UNews - Counselling Services

Going the distance to realize a dream

trevor.kenney — Tue, 24 Jun 2014 22:03:09 +0000

Story courtesy of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Calgary

The roads between Lethbridge and Calgary can be many things – long, flat, lonely, treacherous, and, at times, one of the most peaceful, beautiful places in the world to be.

Counselling Services manager, Mark Slomp, completes his PhD at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Calgary.

For most of us, it’s a journey we don’t make very often.

But for Mark Slomp (MEd '06), that trip became a weekly occurrence – through wind and rain and snow and fog, sunshine and darkness; through all four seasons, he made the trek to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Calgary’s Werklund School of Education from his home in Lethbridge without fail.

That takes a certain type of commitment on the part of the student, but Slomp will be the first to say he didn’t do it alone.

“Pursuing your dreams is rarely romantic,” he says. “In my experience, it has involved a great deal of sacrifice, on the part of many, including my wife Jennifer, and our five children. It also takes hard work.”

With his MEd in Counselling Psychology (which he received from the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge in 2006), Slomp signed on as a psychologist at the U of L, where today he is the Acting Manager of Counselling Services, working with young people at critical stages in their lives. “I enjoy hearing their stories and I love supporting them as they work to construct a healthy foundation for flourishing in their lives and careers.”

Slomp, who received his PhD in Curriculum, Teaching and Learning in June 2014 at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Calgary, focused his research on how career services for students in the K-12 educational system might be improved. “I was drawn to this research because I am interested in developing programs that assist people at any stage in life in constructing good lives for themselves – lives in which they are able to give the best of themselves as they meet the needs of others.”

Slomp chose Werklund’s Graduate Programs in Education because of the flexibility it afforded him. Since his weekly classes were held in the evenings, he was able to live in the Lethbridge area, maintain his job, and continue to work with students.

That’s not to say Slomp didn’t face some challenges. Between the commute, the course and thesis work, maintaining a regular work schedule and the responsibilities of family life, he says he had to work to find a balance.

“My son’s high school basketball game wasn’t going to stop just because I was doing a PhD,” he laughs. “But seriously, I was able to complete my degree in a way that did not disrupt my family. I didn’t want the pursuit of my goals to negatively impact my wife and children. By being able to remain in the Lethbridge area while I completed my doctorate, there was very little disruption to our family and life was able to go on as usual.”

And Slomp has some important words of advice to others who are considering this path to a PhD.

“Find a supervisor who is a good match for you, who is genuinely interested in helping you advance your professional goals and will work with you in an atmosphere of respect, care, understanding and generosity of spirit. I had such a supervisor in Dr. Nancy Arthur, and as a result, the process became so much easier and my challenging goals and dreams became attainable."

Enhancing student engagement the focus of learning circles

trevor.kenney — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 20:49:52 +0000

How better to engage students in the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge community than to involve them in building the supportive culture they want and need?

This creative method of developing a supportive campus community is the basis of the Learning Circles project, and involves the creation of high performance teams (HPTs). Learning Circles is another Recruitment and Retention Project (RRP) with a goal of enhancing the student-centred service commitment of the U of L.

Craig Milner, an instructor in the Faculty of Management, and Heather Mirau, director of integrated planning, have been co-leading a group of employees and two sets of students who represent various disciplines and years of study in this pilot project. Its goal is to establish a process for developing a culture of HPTs based on self-management principles.

"Each team develops its own team culture within a guided process for achieving a level of high performance," explains Milner, who is well acquainted with the use of HPTs, and has a rich background in guiding and training high performance teams. He brings this knowledge into the classroom as well, teaching management students on how to construct effective HPTs.

Through valuable teamwork, students support each other in helping to build a supportive campus community.

To date, the teams have been meeting on a weekly basis, sometimes independently and sometimes in a group setting.

The employee team is known as the Dots and is meant to serve only as a source of connectivity for the students to find the expertise they need on campus to help them succeed. In cases where the employees may not know the department or person a student needs, it is their role to find that contact. In so doing, both the employee and the student learn what services are available and how they can be accessed.

"We really have great resources and expertise on campus, and sometimes it's a matter of simply finding those connections," says Mirau. "This is a great opportunity for both our students and employees to learn about all the services that are available to our students."

The project will look to add more individuals to each team in the spring semester, giving them an opportunity to ease into the team culture, at which time the teams will organically split and repeat the process to continue to take in more students and employees.

The Learning Circles have been well received by those participating in the pilot project.

"The experience has helped me analyze my own education and in turn create a strategy to improve my campus experience," says Nicole Meurs, a second-year management student majoring in human resources. "With the support of my fellow teammates and the knowledge sharing and resources of our Dots, it has really opened my eyes to everything that is available to us."

Jennifer McArthur, a learning strategist in the Counselling Services office, says her involvement with the HPTs has been very rewarding.

"It's been great to work with the students and help create those connections for them, and it's also been a real learning experience for our group too," she says.

Anyone wishing to participate in a Learning Circle is urged to contact any of the following: Kristy Burke (kristy.burke@uleth.ca), Lynette LaCroix (lynette.lacroix@uleth.ca), Nicole Leusink (nicole.leusink@uleth.ca), Jennifer McArthur (j.mcarthur@uleth.ca), Craig Milner (craig.milner@uleth.ca), and Heather Mirau (mirau@uleth.ca).

This story first appeared in the January 2013 edition of the Legend. For a look at the full issue in a flipbook format, follow this link.

Industrial Accident on Campus

trevor.kenney — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 19:04:22 +0000

On the afternoon of Wednesday, Nov. 14, a worker was fatally injured in an accident that occurred at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge residence construction site. The deceased is not an employee of the U of L, however, many in our campus community may have been affected by this accident or have personal and professional connections with the individual, his family, friends or co-workers.

Employees are reminded that confidential, professional, grief or trauma counselling is available from our Employee Family Assistance Program (EFAP) provider, Homewood Human Solutions. Services are provided by phone, online or local face-to-face meetings. To make arrangements, please contact Homewood Solutions directly by phone at any time, day or night, at 1-800-663-1142, or submit an online request at this link.

Counselling Services offers similar services to U of L students and recent graduates. These services are offered for free. To make an appointment, please call 403-317-4551 or send an e-mail to counselling.services@uleth.ca. More information can be found at this link.

NOVEMBER 14, 2012

Earlier this afternoon, a worker was fatally injured in an accident that occurred at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge residence construction site. The deceased is not a U of L employee. At this time no further details are known.

U of L officials are working with emergency responders, construction contractors and are co-operating with relevant agencies. The U of L has made available its facilities for responders to this incident.

The U of L offers its sincere condolences to the family, friends and co-workers of the deceased.

+++++

Lethbridge Regional Police Service statement:

At approximately 1:13 p.m. police responded to a report that a piece of equipment had tipped over onto a male construction worker. The 31-year-old man died of his injuries.

Alberta Occupational Health and Safety is also investigating.

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge has been informed of the incident and are fully cooperating with the investigation.

At this time no further information will be released.

UNews - Counselling Services

Going the distance to realize a dream

Related Topics

Enhancing student engagement the focus of learning circles

Related Topics

Industrial Accident on Campus

Related Topics