On last Thursday Oct 13, 2016, I had the opportunity to present at the OSPA (Oregon School Psychologists Association) conference in Bend, OR. The topic of my presentation was “PTSD from bullying triggers obsessive compulsive disorder”. It was well-received and we had some interesting discussions and exchanges.
On the following day, Friday Oct 14, I spoke to a group of school counselors. This presentation was at the OSCA (Oregon School Counselors Association) conference in Portland, OR. This time my topic was “Long lasting psychological impact of bullying”. Post-presentation discussions were extremely interesting. Whenever I speak to a group of school counselors I always remember to mention that it was my high school counselor who was able to talk to my worst bully and was able to get him to control his negative behavior.
Now I am traveling to Helena, MT, to speak at the MEA-MFT Educators’ conference. This presentation is scheduled for Friday Oct 21. This time I will focus on the topic of “Emotional health is critical for academic success”. My goal is to focus on the fact that negative school environment can have significant impact on emotional health of students, and that in turn can affect their academic performance. I am obviously looking forward to that presentation.