Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology (MACP) professors Dr. Alyssa Weiss and Dr. Rosina Mete enjoyed a busy fall – presenting at two international conferences and readying their latest chapter on online counsellor education for publication.
In October, the pair presented at the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (ACES) Conference in Denver, Colorado. Their 50-minute ACES roundtable, entitled Integrating sensitivity and awareness within online education in an imperfect world, presented some of the potential challenges educators face within an online graduate educational environment and analyzed a case study about a student’s reaction to their learning process within the online milieu.
The following month, Mete and Weiss presented again at the Association for Creativity in Counseling (ACC) Conference, which took place in Melbourne Beach, Florida from Nov. 2-4. There, they hosted a second roundtable that explored Expanding Creativity in Counseling: How to Support Other Professionals. That 50-minute presentation aimed to show counsellors how to develop their creative skills and abilities in order to better support individuals in other professions and taught them some tangible strategies regarding creativity in mindfulness, stress management and values-based work.
“Our topic engaged participants, who shared the positive lessons they had learned and plan to implement in the future,” said Mete, noting that they had good turnouts at both the ACES and ACC conferences.
“We also learned of further publishing opportunities from ACES and hope to develop an innovative counselling textbook focusing on marriage and family counselling within a Canadian context. At ACC, we learned the importance of integrating creativity within your practice as a clinician and educator.”
By early 2024, Mete and Weiss expect their latest chapter, Challenges with Sensitivity and Boundaries in an Imperfect, Ever-Changing World: Online Counselor Education, to be published in the upcoming new book, Balance and Boundaries in Creating Meaningful Relationships in Online Higher Education.
Written as a resource for counsellor educators, the chapter provides an overview of the online educational environment and its context. It outlines two realistic examples with suggested responses for counsellor educators and features specific approaches developed by both Mete and Weiss.
“It was a great experience collaborating on this chapter and completing the research. We continue to learn and grow as clinicians and professors, and the conferences and chapters help enhance our skills and contribute to the mental health field,” Weiss said.
“From our chapter, we hope that individuals learn techniques to work with the situations that an online education may present.”
Balance and Boundaries in Creating Meaningful Relationships in Online Higher Education is now available for pre-order HERE.
