1

COUNSELING CONNECTIONS

Welcome Lisen as our new

Department Head!!!

Welcome Melodie as

Program Director!!!

Advice from December 2018 Grads... “Even on your worst day… You

are someone’s best hope” -

Lauren DeLoach-Graham

“It’s okay to be different, it’s not

okay to be treated different.” -

Clif Price

“Don’t wait until you reach your

goal to be proud of yourself”-

Karen Salmansohl (by Carol

Fair)

“You miss 100% of the shots

you don’t take” -Wayne Gretzky

(Michael Scott (Kaylee

(Marino))

“Don’t forget your raisin’” -

Ashlyn Gibson

Research and Scholarship Celebration

27th Annual Graduate

Research Symposium April 3-4, 2019

Ramsey Center | University Center

Registration Is Open!

On behalf of the Graduate School, the

Graduate

Student Association, and the Office of the Provost, we invite all

graduate students from all disciplines to

participate in the 27th Annual Graduate Research Symposium.

The Graduate Research Symposium, part of Western Carolina

University's annual Research and Scholarship Celebration

(RASC), provides graduate students the opportunity to showcase

their scholarly research,

projects, and other creative endeavors with peers, faculty and

the greater campus community.

Students have the opportunity to present in three unique for-

mats. Although students are encouraged to participate in multi-

ple formats, a separate application is required for each.

1. Oral Presentations

2. Research Poster Presentations

3. Academic Paper Competition

College of Education and Allied Professions Departmental Newsletter February 2019

26th Annual School and Community Counselor Conference : Treating

Clients with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Friday, April 5th, 2019

Covenant Community Church

Register online at https://bit.ly/2BrdazR

If you require special dietary assistance, please contact Debbie Bryant at

Debbie.bryant@bcsemai.org

2

Advice From Second Year Counseling Students

For New Students:

It’s okay to make mistakes || Find related articles by using first article’s list of references. || (Study) Budies are great || Plan ahead || Ask questions! || Be vulnerable || Get here early | Share in group || Trust the process || Elizabeth- leggings are not pants | |You are a person not a grade || Drink (if that’s what you’re into) || Take care of yourself (selfcare!) || You de-serve to be here || Russ likes his staples a certain way! || Get everyone’s number now! || Staple your paper the right (only) way! || Don’t forget where you came from. || It really does depend! || You will get out of this program what you put into it. || Melo-day… APA! (Ask someone to proof-read citations before submitting. || When the time comes you will be ready. || Breathe || Cry || Don’t hold it in let it out! ||Organization is key || Heather can see into your soul. Get ready to cry. For New Interns:

Everything is temporary #tapescript || Reflect the gold || Ask for help || Care about your clients. Listen. || You are enough. || Ask questions || It’s not your job to fix clients (and you can’t) || Bring your worst tapes. Share stuff during supervision. || When all else fails, just listen || It’s normal to feel like you don’t know what you’re doing but trust me you do! || Remem-ber, guidance is something you learn on the job. || Self care is important || Your tapes don’t define you || Try to get your su-pervisors number || Use internship to organize all of your class resources. Use class resources || For school peeps: Get sched-ules for normal schools, 2-hour delay, 3-hour delay, early re-lease etc. Ask for phone number directory, get printed sched-ules for all students. Pull during electives. Be known for coming in early and leaving late. Meet teachers, study your year books to remember names.

Upcoming Professor Presentations Six of our Seven Faculty will be present-ing at the North Carolina Counseling As-sociation Conference in Durham, NC Feb-ruary 21-22 "Are you PISD? Counseling Clients Who Ex-perience Post-Infidelity Stress Disorder"- Curtis and Likis-Werle "The New Revolution in Mental Health Care: The Role of Psychedelics and Counseling in Helping People Heal and Thrive"-Curtis, Graves, Thompson, Wieloch and Wynn "Counselor Supervision: Helping Supervi-

sees Effectively Counsel LGBTQ Clientele" -

Frick and Likis-Werle

“The History of American Racism: A Founda-

tion for Counselors Committed to Advocacy”-

Roberts

Students walk to class at Biltmore Park’s campus

Check out upcoming College of Educa-

tion and Allied Professions Diversity

Committee events here!!!

For more local events and conversa-

tions on diversity and social justice,

check out Claxton Social Justice

League newsletter here!!!

WCU Counseling Program

Supervision Symposium will be

held March 22

3

Moving Beyond Ego: The Potential Role of Psychedelics and Counseling in Helping People Heal and Thrive

Russ Curtis, PhD, LPC

Professor of Counseling Western Carolina University

I was recently made aware that a pharmaceutical representative was going to treat (dig the play on words) many mental health medication prescribers to dinner at a very nice restaurant in Asheville, presumably to discuss research results of some of the medications they manufacture and sell. I have never been to this particular restaurant but from what I under-stand no one gets out for less than $100+ per person. Big pharma can afford to lavish potential providers with nice dinners because they know it will significantly influence prescribers to increase the percentage of prescriptions (sales) for their medi-cations. My guess is that big pharma will recoup the expense of this pricey dinner in less than a month from profits of in-creased prescriptions from a few agencies, everything after that month is pure profit.

