General Information on Workshops

The following details are applicable to both the workshops. Applicants will be duly informed of any changes.

Venue

Center for American Education, 12 Prince Edward Road, #02-05 Podium A Bestway Building, Singapore 079212

Registration Fee

The registration fee is non-refundable and payment must be made at least 3 days before the workshop dates. Payment can be made via cash, cheque or credit card. Cheques are to be made payable to ‘Center for American Education Pte Ltd’ and credit cards can be used only at the CAE office.

Workshop 1 - Download Brochure and Registration Form HERE

Solution-focused Brief Counseling: Effective Interventions in the “Real World”

Date: 10 January 2009 (Saturday)

Time: 10am to 5pm

Fee: $128.40 ( Fees are inclusive of 7% GST)

Many counselors and other mental health professionals often have difficulty getting clients to commit to long-term therapy. Moreover, such traditional forms of counseling can be costly and time consuming for individuals. Solution-focused, brief therapy is an effective tool for providing time-sensitive interventions within school, community, and private practice settings.

This day-long training will provide participants with: (a) information about the basic principles of solution-focused brief counseling, (b) a working knowledge of how the general principles of solution-focused brief counseling are applied to clients, (c) an understanding of how solution-focused brief counseling approaches impact culturally diverse client populations, (d) case examples of effective counselor-client therapeutic interactions, interactive exercises to facilitate skill development.

Participants will receive a CD with resource materials, such as training handouts, video clips of effective sessions using solution-focused brief counseling therapy, and bibliographic references and useful web sites.

Counselors, psychologists, social workers, and other clinicians will find this training useful in their work with families, individuals, and couples in a variety of settings and with clients at varying developmental stages. Counselor-trainees can use this training to supplement their coursework and to enhance their client efficacy prior to graduation. Additionally, this training is useful for therapists working with culturally diverse clients who may not be responsive to conventional “talk therapies.”

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Workshop 2 - Download Brochure and Registration Form HERE

Multicultural School Counseling for the New Millenium

Date: 12 January 2009 (Monday)

Time: 6pm to 9pm

Fee: $64.20 ( Fees are inclusive of 7% GST)

School communities are increasingly diverse in terms of religious, cultural, ethnic, and racial differences, especially in Singapore. Counselors need to become more competent when working with culturally diverse students and their families to support children’s growth and development. As a result, in the 21 st century, school counselors must begin to increase their awareness of social injustice, utilize more macrosystemic interventions, and serve as consultants to educators. This can first be achieved by enhancing their awareness of their own biases toward diverse children and families that, albeit unintentional, can negatively impact children’s psychological, emotional, and cognitive development.

This workshop will discuss effective multicultural counseling interventions in school settings that reflect the current trend in school counseling to incorporate advocacy and social justice into counselor identity. Specifically, the following topics will be covered: consultation with school personnel, family-school collaboration, culturally sensitive assessment and case conceptualization, connecting with community systems, and culture-centered interventions. There will be an intentional focus on prevention, expediency, and culturally appropriate approaches that support children’s holistic growth and development. Using exemplars in the field, the presenter will also demonstrate how these interventions can be used in counseling sessions. To facilitate participants’ understanding and awareness of key content areas, multimedia and experiential exercises will also be utilized. Additionally, video presentations along with role plays and small group activities will be used to illuminate client-counselor interactions. Counselor trainees, practicing counselors, and other mental health professionals may be interested in attending this seminar. Individuals currently working in schools as well as those who work with school children in community agency settings can benefit from attending this event as well.

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About the Speaker

Cirecie A. West-Olatunji, Ph. D.

Cirecie A. West-Olatunji currently serves as Assistant Professor of Counselor Education at the University of Florida and is Immediate Past-President of the Association for Multicultural Counseling & Development (AMCD). Nationally, Dr. West-Olatunji has initiated several clinical research projects that focus on culture-centered community collaborations designed to address issues rooted in systemic oppression, such as transgenerational trauma and traumatic stress. Cirecie West-Olatunji has conducted commissioned research under the auspices of the: National Science Foundation, American Counseling Association, Kellogg Foundation, federal Witness Assistance Program, Spencer Foundation, the American Educational Research Association, and the African-American Success Foundation.

Her publications include a co-authored book on culturally relevant anti-bias education, Future Vision, Present Work, a co-authored monograph entitled, Counseling African Americans (in press), several book chapters, and articles in peer-reviewed journals. In addition to national presentations, Dr. West-Olatunji has delivered research papers in Brazil, Canada, China, Ghana, Japan, Singapore, and South Africa. Additionally, she provided consultation in a PBS initiative to create a children's television show focusing on diversity through KCET-TV in Los Angeles, CA (" Puzzle Place"). Dr. West-Olatunji has provided consultation to the Center for American Education in Singapore and to the Buraku Liberation Organization in Japan to enhance their early childhood and counseling initiatives. More recently, coordinated disaster mental health outreach projects in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina and in southern Africa to investigate illness as disaster to work with HIV-AIDS infected and affected individuals in South Africa and Botswana.

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