Alumni E-Bulletin #11   

Feature Story
CalFam and Healthy Start Still Impacting the Community  

Upcoming Events
“I Am Also a Fine Artist”  

Recent Happenings
An Evening of Wine | Phillips President Honored by the San Fernando Valley Business Journal | Graduation 2008 | 2008 Grad Picnic | “I am an Art Therapist” Exhibit | Rave Review for Catch Them Being Good  

Phillips Community Services
No-Cost Professional Assistance for Organizations  

Get Involved
Alumni Association | Helping MFT Students Get Required Therapeutic Hours | President’s Scholarship Fund |  eScrip for Phillips | Recycle Ink Cartridge and Cell Phones for Student Scholarships | NEW! Phillips Communications Bureau  |  Attention All Authors!  | 

Continuing Education
Fall 2008 Course Offerings      


FEATURE  

CalFam and Healthy Start Still Impacting the Community 
by Kami Leonard  
The California Family Counseling Center is serious about helping local families. Over the past thirteen years, a partnership with the Healthy Start program has helped CalFam do just that.  

“I am very picky about who I work with and it’s unbelievable what CalFam has done,” says Pam Duron, Healthy Start coordinator for Melvin Avenue Elementary School in Reseda and Winnetka Avenue Elementary School in Canoga Park. “CalFam has changed our two communities.”  

This collaborative relationship began many years ago when CalFam helped write the original grants to get the Healthy Start program into both schools. Sandy Terranova, CalFam Executive Director, and Fereshteh Mazdyasni, CalFam School-Based Counseling Program Director, have been integral in the schools ever since. “These women have a real sense of community and what the schools need,” Duron adds. “I even call them to develop strategies for specific students.”  

CalFam is a public service of Phillips Graduate Institute and provides affordable, culturally-sensitive mental health services. CalFam partners with community organizations like Healthy Start to insure widespread access to mental health education and counseling for all community members.  

Healthy Start is a state-funded program that provides comprehensive school-integrated services to support academic success for children, youths and families. Healthy Start’s main goal is to improve student achievement. “We do this by looking at barriers to their success and we found that mental health was a major barrier,” states Duron. According to Monica Vega, LAUSD School Psychologist at Winnetka Elementary, some of the major issues her students deal with are family divorce or separation, gang affiliation, child abuse and neglect. Academic concerns include poor performance, poor social and coping skills and disruptive classroom behavior. “Children with emotional needs fall through the cracks due to dwindling services,“ notes Vega, “but with the additional support CalFam interns provide, students are able to receive one-on-one attention.”  

The presence of mental health services on these two campuses has grown tremendously since CalFam’s involvement. What began as a counseling drop-in program has evolved into providing regular individual counseling, group counseling, emergency and grief response counseling.  

CalFam’s largest contribution is its counseling interns. They impact the campus by conducting parenting classes, assisting principals, and working with a team of parents, teachers, and school counselors to benefit each child. According to Duron, this collaborative group is what makes the partnership a success. “The interns are the core of how these kids access counseling.” As part of consultative services, interns also provide families with resources and referrals as well as conduct classroom observations and make suggestions to teachers, which Vega considers to be some of the most beneficial ways they help reach therapeutic goals.   

A core Healthy Start goal is to improve availability and acquisition of mental health services. “CalFam is like no other agency I’ve ever worked with,” says Duron. “Their services are comprehensive, ongoing, and change over time to meet growing needs.”  Duron does not rely on opinion to assess CalFam’s contribution, but instead monitors progress through an ongoing evaluation process. “Every year CalFam has been on campus, there has been an overall improvement in the school. “ This includes areas such as dropout, substance abuse and child abuse prevention, school attendance, classroom behavior, and creating a supportive environment for children’s self concept to grow.  

Improving the sense of community and parental ability to help students succeed are also vital targets for Healthy Start. CalFam actively participates in meeting these objectives by being present at crucial events like the annual Health Fair, which attracts four to five hundred attendees each year. “CalFam interns have been present every year, talking to community members about mental health issues,” Duron proclaims. Vega adds, “CalFam interns give us the opportunity to reach at-risk students and their families – and for that, the whole community is grateful.”  

