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Letter from the President, AnnMarie Stankovich, MA, LMHC, NCC
Thank you
Thank you all for the opportunity to serve on the Board of Seattle Counselors Association! I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know the members of SCA, and I truly appreciate the support that's been offered throughout the year. I hope you have found my previous newsletters helpful as you work towards a vision of owning a successful private practice that brings you much personal and professional satisfaction.
I wanted to end my series of newsletters by discussing the benefits of understanding your personality type as it relates to being a private practitioner/business owner. I have been a big fan of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator for many years and have extensive experience using it as part of my counseling practice, as well as when coaching small-business owners. The Myers-Briggs is designed to make Jung's theory of psychological types understandable in everyday life. It is one of the most reliable self-reporting personality instruments available and is an amazing tool in both your personal and professional life.
Understanding your personality type as a business owner can help you value your strong points, accept your weaker areas, and stay focused on what energizes you rather than what drains you. You've heard me say before that there are many phenomenal counselors out there, but some are lacking the business skills needed to help their practice succeed. The Myers-Briggs will give you useful categories for self-reflection in terms of how you approach the business aspect of your counseling practice.
The Myers-Briggs consists of four dichotomies with two preferences in each: Extraversion (E)-Introversion (I), Sensing (S)-Intuition (N), Thinking (T) -Feeling (F), and Judging (J) - Perceiving (P). The E-I dichotomy looks at where people direct their energy; the S-N dichotomy looks at how people gather information; the T-F dichotomy looks at how people make decisions; and the J-P dichotomy looks at how people deal with the outer world (Myers, 1998). The result of the Myers-Briggs is a four code letter, which is one of sixteen distinct personality types. For example, my personality type is ISFJ (Introversion, Sensing, Feeling, and Judging). In order to simplify the MBTI, I will review for you some basic concepts, using my own personality type as an example.
The first dichotomy looks at Extraversion vs. Introversion. As an Introvert, I tend to focus on thoughts and feelings, I prefer to work alone or one-on-one, and I think things through before moving forward. In contrast, Extraverts focus on people and things, prefer to work as part of a group, enjoy sharing what's on their mind, and take action first and think later. As a business coach, I tend to focus on this first dichotomy when discussing marketing strategies. Introverts might find the following marketing strategies more suitable for their personality types: posting information on community bulletin boards, sending out a newsletter, developing and marketing a website, writing articles, or marketing with other health care professionals in a one-on-one setting. Extraverts, however, might enjoy offering workshops, doing presentations, and holding brainstorming sessions with their colleagues.
The second dichotomy in Myers-Briggs looks at Sensing vs. Intuition. Since I am a Sensing type, I focus on facts, details, and the here and now. I like a methodical step-by-step approach, and I place a great deal of value on accuracy. In addition, I allow my past learning experiences to guide me when moving forward. Sensing types tend to do well with the details of running a business. Intuitive types, in contrast, are strong at seeing the big picture and being visionaries. They tend to let their imagination be their guide, and they enjoy focusing on new possibilities and trusting their intuition in the process. Intuitives are excellent at seeing how they can take their practice to the next level. This particular dichotomy is a great area where you can find a colleague who complements your personality type. Intuitives challenge Sensing types to think bigger, while Sensing types help Intuitives to come up with a detailed plan of how to make their dream a reality.
The third dichotomy in MBTI looks at Thinking vs. Feeling. As a Feeler, I tend to have person-centered values: I am subjective about how I reach my conclusions, and I am concerned with the impact my decisions may have on others. I tend to decide with my "heart." Thinkers, though, tend to be more impersonal and logical when making decisions. They are interested in hard data, they like to be firm but fair, and they approach decisions with their "head." Most counselors are Feelers, which makes them great counselors, but this trait can impact some of their decisions when it comes to their business. If you are a Feeler, this is another area where you can find a family member, friend, or colleague who challenges you to be more objective and analytical about your business decisions.
The last dichotomy is Judging vs. Perceiving. As a Judging type, I tend to be organized and make decisions quickly. I also feel that work comes before play, and that it is important to have a routine. Judging types are excellent at organizing their time, but can become frustrated when things don't go according to plan, whether that be a business plan or daily schedule. Perceiving types, on the other hand, tend to be more spontaneous and adaptable. They like to collect information and stay open to new options, solving problems as they arise. Perceivers believe that much can be accomplished at the last minute, and they believe that play and work can coexist. So, while Perceiving types might have a challenging time following a plan, they can also be more adaptable with seeing other options and then moving forward. Again, this MBTI dichotomy might help you recognize how a friend or colleague with a different personality type might be able to stretch you in your own approach.
