DEPARTMENT OF COUNSELING

Innovating new approaches and making the most of COVID’s virtual challenges.

When a crisis like COVID hits, it’s admirable to take your lemons and make lemonade. But Marieb College’s Department of Counseling went one step further when it came to adjusting to the virtual environment. When hit

with lemons, they made lemonade, lemon tarts, lemon

chicken and lemon drops. Then they replanted all the lemon seeds.

One innovation is what is described as a flipped classroom. When classes went virtual, department head Dr. Suzanne Dugger had the idea to keep normally scheduled classroom times, but not for instruction. Instead, she did the extra work to record her lectures for viewing before class time. Then when class time came around, everyone met online to ask questions, do application exercises and discuss what they learned. That made class time more interactive and students were able to view the lecture again, if needed. The result? “The best evaluations I’ve ever had,” says Dugger. “This could change the way classes are taught in the future.”

Another discovery in the virtual space was how underutilized Zoom had been in the past. Using it for faculty meetings added a new level of collaboration among staff and Zoom’s many tools added depth to the meetings not easily achieved in person. The level of collaboration pushed strategic talks forward. As Dugger says, “We became a really cohesive team. Not only did we survive, but we also completed a strategic planning process and have exciting plans for the future, including a proposed Ph.D. program in Counselor Education and Supervision.”

Even the lemons themselves have helped advance FGCU’s Department of Counseling. While a few students continued with face-to-face internships during the crisis, most learned to embrace telehealth. In 2019, telehealth was struggling

to get off the ground, but COVID quickly made it a

part of our world going forward. Here are some more highlights of 2020: } The department received a full, 8-year accreditation from CACREP during 2020 requiring that the program meet every single accreditation standard. Most programs only receive 2-year accreditations because of unmet standards. } Dr. Alise Bartley received a 2021 Training and

Mentorship Award from the International Association of

Marriage and Family Counselors. } Dr. Suzanne Dugger received the American Counseling

Association’s highest honor as she was inducted as an

ACA Fellow in April 2021. } Dr. Sean Hall was selected as co-associate editor of the

Journal of Mental Health Counseling, published by the

American Mental Health Counselors Association. } Dr. Russ Sabella extended the reach of his expertise by doing virtual workshops that were attended all over the world. By doing this virtually, he didn’t need to incur the expenses and lost time from traveling. } Dr. Ann Tilman received the 2021 FGCU Junior Faculty

Teaching Excellence Award. } Two FGCU School Counseling alumni have established nationally recognized RAMP (recognized ASCA model program) standards in their districts. } During its fi rst year of operation, the Community

Counseling Center (CCC) subsidized over $164K of counseling services for Southwest Florida residents.

In 2021, the Department of Counseling made strategic moves to propose FGCU’s fi rst doctoral program — a Ph.D. in Counselor Education and Supervision.

DEPARTMENT OF COUNSELING DEGREE PROGRAMS

} Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling } Master of Arts in School Counseling

CERTIFICATES

} Transition to Clinical Mental Health Counseling } Transition to School Counseling } Relationship and Family Counseling

Developing a clientele and community partnerships during a pandemic.

The much-anticipated Community Counseling

Center (CCC) at FGCU opened in November

2019 with a mission of providing outstanding training of clinical mental health counseling students while offering greater access to mental health services in Southwest Florida. Four months later, COVID hit.

On the surface, this would seem like a bad thing. But there were silver linings. Prior to the pandemic, the CCC didn’t provide virtual visits and students were not trained in telehealth. Once COVID hit, that barrier was broken, paving the

way for clinical mental health interns to be trained in telehealth while providing virtual visits.

COVID also brought mental health into the spotlight, providing copious opportunities for FGCU experts such as Dr. Yaro Garcia, Dr. Russ Sabella, and Dr. Alise Bartley to address these issues in the press and on local TV, bringing awareness and advocacy to mental health issues. This, in turn, brought more attention to the center as an affordable resource for the community. As Dr. Bartley, who runs the CCC observes, “COVID gave us the platform we’ve been begging for in talking about mental health.”

Finally, the stress and isolation of the pandemic drew many new clients to the center. The perception of Southwest Florida is one of wealth, but that is just a veneer. Many live in poverty or have citizenship challenges and have no access to needed children’s, couples’ and family counseling. The CCC charges a very low fee that

slides based on what the clients can afford.

In the midst of all this disruption, the CCC also implemented a fl agship partnership with the Golisano Children’s Museum of Naples (known as C’MON). This program offers children and parents a six-week workshop series focused on developing social and emotional learning in a fun and inviting environment. Workshop topics include effective communication, feelings, selfesteem, social connections, resiliency building and healthy living.

Children had the ability to learn through play by using the exhibits in the museum.

They explored making healthy choices as they “shopped in the market,” practiced communication skills as they “traveled to new locations,” and gained understanding of empathy as they “adopted a pet.” Hands-on experiences such as these, among many others, allowed the kids and counselors to focus on skills that are essential to social emotional development. They also gave the children something to look forward to during COVID.

As of June 2021, the CCC has served 1,250 clients across 3,641 appointments. Children and parents are communicating better thanks to C’MON. Student interns were able to continue their internships through the pandemic, learning virtual counseling skills to add to their in-person skills. The center is conducting research on counseling topics. And the community is more aware after numerous press appearances about mental health. Any new program would be proud to claim those achievements in its fi rst year of operation. The CCC did it all during a crisis. Just imagine what it can do as we move forward!