Duron acknowledges that without trust, the program could not work. “CalFam is really a part of the community – trust and communication have been built.” CalFam aims to ensure that each individual family’s needs are met by accommodating a wide variety of issues. Their approach addresses concerns of Spanish-speaking clients, immigrants, and those struggling financially. Duron concludes, “If I could sum up the CalFam experience in two words, they would be dignity and respect.”     


EVENTS 
 
“I am also a Fine Artist” Art Therapy Program Exhibit
Following the success of the recent “I am an Art Therapist” exhibit, Phillips is proud to showcase the fine art expertise of its art therapy students and faculty.  Phillips halls are once again alive with color, texture and creativity.

The following exerpt, posted with the exhibit, captures the mood behind the enhibit's theme: “Smearing large strokes of thick paint, pressing hard into cold earthy clay, looking to life as creative inspiration, many art therapists have familiarity with various types of media and are often drawn to the therapeutic benefits of art therapy.  These artists bring with them a concentrated knowledge of materials from their own artistic expression to art therapy.  Although these art therapists have a firm personal history as artists, they must cultivate more of a “bilingual” identity and apply clinical skills to facilitate the identity of a merged artist clinician.” (Zimmerman, J., 2006.  The polarization of artist verses clinical identities: The open studio, an alternative integrative solution: A Review of the literature.  Encino, CA: Phillips Graduate Institute)  

“I am also a Fine Artist” contributors are Robin Vance, Marilyn Pooley, Jennifer Kirk, Celina Herrera, Kristen Annastasia, Jennifer Besst, Judith Torres, Cynthia Pardo.   

Please stop by and visit the hallway gallery.     


NEWS  

“An Evening of Wine”
Phillips Graduate Institute was honored by the Encino Chamber of Commerce at a fundraising event on Tuesday, June 10th.  “An Evening of Wine” at the Woodland Hills Hilton featured delicious hors d’oeuvres and several local wine distributors offering samples of their best bottles.  Roger Rignack from KFWB radio served as Master of Ceremonies as guests bid on numerous donated items in a silent auction, including artwork by Phillips Art Therapy student Cynthia Pardo.  A live auction, hosted by “Days of Our Lives” soap star Adrianne Zucker, offered items which included private wine tasting for ten and a helicopter ride above Southern California.  

CalFam Executive Director Sandy Terranova spoke about the value of the Center’s services and shared a story of a past juvenile camp client who bumped into his former CalFam therapist as a college graduate. Half of all event proceeds will benefit CalFam and two other Chamber-member non-profit organizations that serve the community and are active members of its Health & Wellness Committee.     


Phillips President Honored by the San Fernando Valley Business Journal
Phillips Graduate Institute President and CEO Lisa Porché-Burke was honored with the Education and Leadership Award at the Seventh Annual Women in Business Awards on June 4, 2008 at the Warner Center Marriott in Woodland Hills. Hosted by the San Fernando Valley Business Journal, the event acknowledged more than 100 women in various business sectors, nominated for their outstanding achievements.   

The award was presented by Don St. Clair of Woodbury University and recognized Dr. Porché-Burke for leadership in the active development of multicultural education programs, as well as recruitment and retention of students and faculty of color.    


Graduation 2008
The Pasadena Civic Auditorium was the setting for Phillips Graduate Institute’s 2008 commencement ceremony on Friday, May 23, 2008.  Despitye the rainy weather, the atmosphere was celebratory as 127 new master’s and doctoral degree recipients accepted their diplomas from President Lisa Porché-Burke.  The auditorium was filled with family and friends who cheered as each student’s name was called.   

Dr. Stephan Bishop Yarian, Director, Institutional Planning & Assessment, was the Master of Ceremonies, and members of the Board of Trustees and faculty were onstage during the proceedings.  Dr. Porché-Burke’s opening remarks were heartfelt and memorable.  