Running a successful private practice requires the courage to self-reflect, and the MBTI is a valuable tool. By understanding both your strengths and your weaknesses, you will be able to grow and adapt as you harness the full potential of your business.
I hope you find this information to be useful in both your personal and professional life.
Sincerely,
AnnMarie Stankovich, MA, LMHC, NCC
President of Seattle Counselors Association
www.amsbusinesscoaching.com
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May Presentation
May 15, 2009
Tapping and Talking in the 21st Century
Blending EFT and NLP language patterns into Traditional Psychotherapy
Susan Parker M.A., LMHC, CHT, MNLP
In the beginning of my practice the majority of my clients were in recovery from early childhood trauma. While I enjoyed the work, I kept feeling that there must be some way to help these men and women heal without re-traumatizing them by continually asking them to remember and process their abuse. Many actually had little if any actual memory of the original event although they did have the body memory, phobias, and fears associated with it.
Having been taught in graduate school that there is "no cookbook in therapy" I wandered around through one seminar after another in frustration. Although my clients got 'better', much of the time it continued to feel as if I was flogging them into health. I finally attended a seminar in Neuro-linguistic Programming. NLP's elegant use of language somehow shifted one's awareness allowing them to release their early emotional trauma. I was fascinated with it.
I began using NLP with my clients along with all the other 'tools' I'd acquired as a therapist. Then in 1986 I attended a seminar put on by a Stanford trained engineer named Gary Craig, on what he was calling The Emotional Freedom Technique, or EFT. Born out of a marriage of the touch for health movement, and clinical psychology, this simple sequence of literally tapping on different points on the face, hands and chest seemed way too easy and way to simple to actually work. But it did work, and it worked even better when combined with NLP language patterns. Today I have used these techniques on a variety of clients, some recovering from deep psychological trauma as well as athletes and business executives wanting to improve their performance. The first person I used these techniques on was myself, and as skeptical as I was at the time, they worked. I have continued to use them for the last fifteen years and am continually amazed at how simple and elegant they can be at moving even deeply stuck and frightened clients toward recovery.
In this seminar you'll learn how to integrate both EFT and NLP language patterns into your practice using demonstrations with a question and answer format. You'll learn the basics of EFT, through some personal experience. We'll also talk about when it doesn't work and when perhaps not to use it.
Susan Parker M.A, LMHC, CHT, NLP Master Practitioner, maintains a private practice in Seattle, while also coaching athletes and business executives on their mental game. Susan draws on 23 years of experience working with individuals, couples, business leaders, and athletes. She has worked in both the profit and non-profit business sector and is a founding member of the Creative Council, an executive support group where members collaborate and apply their specialties to help each other achieve goals. In addition to her coaching practice, she conducts professional trainings and workshops in EFT, The Mental Aspect of Injury Recovery, Communication Skills, Improving Your Mental Game, and Hypnosis. |
June Presentation:
June 19, 2009
COLLABORATIVE LAW
A Healing Approach to Divorce
Divorce is a wrenchingly painful, challenging life transition. Lawyers are professionally trained -
they feel ethically obligated - to make a bad situation worse, by championing their client's position above all others - above their spouse and above their children.
Twenty years ago a lawyer in Minneapolis named Stu Webb said, "This isn't right," and he started a revolution in the way divorce is handled. Now thousands of lawyers practice "Collaborative Divorce" throughout the country. The goal - To help people emerge from the end of their marriage able to co-parent their children and respectful of each person's needs, interests and inherent value. It works! Hundreds of couples in Washington have experienced the benefits of a Collaborative Divorce.
However, lawyers don't work alone. They are part of a team that supports the family through their transition. An indispensable part of this team is the mental health professional - who either functions as a divorce coach, helping each couple manage the emotions that can derail a movement toward settlement, or as a child specialist, who both supports the children through this huge change in their lives and educates the parents about what their children really need. This is all critical, because people sign an agreement at the beginning that neither person will go to court. In fact if either person goes to court all the professionals supporting them must withdraw and the family will transition to litigation counsel and experts. This keeps the "collaborative container" safe.
