Body, Mind and Balance

Balancing your Physical and Emotional
well-being for better health!

Seminars

Seminars with Valerie Shinbaum, MS, LPC, MAC, NCC

Addiction Awareness

Perhaps you have the impression that the word “addiction” only applies to alcohol or heroin? Then you would be mistaken, because there are many more addictions in our world today and many more people to whom the word ‘addict’ might be applied. It isn’t about driving drunk, or scoring some cocaine for a weekend party.

Addiction is a daily behavioral process which starts in the brain long before the behavior is ever acted out and has its origins in a person’s emotional history. Addiction is part of our 24/7 way of life. Addiction is a reward, a treat, a consolation, an escape, a self-medication from life. In this seminar we will address the many types of addictions and addictive behaviors and their effects on the well-being of not only the addicts themselves, but also of the people in their lives.

We will explore the source of addiction and addictive behaviors, and focus on tools for emotional healing. We will identify resources for addicts, such as support networks. We will also address the daily triggers every addict must learn to face, as there is no escaping from the triggers that drove the addiction in the first place.

This workshop can be adapted for school groups, adults, young adults (college age) and teens. This workshop can also be geared towards families of addicts. For clinicians, the workshop provides an overview and practical knowledge for identifying addiction behaviors as the issues come up in treatment, and ways to manage the ongoing therapeutic relationship to include addressing the addiction concerns.

Creativity and Control - The Fine Line Between Help and Harm in Clinical Treatment

How often do you find yourself telling clients what to do rather than supporting them as they make their own choices? How often have you heard yourself begin sentences that start with phrases such as “I want you to.....” or “I think you should...?” Are you aware of the boundary between empowering/encouraging clients to choose/change for themselves vs. manipulating and/or insisting they hand you mental and emotional access to their lives?

Do you know the difference between the healing clinician and the harmful “authority figure?” This workshop will provide information and interaction for clinicians to maintain their objectivity as they focus on the clients in therapeutic treatment. Relevance for CEU compliance, this program addresses the importance of the boundaries all clinicians need to be mindful of regardless of their roles in the treatment community.

For clinicians of all degrees, these roles may include but are not limited to the following:

private practice clinicians
clinical supervisors
treatment team leaders
program administrators/managers
research study directors

Keeping in mind that all clinicians exercise a certain amount of control in their work, this workshop will address the importance of maintaining appropriate boundary “lines” in order for clinicians to provide ethical, reasonable and responsible services to whatever population they serve.

This workshop/seminar is CEU approved at both the local and national levels. The workshop format is didactic lecture enhanced by PowerPoint, and can include interactive group work with case studies, followed by Q and A.

Sexual Survival Strategies for a Grownup World - Talking in Ways that Work

In a time when the ‘rules’ are not clearly defined and/or followed, the ‘lines’ between acceptable and unacceptable are blurred. Communication is often misconstrued and date rape has become an unfortunate reality in the dating landscape.

This seminar gives the opportunity to address concerns around this issue, as well as others faced by all of us in today’s world. Participants will be provided with suggestions for clear and concrete communication; thereby avoiding any misunderstanding of messages so that intention is clear and individuals can protect themselves and remain safe and self-confident.

The seminar is appropriate for parents and their children, school groups at the middle and high school level, and also is applicable to single or mixed-gender adult groups.

Successful, Self-Confident, Satisfied, ........and SINGLE!

Let’s stop ‘waiting’ and start celebrating! This is not a ‘how to’ dating workshop, but rather a seminar about being in, of and about the world as a single person and why that’s way better than okay.

It’s about being reminded of all of the advantages of single life. It’s about owning the feelings of loneliness that do occur from time to time but also about the feelings of contentment and happiness that come from being a forward-moving, action-oriented, multi-faceted person who is living life not in despair over their marital status, but rather in a joyous, fulfilled and positive way.

The seminar is appropriate for college-age and post-college age groups, divorce and widower groups, single-gender and/or mixed-gender groups.