Part of the Counseling Center's mission is outreach focused on prevention, student development, and mental wellness.  The Counseling Center offers the following psychoeducational programs to assist students in reaching their personal and educational goals and removing obstacles to learning.  Workshops are available on request to student groups, staff, and faculty. 

Listed below are a few of the workshops that are frequently requested:

If you would like to have a workshop presented that is not listed, the Counseling Center will work with you to develop one that meets your special needs or interests.

Stress Management/Anxiety
The number one complaint of college students today is the level of stress in their lives.  Stress affects not only our health and wellbeing, but also the quality of our relationships and academic performance.  Using video clips and experiential activities, this workshop helps students better understand how the choices they make contribute to their stress level and teaches 10 self-care techniques to reduce stress and anxiety. 

Body Image/Diet/Food
Contemporary media and cultural trends foster unrealistic and unhealthy standards among today's college students.  Using video clips, self-evaluation questionnaires, and experiential activities this workshop prompts students to critically evaluate the cultural ideals around them, recognize that "normal" college eating and sleeping patterns mirror dysfunctional mental health patterns, and challenges them to take personal responsibility to construct lifestyles that are healthy and balanced.

Depression/ Suicide
Every year several ROCKHURST students attempt suicide. Many more contemplate it. In fact, suicide is the second leading cause of death among college students.  Fortunately, no students in recent times at Rockhurst have succeeded in killing themselves. Recent national attention stemming from some high profile suicides on college campuses and the subsequent litigation, have prompted universities to become proactive in educating students to recognize the signs and symptoms of depression in themselves and others, and to learn coping strategies for managing depression and experiences of personal failure. Using a new DVD created specifically for college students, this workshop provides resources to help students better understand themselves and how to intervene in the lives of their peers and families.

Healthy Relationships/Communication Skills
The most common presenting problem at the University Counseling Center is relationship issues. Communication is one of the most important factors in healthy relationships, yet students rarely are taught how to communicate effectively. Effective communication skills are essential for college students' success in academia, personal life, and career development. Ineffective communication leads to conflict, confusion, and isolation.  This workshop will use experiential activities, such as role playing, sharing experiences, training in listening and reflecting skills, and empathy development to help students learn to communicate effectively and respectfully with peers, faculty, and staff.     

Adjustment to College life
Attending College is a life changing transition. This transition includes handling an increased academic load, changing living arrangements, living on their own for the first time, leaving friends and family, meeting new people, dating, getting along with roommates, coping with peer pressures, struggling with financial pressures, and negotiating more freedom and independence.  This stage of transition can be very challenging for students.   Using experiential activities, this workshop helps students better understand the process of transition and how to develop effective coping strategies to manage such transitions in life. 

Homesickness/Loneliness/Self Care
The university campus can be a lonely place unless the students know how to meet people and build relationships.  Homesickness and loneliness are very common complaints for students entering college life. Although it is normal for students to feel homesick and lonely when living away from home for the first time, homesickness and loneliness can create a tendency to isolate from others and can reduce overall satisfaction with their university experience.  Learning self-care skills is important to cope with homesickness and loneliness.  Through experiential activities, this workshop helps students understand their emotions and the meaning of their emotions, and then provides the skills to begin developing social networking skills in the environment.

Alcohol and Drugs
Most students believe that alcohol and drugs are always a part of university life. Alcohol and drugs usage has a negative impact on students' academic performance and personal relationships. There are so many myths about alcohol and drugs in the Rockhurst community, and many students at Rockhurst indicate that they have difficulty finding peers who don't consume alcohol. Deciding whether, or how, to use alcohol and other drugs are important decisions for the Rockhurst University students. This workshop will include video clips, experiential activities, and discussion to provide current information that will help students make informed decision about alcohol and drugs.  The workshop will help challenge the myths of alcohol and drugs among students, and may help reduce the alcohol and drug violations by students on campus. 

Sexual Assault
Sexual Assault and acquaintance rape is quite prevalent on university campuses. Reports indicate that one in four college women has been sexually assaulted.  This includes whenever the victim has been forced, physically or verbally, actively or implicitly, to engage in sexual activity. This workshop will clarify some of the sexual Assault myths as well as rape-supportive attitudes held by both male and female students. This workshop is designed around an interactive role play that dramatizes the impact of the various sexual and relational decisions that are made in university settings and the factors that influence those choices.  Through video clips and experiential activities, the students will have better understanding about sexual assault, acquaintance rape, and safety issues.  This workshop is designed to help reduce the potential sexual assault of students at Rockhurst.

Issues Related to Family of Origin
Attending a university is an important stage of life development.  For the first time, the students are trying to figure out who they are and where they want to go.  Family continues to have its impact on us throughout our entire life.  This workshop will provide opportunities to explore common patterns of family dynamics and how these dynamics/patterns can impact the way we relate to others, our self-esteem and self-confidence.  This workshop will use family tree, diagrams, and self-reflection exercises to help students better understand their family influences, learn to have new perspectives about their families, and gain more confidence in themselves.

Ethnic Diversity Issues
Diversity is a very important topic in today's society. The workshop uses a variety of activities and a DVD designed to have students reflect for themselves on their knowledge and awareness of diversity.  The workshop will focus on helping students to gain greater self-awareness, gain greater awareness and appreciation of others, explore their own racial/ethnic heritage and discuss what they were taught to believe about individuals who are racially/ethnically different from themselves.  The workshop will help students become able to challenge stereotypes and prejudices, promote more unity between ethnic groups, and become better equipped to live in a multicultural world.

If you are interested in the above workshops for your classes or organizations, please feel free to contact us at 4275 or email us at shufen.shih@rockhurst.edu.  Look forward to talking to you soon.