Everything shared in the collaborative process is confidential. If the couple reaches an impasse, they don't go to court. Instead, they have to work it out themselves, with the help of their professional team. Well more than 95% of cases that start the collaborative process end in agreement. Learn about this remarkable approach to one of life's greatest challenges and the role of the mental health professional. Find out how you can get involved in the King County's Collaborative Community. This presentation will walk you through all the steps of a collaborative divorce and the function of the mental health professional through each. The role of the Child Specialist will be contrasted to that of the Parenting Evaluator. Collaborative Divorce will be contrasted to conventional Litigated Divorce. Participants will understand the basic divorce process is Washington and how Collaborative Divorce differs from and improves upon that model.
Joseph Shaub has been a lawyer since 1974 and marriage and family therapist since 1991. He maintains a mediation and collaborative law practice with offices in Seattle and Bellevue. He was one of the first practitioners of collaborative law in Washington and an original board members of King County Collaborative Law. Joe has also been one of the primary collaborative law trainers of both lawyers and mental health professionals in Washington, conducting many trainings in Seattle, Bremerton, Olympia, Bellingham and Snohomish County. Joe has been an instructor at University of Washington Law School for many years, teaching Interviewing & Counseling and Negotiation. He has also been an adjunct instructor at Antioch University, teaching Family Systems and Law & Ethics. His continuing education presentations Family Law for the Mental Health Professional and Confidentiality, Privilege & Recordkeeping have been popular programs for the past ten years. Joe has many informative articles posted on his website www.josephshaub.com. |
Events and Workshops
A Daylong Symposium on Technology, Distraction, and Immortality
When: May 10, 9:30a.m. - 4:30p.m., doors open at 9a.m.
Where: The University of Washington, Mary Gates Hall Room 241
Pre-registration fees: $40 with Flight From Death DVD, $25 without (details below) Registration at the door: $30 for general public, free for UW students and faculty
Sponsors: The EBF, The Information School, Department of Psychiatry, Comparative Religion Program
Our latest information and communication technologies can be powerful tools in the service of human flourishing, helping us to connect to valuable sources of knowledge, to one another, and to the world. But they can also serve to distract and disconnect us, and thus to impede the search for meaning in an increasingly complex and busy world.
Although the anthropologist Ernest Becker had little to say about technology per se, his perspective on the search for meaning in the face of human mortality helps to explain how and why technology plays this double role, as both an enabler and a disabler. Becker's theoretical stance also suggests personal and communal strategies through which society might mitigate, if not eliminate, the worst effects of technology.
Drawing on Becker's work, in addition to a variety of other disciplinary perspectives (psychology, cultural studies, philosophy), the speakers in this day-long forum will speak to the challenges presented by new technologies (including video game addiction and the distracting effects of cell phone and email use), and will discuss ways to better understand and deal with technology's impact on society and the human condition.
The symposium will feature six speakers:
- Hilarie Cash, a psychotherapist specializing in video game and Internet addictions
- Sheldon Solomon, an experimental existential social psychologist at Skidmore
- Marcel O'Gorman, a media theorist at the University of Waterloo
- Jason Hawreliak, a PhD candidate at the University of Waterloo
- David Levy, a computer scientist at the University of Washington
- Daniel Liechty, a social work professor and Becker scholar with doctorates in both religion and philosophy
To register please see www.ernestbecker.com and click on Events
Feeling Your Way With Clay: A One-Day Focusing Workshop
With Donna Varnau, M.A. and Jeffrey Morrison, M. A.
Whether you are new to Focusing or an advanced Focuser, this is an opportunity for you to spend time with yourself and others exploring your inner world. With eyes closed, you will learn how your hands kneading and exploring with clay awakens body sensations that guide you to discover something new and fruitful about yourself. If you are feeling blocked or wanting to bring forth creative steps in your life this is a perfect workshop for you. This powerful way of introducing Focusing will be held in Edmonds Saturday May 16th from 10:00 to 4:00. To register call Donna Varnau at 425-742-3988 or email at dmvarnau@aol.com or call Jeffrey Morrison at 206-935-7850 or email at Jeffrey@morrisontherapy.com.
