UHV professors help advance counseling field with convention presentations
Two counseling professors from the University of Houston-Victoria School of Education & Human Development recently helped educate counselors across the nation. Now they’re getting ready to do it again.
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| Mary Mayorga |
Mary Mayorga and Elsa Leggett, assistant professors of counseling, recently made presentations at the conventions of the Association of Counseling Educators and Supervisors in San Diego and the Texas Counseling Association in Dallas.
In San Diego, Mayorga led a round table discussion about the importance of teaching psychopharmacology in counseling master’s programs.
“We’re still finding that many universities are not offering this as part of their curriculum,” Mayorga said. Since medication can affect the path patients take to emotional health, it’s important for counselors to understand psychiatric medications and their effects, she added.
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| Elsa Leggett |
Leggett presented her paper, titled “Impact of Multicultural Supervision on Supervisees,” which discussed how different cultural backgrounds can affect the supervisory relationship.
In Dallas, she presented “An Exceptional Combination: Integrating Solution-Focused Counseling and Creative Arts Techniques with Diverse Populations.” The paper discussed ways to integrate artistic expressions like music and drawing into therapy.
“Some people don’t express themselves well verbally, so the arts provide an alternative way to communicate their experiences,” Leggett said.
The paper also discussed how cultural differences can affect these communications.
In Dallas, Mayorga and a colleague presented her paper, “Multicultural Counseling: Dealing with Diversity and Social Justice.”
“One of the roles as counselors is to advocate for social justice for your client and also be able to work with a diverse population,” Mayorga said. Knowing cultural differences can be very important in knowing where patients are coming from and how best to help them.
Later this month, Mayorga will present her paper again before 16th Annual Counselor’s Institute hosted by the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College on South Padre Island.
Leggett plans to present a paper to the American Counseling Association meeting in Pittsburgh in March.
The University of Houston-Victoria, located in the heart of the Coastal Bend region since 1973 in Victoria, Texas, offers courses leading to more than 80 academic programs in the schools of Arts & Sciences; Business Administration; and Education, Health Professions & Human Development. UHV provides face-to-face classes at its Victoria campus, as well as an instructional site in Katy, Texas, and online classes that students can take from anywhere. UHV supports the American Association of State Colleges and Universities Opportunities for All initiative to increase awareness about state colleges and universities and the important role they have in providing a high-quality and accessible education to an increasingly diverse student population, as well as contributing to regional and state economic development.