This year’s Commencement Address was delivered by Gail E. Wyatt, Ph.D.  Dr. Wyatt is a Clinical Psychologist, Sex Therapist and Professor at UCLA and was a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Research Scientist Career Development Award recipient for 17 years.   

Student speakers included Brian Chenoweth for the Marriage and Family Therapy program, Jilly Beccera for the Art Therapy program, Tyesha Hemmans for the School Counseling program, Lena Bailey for the Psy.D. in Organizational Consulting program and Jennifer Hunt for the Psy.D. in Clinical Psychology program.   

Phillips Alumni Association President Kirby Tepper congratulated the new grads and invited them to stay connected to Phillips by becoming members of the Alumni Association.   Following commencement, there was a reception where grads and  loved ones enjoyed food and photos.     


2008 Alumni Grad Picnic
The first annual Phillips Grad Picnic was a blast! The picnic was held Sunday, June 1st, at Woodley Park in Van Nuys and included games, a catered barbeque lunch and plenty of connecting and relaxing with fellow alums. Sunny weather brought out almost fifty grads, their families and PGI Alumni Board Members. Alumni Association President Kirby Tepper welcomed the group and invited each graduate to join the Alumni Association, which received ten new members that day. Thank you to all who attended the picnic!    


“I am an Art Therapist” Exhibit
Phillips Art Therapy students and alums recently donated their exceptional artwork to an exhibit that graced Phillips halls. Artwork in various mediums was sold to benefit the Shirley Riley Memorial Scholarship Fund, which sends one art therapy student each year to the American Art Therapy Association National Conference.   

Shirley Riley was a dear friend and colleague to the Phillips family who taught in the Art Therapy department and was instrumental in establishing the contemporary AT program.  She conducted over forty presentations at the American Art Therapy Association National Conference, and frequently contributed to the Journal of the American Art Therapy Association.  She authored three books and was the recipient of the 2000 Art Therapy Association Honorary Lifetime Membership.    


Rave Review for Catch Them Being Good
Catch Them Being Good: A Guide to Positive Parenting earned a rave review on Amazon.com when V.B. Edwards gave it five stars!  The second edition of Dr. Jody Kussin’s educational guide for those who work with children and parents is available in bookstores as well as on Amazon.com and in our campus Student Store. 

V.B. Edwards states, “Finally, a 2nd edition of this parent guide is available! This parenting class curriculum can be incorporated into a series or into workshops, an on-going parent support group or into 1:1 work with parents. The material is user-friendly; it tells the reader how to prepare; what exercises to conduct; and what questions to use to engage the audience. Best of all, adaptations are provided for all children and teens of developmental stages. It is a "must have" for your library and will be regularly consulted as a resource.”     


SERVICES 

No-Cost Professional Assistance for Organizations
Phillips Organizational Consulting doctoral students are looking for internships at local businesses and nonprofits to complete professional development hours.  If you know of a business or organization that could use help with marketing, branding, mission development, database management, etc., please call Michelle Browning at 818.654.1734.    

GET INVOLVED   

Alumni Association
All 2008 Grads: It's not too late! You can still join the Alumni Association for only $15 until August 20th, 2008.
Regular membership fees are $50 annually. To join, please contact Francine Roberts at 818.654.1753 or froberts@pgi.edu

•         Free or discounted admission to Alumni Association events
•         Phillips Library membership and full access ($100 value)
•         Discounted Continuing Education classes and workshops
•         10% discount at the Phillips Student Store
•         and much more!   

Helping MFT Students Get Required Therapeutic Hours
Providing MFT students with therapy on a sliding scale is a great way to give back to Phillips students and to the mental health profession.  The MA in Psychology program requires students to experience their own personal therapy prior to graduation.  Please email Lisa Wolfe, MFT Clinical Training Coordinator, at lwolfe@pgi.edu to be added to the Psychotherapist Directory.