NIU Counseling Association (NIUCA)

NIU Counseling Association (NIUCA)

Chapter Report

October 31st, 2014

I. Membership/Board (elected April 2014)

President, Julia Dombrow

Vice President, Kelsey Salazar

Secretary, Julianna Jones

Treasurer, Rachel Schultz

Public Relations Chair, Allision Altmann

Faculty Advisor, Dr. Charles E. Myers

Membership as of October 2014: 120

II. Meetings and Summaries

a. 8/27/2014 – Provided food for potluck for new members. Introduced new board members and their roles within NIUCA. Discussed a good time for the NIUCA lunch so everyone can meet. Created a list for upcoming programming for Spring 2014 and Fall 2015.

b. 9/03/2014 – Finalized Wednesday at noon for NIUCA lunch. Discussed how to give CEU’s for having speakers and the qualifications needed. Conversed regarding the ASISR Suicide Prevention training to find a potential date and if students would be interested in the training. Asked members to bring various ideas to the board for upcoming programming. Also, explored the options for the upcoming interview day event. Discussed the ICA conference and what it entails.

c. 9/17/2014 – Discussed other options for funding and decided to participate in Fall Family weekend and charge for people to paint pumpkins. Talked about the old NIUCA buttons and decided to hand them out at the next fundraising event. Created committees for the ASIST workshop and for the Interviewing day.

d. 10/01/2014 – Created the ICA Decorating committee for the ICA conference. Discussed resource page proposal to acquire a page on the NIU Counseling website where we can post professional resources for our members and alumni. Mentioned creating a calendar to outline all of the events and ideas for the whole year. Presented upcoming programming of “Implications for Counseling Within the Criminal Justice System” would happen on October 20th. Presented the budget and reviewed it to be submitted by October 13th. Created a T-Shirt committee to be in charge of collecting new designs for shirts.

e. 10/15/2014 – Opened with an icebreaker to get to know members. Discussed ICA and how to volunteer at ICA. Discussed upcoming programming: an LGBT panel to come on November 4th to share stories and have an open discussion. Also, Bystander Training to address when one should not ignore situations, presentation counselor specific. Gathered information from members to decide on future speakers and dates of events.

f. 10/29/2014 – Presented information about the ICA travel scholarship and how to apply. Reviewed budget and how to use funds for the rest of the semester. Discussed upcoming programming and finalized dates for the ASIST training and other speakers. Outlined the schedule for the year including who will be in charge of contacting individuals to come speak. Also decided to have a volunteer event this year at Hope Haven and volunteer in the winter months to make/serve food for the homeless.

III. Marketing Initiatives

a. Facebook – The NIUCA Facebook page currently has 280 members and serves as a communication tool for events and information.

b. Twitter – The Twitter feed currently has 24 followers.

c. Listserv – NIUCA regularly sends emails through the Counseling Department graduate and doctoral student Listserv. This allows us to share information about NIUCA events with anyone subscribing to the Listserv.

d. Bulletin Board – NIUCA has a bulletin board located near counseling classes, faculty, and offices. The bulletin board provides basic information about NIUCA, testimonials from members, photos from past events, and is used to display fliers for upcoming events. Bulletin board space is now shared with Chi Sigma Iota.

e. Rebranding – NIUCA is growing and evolving with each year. Rebranding is a way to demonstrate this growth and attract new members. The logo has been completed and has been put on yoga mats and t-shirts.

g. T-shirt contest – NIUCA held a t-shirt contest in the spring. Members we asked to submit suggestions for a NIUCA t-shirt design and members were asked to vote for their favorite. NIUCA member, Daniel Michaels, provided the winning shirt design. We hope to make this an annual event. There will be a new shirt design for the following spring chosen in December 2014.

IV. Technology Initiative

a. Skype has proved to be a valuable tool in allowing commuter students to attend NIUCA meetings without being on campus. Skype has been utilized at several meetings.

b. Wiggio – NIUCA created a Wiggio account in October 2012. Wiggio is a web-based program where groups can share documents, schedule meetings and events, and share information. The NIUCA Wiggio currently has 23 members.

c. Survey Monkey has also been utilized in search for the ICA scholarship winners, collecting the NIUCA t-shirt designs, and collecting resources for the upcoming resource page.

V. ICA Conference Initiative

a. NIUCA has promoted the ICA conference in all of its literature, on the NIU Counseling Listserv communications, and on the Facebook page. In addition, NIUCA plans to host the “ICA Conference Buddies” Facebook page for the fourth year in a row. On this site, students can communicate about sharing hotel rooms and rides.

b. NIUCA is providing 10 travel scholarships to students again this year.

c. NIUCA has been asked to compose a decorations committee for the 2014 ICA conference. We will be building a community.