Now, when I worked in mental health the big pharma reps, who were always sitting in the lobby hoping for 5 minutes with one of our psychiatrists, would buy the entire staff a lunch and lavish us with pens and writing pads all with logos of their newest miracle medication that all our clients needed, after which they would report biased data about their latest miracle drug. I still have a foam brain from their Zyprexa campaign and even a deck of cards, each imprinted with a large Haldol logo (one of the original anti-psychotic medications). I was pleased when I later found out that big pharma reps could no longer use those tactics within the agency setting, but now, apparently, they can use the same tactics as long as they are not on the medical practice’s property. Pretty slick.

Can you imagine the fear big pharma feels from natural plant products such as marijuana (currently illegal in NC) and kratom (currently legal in most states), both of which can effectively treat pain and anxiety, and may have some anti-depressant effects as well? Can marijuana and kratom be misused? Absolutely. Any more so than alcohol, nicotine, sugar, and opiates? It does not appear so. Please know that I DO NOT recommend you use an illegal substance, ever. And do not use legal potential substances of abuse (alcohol, nicotine, sugar, kratom) if you have a history of addiction or addictive tendencies. But, new federal trials are showing significant results treating depression, trauma, and even addiction with natu-rally occurring and existing substances (e.g., ketamine, psilocybin, MDMA, LSD). Ketamine for instance can significantly reduce depression and suicidal thoughts within hours of administration and the effect of one dose can last weeks, giving time for counseling and, if needed, an SSRI medication time to take effect. Furthermore, ketamine is often dosed intrave-nously or intramuscularly, so clients never need to have possession of the medicine, which significantly reduces the risk of abuse. Think about it, for the first time in many years we could actually see a decrease in suicides!

This is why counselors should care about this potential revolution. The primary mechanism by which a lot of these substances work is by helping people briefly experience life beyond the ego. In this state people often report recognizing that many of their issues were caused by fear-based byproducts: selfishness, greed, self-deprecation, persistent negative self-talk, feeling unworthy, and ashamed. In fact, one of the most common helpful events mentioned by people is recogniz-ing that we are all connected by love (I know I know, the “love” information contradicts what I tell you all about staying away from love because it only leads to heartbreak, but you all know I’m just being silly, which is a part of my charm). Helping cli-ents with fear and love issues is what counselors having been doing for centuries, but it can be a long and expensive pro-cess that many people do not have access to. Thus, I believe it is possible that this new treatment protocol will not only help people disrupt negative thinking patterns, but will also help clients and medical professionals recognize the value of counsel-ing.

Current research protocol advocates for mental health professionals to help assess clients prior to treatment, provide support during the administration of the substance, and then process with clients afterward. The efficacy of these treat-ments, it appears, is in helping clients reimagine their lives and to define new meaning for their existence. One client sug-gested that after one dose of psilocybin she recognized that all she needed to do to alleviate depression was to identify her feelings and talk about them with one trusted and caring person (Pollan, 2018). Big pharma will never admit to it but counse-lors have always been that trusted and caring person, and now we may have some help in more quickly and effectively reaching more people to alleviate many common mental health issues. In closing I want to reiterate one important point, all of these substances can be misused and they can have adverse side-effects, so please do not go experimenting on your own. Instead, get counseling and be patient while federal trials determine the efficacy and appropriate treatment protocol for these substances. For more information visit https://maps.org.

4

Support the Newsletter

Help us with the

newsletter next

month! Send infor-

mation/articles to

Tessa for review.

tnayowith@wcu.edu

Formatting done by Megan

Myers

Self and Planet Care Tips Toileting Habits If you find yourself having to get up during every class to use the bathroom, here are some tips that may help! • If you are peeing for less than 15-40 seconds, your bladder

may be sensitized to pee when you don’t actually have to go, wait until you have three urges to pee before using the re-stroom.

• Don’t pee “just in case,” as in just in case you have to go dur-ing class, or before a practice session, only use the bathroom when you actually need to go.

• Never hover over the toilet. When sitting on the toilet, rest your forearms on your thighs and lean forward. Rest your feet flat on the floor, relax and breathe.

• Do not force your pee out, sit and wait until a flow begins. When you are finished, wait an extra second for the last bit to come out. This is the most concentrated urine in your body and can tell your body you have to pee again soon after you’ve gone if it doesn’t all come out. Stand up and sit back down, or tickle your low back to help the last bit come out.

• If you’re having issues, see a doctor. • For more information, classes, or specific questions check out

ashevilleholisticpt.com for upcoming sessions and group clas-ses!

Ways to be more environmentally friendly at Biltmore Park! • When printing through on campus computers, be sure to se-

lect double sided printing! • There are compost bins located with the trash and recycling

receptacles between 2 Town Square Blvd which houses the Counseling Office and the parking deck. Compost your uneat-en food and Neo Burrito to go containers there!

• There is metal silverware and porcelain plates and bowls that can be used in the Counseling Office kitchen. Please wash af-ter using and do not take silverware home!

Western Carolina University Human Services Newsletter

“Doctor,” said the receptionist over the

phone, “there’s a patient here who thinks

he’s invisible.”

“Well, tell him I can’t see him right now.”

Thank you David Wynn!

Relevant Articles

Hate Speech Primes the Brain for Hate Crime

Ecological Grief

Screen Time Damages Grey Matter in the Brain

Meditation Reubilds Grey Matter in the Brain