Divorce Is Hell: Is It True? Upcoming Classes and Workshops:
1) One-day workshop using the Work of Byron Katie to heal from painful beliefs about relationship completion. Saturday, June 20th, 9:30 am - 5:30 pm. Please join Grace Bell, Certified Facilitator of the Work, for an in-depth day inquiring into beliefs like "he abandoned me"..."I'll never love again" ..."my children will suffer" ..."she hurt me". Fee is $125. Scholarship spots available, please ask. For more information and a workshop flyer, email Grace Bell at gracebell@comcast.net.
2) Teleclass, 8 consecutive Mondays June 1 - July 20, Noon - 1:30 pm Pacific Time, registrants will be from all over the country. Join Grace for this healing class on divorce or relationship completion adapted for phone teleconference. Call in from anywhere, with exercises and contact via email during the week. $295.
3) Weekly in-depth group meeting every other Monday evening in north Seattle from June 8 - Sept 14, 7:30 pm - 9:45 pm. This is an intimate group using the Work of Byron Katie to go deeply into divorce, relationship pain, indecision, stress, or concern about a primary partnership. Co-facilitated with Jon Elizondo, leader and guide in many native traditions. $395 for 3 months, meeting every other week. For more information about Grace or Jon, and the class content, please email Grace at gracebell@comcast.net.
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SCA meets on the 3rd Friday
of each month (except July,
August & December) from
8 to 11 am at the
Swedish Cultural Center
1920 Dexter Ave. N.
More info: 206-283-1888, or
www.seattlecounselors.org
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2008-2009 Board and Committees
President
AnnMarie Stankovich
MA, LMHC, NCC
amscounseling@comcast.net
206.354.6384
Vice President
Jeffrey L.Morrison, MA
Jeffrey@morrisontherapy.com
206.935.7850
Past President
Andrea Davis, MA, RC
andreadianedavis@msn.com
206.304.1102
Treasurer
Margaret Sutro, LMHC
Margaret@InnerSpace Studio.net
206.715.2227
Secretary
Lorynann Nichols, MS, LMFT
loryann@centerforcouples.com
425.889.0832
Committees
Membership
Barbara Farwell Alexander
barbara@oasiscounselingseattle.com
206.949.7929
Newsletter
Grace Bell, MA, RC
gracebell@comcast.net
206.829.8048
Program
Dennis McCarthy, MA RC
dennis@unstuckseattle.com
206.595.2659
Program
Tony Barrick
drtony@queenannepsychotherapy.com
206-718-4488
Web Liaison
Stephanie Bender
stephanie@stephaniebender.com
206-853-8349
Hospitality
Sarah M. Heath, MA
sarahmary@mindspring.com
206.282.7223
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Join SCA!
For membership information
and an application to join SCA,
please log on to our website:
www.seattlecounselors.org/
application.html
or call Barbara Alexander at
206.949.7929 or email her at
alexander@
oasiscounselingseattle.com
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Membership &
Meeting Fees
Annual
Membership Fees
Individual ...........$85.00
Agencies ..........$115.00
Student/Senior....$42.50
Half-year ............$42.50
(Apr.-Sept.)
Meeting Fees
Member .............$20.00
Non-member.......$30.00
Student/Senior....$15.00
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Mission Statement
Seattle Counselors
Association is a
professional community
of mental health counselors
serving the entire
Puget Sound region.
We challenge ourselves
to continue growing
in our work. We invite an
exchange among
diverse individuals and
disciplines, embrace
creative tension, support
the self-reflection that
underlies ethical practice,
and welcome
new practitioners.
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Meeting Schedule
8:00 Registration
8:15 Introductions
8:50 Networking
9:00 SCA business
9:15 Speaker
10:45 Networking
11-12 Board Meeting
(Open to all)
Refreshments provided!
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SCA Connections is the newsletter of the Seattle Counselors' Association and is published five times a year. All rights reserved© by Seattle Counselors Association. Submissions may be sent to gracebell@comcast.net.
Please use email for all inquiries and submissions. If you don't have access to email, call Grace at 206.829.8048
Design & Production:
Spear Studios 206.621.0240
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Office Space Available
Psychotherapy sublet space available on Sunday, Monday, and Saturday on the west side of Lake Union. Lovely dock level suite with private entrance. Bus stop. Parking. Fax machine, copy machines, telephones. Call Lee at 206-281-9215.
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