VI. Continuing Education Units (CEU) – As a result of the efforts by Elisa Woodruff and Dr. Justin Lauka as the NIU CEU Coordinator, NIUCA is approved to offer CEUs for eligible workshops and presentations as of March 2013. CEUs were offered for one event in Fall 2013, and three events in Spring 2014.We are also working on events to offer CEU’s Fall 2015.

VII. Committees

a. Interviewing Day committee: This committee will be responsible for contacting various professionals to speak about the interview process and also to do mock interviews with students so that they will have experience with the questions they may be asked in a future interview.

b. ASIST Workshop Committee: This committee will correspond with Natasha at Suicide prevention services to bring their workshop on to the campus Spring 2015

c. ICA Decorations Committee: This committee will coordinate the decorations for the 2014 ICA conference.

VIII. Presentations and Events

a. Past Presentations and Events

i. 4/8/2014 – Issues in Gerontology presented by Dr. Donna Kirkpatrick Pinson. Focused on issues counselors should consider when working with older individuals and their loved ones. One CEU was offered.

j. 10/20/2014 – Implications for Counseling within the Criminal Justice System presented by Jacqulyn Frank and Andrew Sherrill. Focused on the prision population and what to be aware of when working with the population in a counseling setting.

b. In Planning

i. 11/05/2014 - LGBT Speaker Panel. There will be a group of speakers all from the LGBT population willing to speak of their experiences and give input as to how to go about working with the LGBTQ population.

j. 11/21/2014 – Bystander Trainging, Counselor Specific, the goal is to introduce safe ways to not be a bystander.

k. TBA- Volunteer at Hope Haven and distribute food.

l. There are various topics such as mindfulness, motivational interviewing, eating disorders and professional development in which we are still looking for speakers.

IX. Workshops

a. Past Workshops

i. 2/14/2014 – 2/15/2014 – Colloquium – Addressing Trauma Through Physical Release: Trauma Topics and Trauma Releasing Exercises presented by Dr. David Berceli. A two-day introductory workshop that demonstrated the use of trauma releasing exercises as a means to help clients physically cope with the effects of trauma. Over 80 students (from various programs on campus), faculty members, and community members were in attendance over the course of two days. Seven CEUs were offered over the course of two days.

ii. 5/2/2014 – LGBT Counselor Training presented by faculty member and President-Elect of ALGBTIC Dr. Jane Rheineck and Alan Boudreau, an attorney and professor at NIU specializing in LGBT legal issues. Provided a counselor- specific ally training to help attendees be more aware of various issues and serve as better advocates to clients in the LGBT community. Approximately 40 students (from various programs on campus), faculty members, and community members were in attendance. Six CEUs were offered.

b. In Planning

i. Counselor Mock Interview Day – an opportunity for counselors-in-training to practice their interviewing skills with a variety of potential employers.

j. ASIST Workshop – an opportunity for counseling students to get hands on training in suicide prevention skills and receive a certificate for completing the weekend workshop.

X. Alumni Relations

a. NIUCA hopes to draw alumni to workshops and programs by offering CEUs.

b. The former Alumni Relations Chair, Phet Keobouavanh, started the process of creating a scholarship for current counseling students. A large part of this scholarship will come from fundraising done by NIUCA and alumni contributions. To NIUCA’s knowledge, they are the first student association at the university to attempt this.

XI. Advocacy/Volunteerism

a. 4/12/2014 – NIUCA hosted an NIU Cares Day Team. The team was lead by Julia Dombrow and consisted of 20 members.

XII. Parties and Outings

a. Every Wednesday – NIUCA members have lunch in the Blackhawk Lounge of the NIU campus student center.

b. Various potlucks will be held this summer and fall to welcome new students to the counseling program.

XIII. Fundraising/Treasury

a. Current account balance: $1238.38 (including the $506 that we have set aside for our scholarship)

b. Fundraiser products outstanding: $133

c. NIUCA’s primary source of funds for FY 2014 have come from yoga mat sales, t-shirt sales, ticket sales and silent auction items from the 2014 Celebration of Academic Achievement, as well as funds awarded by the Student Association.

d. NIUCA is in the process of selling yoga mats printed with the NIUCA name and logo. We will also host another end of the year Celebration of Academic Achievement in the Spring of 2015 receiving revenue from a silent auction. In addition to this, NIUCA will be selling t-shirts again as a fundraiser.

e. The NIU Student Association provided $2,048 in FY 14. We have requested $4,193 dollars for FY 15, which is pending acceptance. This money will go toward the 2015 celebration of academic achievement, travel expenses to the Illinois Counseling Association Conference, registration for our counseling retreat (ASIST training), expenses for a colloquium presentation (or other speakers), and a NIUCA leadership retreat.

Respectfully submitted,

Julia Dombrow

President, NIU Counseling Association (NIUCA)