and-answer periods during the seminar, so you can clarify points and share your thoughts. It provides you with the opportunity to delve deeper into areas of interest such as the case studies, or how to apply the techniques at your school.

Role-play scenarios will also be incorporated into our discussion of the five case studies, and will highlight the differences between the standard “medical model” approach versus the positive psychology approach.

Expert presenters

Dr. Brian Van Brunt
With over fifteen years of experience in the counseling field, Dr. Brian Van Brunt’s credentials are impressive. Dr. Van Brunt is the Director of Counseling and Testing at Western Kentucky University, and previously served as the Director of Counseling at New England College from 2001-2007. He is currently the President-Elect of the American College Counseling Association.

Dr. Van Brunt has presented nationally on counseling ethics, mandated counseling, and testing and assessment. He has taught graduate classes in Counseling Theory, Ethics, Testing and Assessment, and Program Evaluation. His undergraduate classes include Adjustment and Personal Growth, Deviance and Counseling Theory.

His counseling style draws from a variety of influences, but primarily from the humanistic/person-centered style of treatment with an emphasis on warmth, compassion, empathy, unconditional positive regard, individual choice, and personal responsibility.

A quote by Thomas Troward encapsulates not only his approach to this seminar, but much of his overall philosophy: “The law of floatation was not discovered by contemplating the sinking of things, but by contemplating the floating of things which floated naturally, and the intelligent asking of why they do so.”

Dr. Perry Francis
Dr. Perry Francis will co-present with Dr. Van Brunt, and also brings years of experience and expertise to the online seminar. He is currently a professor of counseling in the Department of Leadership & Counseling and serves as the coordinator of counseling services in the College of Education Clinical Suite–Counseling Clinic at Eastern Michigan University.

A graduate from the University of Northern Colorado with a doctoral degree in Counselor Education, Dr. Francis also has experience as a Lutheran Campus Pastor and as a school counselor in an elementary setting. He is a licensed professional counselor in the states of Michigan, Louisiana and Texas.

With a strong background in college counseling and ethical issues in counseling, Dr. Francis is actively involved in the American Counseling Association and the American College Counseling Association. He is also a member of the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision.

With a belief that “the truly educated never graduate,” Dr. Francis is a frequent speaker at colleges, universities and training sites across the country.

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