Feb. 7, 8 a.m.-noon with breakfast at 7:30 a.m. Register this week at https://wsuacada.org/best-of-the-region-advising-forum/
“I’ve Been Afraid of Changing”: Using Motivational Interviewing principles in academic advising to promote positive student change
At-risk students are often reluctant to change. Advising these students can be frustrating: they have the tools, we have the resources, but they still fall short of their potential. Why then, do these students stagnate, and how can advisors help them move forward? Motivational Interviewing (Miller & Rollnick, 1991) is a counseling method designed to resolve ambivalence that often impedes change. By applying its guiding principles in an academic advising setting, advisors can help students find internal motivation for, and increase commitment to, change. This session will help attendees identify student populations that may benefit from Motivational Interviewing, understand the theory behind Motivational Interviewing, learn and practice key Motivational Interviewing skills, and determine appropriate applications in academic advising.
Does Happiness Matter? Applying Positive Psychology to Advising
Historically Psychologists have studied poor mental health focusing on such maladies as Depression, Schizophrenia, and Anxiety. In recent years Positive Psychology has emerged where focus has shifted to the happy, well-adjusted, and thriving psyche. Martin Seligman’s Theory of Well-Being discusses 5 tenets of a flourishing life: Positive Emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment. This session will apply this theory of well-being and explore how an Academic Advisor can first of all pursue and model these virtues, and then encourage development along these continuums with the students they advise. The mutual benefits to advisor and student are mentioned in closing, including long-range impacts of happiness in student issues such as degree completion, engagement in co-curricular activities, subject mastery, and acts of altruism.
