Dear Mu Beta Chi Sigma Iota Members, It's time to find out (a) who is running for office and (b) what committee you would like to serve on for the 2015‐2016 academic year! As we have CSI members in Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids, Battle Creek, and Traverse City, we are going to hold our monthly "meetings" and do our planning on line. We will use the Wiggio interface to manage our chapter's business. An on‐line leadership/planning format will allow us to be flexible and offer programming at all of our campuses if there are members at the various campuses willing to do the work. To send an email to the entire Mu Beta Wiggio group: [email protected] To see past e‐mails, notices, files, flyers, send an e‐mail to just one member, and everything the Wiggio interface has to offer, please visit: http://mubeta.wiggio.com Also, Mu Beta has a Facebook Group. If you would like to join, please log into Facebook and search for "Mu Beta Chapter of Chi Sigma Iota" and then request to join. You will volunteer for or will be assigned to a committee. There will be a chair for a committee. The Chair of every committee will write an article on their committee's activities and plans for each of the two editions of the Mu Beta Newsletter. The committee will use their committee Wiggio for planning purposes. Once a month on the 15th of the month the chair of the committee will fill out a monthly committee report to request permission from the chapter to do activities appropriate for that committee (please read the outline of the committees below). Once the activity is approved, ANY CSI members who want to be involved can participate in the activity, although committee representatives will be responsible for leading the organizing the activity. The chair of the committee will discuss in their monthly report their committee's requests for upcoming activities, progress on completion of activities, and reports on completed activities to the chapter. We need folks to serve on all committees. We can't for example have 20 people serve on the social committee and three people serve on the professional development committee. First come first serve so make your requests ASAP (deadline 3/31/15) at http://www.stephanietburns.com/committee.html where you will indicate your top three preferences for serving on a committee (descriptions of committees follow at the end). Dr. Burns will confirm after 3/31/15 what your committee appointment will be for the coming year. Your committee appointment is for planning, implementation, and reporting of activities of that committee of the Mu Beta Chapter. Please help to make your committee a success. However, if there is an event going on with another committee that you would like to help out with/be a part of, you can always help out another committee. Just ask that committee chair and they will set you up with the member of their committee who is organizing the event. The event organizer will let you know how you can be involved. You can do more things than just your committee appointment, but please help to run your committee's part of the Mu Beta chapter's business. Please also consider running to be a Mu Beta officer! Officers run for a year term (except for President and President‐Elect – see below). In CSI a year is May 1 to April 30. Individuals elected the Spring 2015 semester will end their term April 30, 2016. Please complete the form at http://www.stephanietburns.com/committee.html with your photo and a 150 word narrative including why you would like to serve as a Mu Beta representative if you would like to run for a Mu Beta representative position. We need nominations for 8 different offices: President, President Elect, Secretary‐Treasurer, Clinical Mental Health Counseling Representative, School Counseling Representative, College Counseling Representative, Marriage and Family Counseling Representative, and Doctoral Representative. President shall preside over meetings, communicate with Chapter Faculty Advisor to update them on chapter activities and goals, and assume Chair role of the Social committee (which includes planning the Annual Induction Ceremony). President‐Elect shall preside over meetings in the absence of the President, communicate with Chapter Faculty Advisor to update them on chapter activities and goals in the absence of the President, and assume Chair role of the Professional Development committee. Secretary‐Treasurer shall keep and distribute the minutes of meetings, maintaining appropriate records, compiling necessary reports, and accounting for chapter funds. Clinical Mental Health, College, Doctoral, Marriage and Family, Rehabilitation, and School Representatives will chair a committee of the Mu Beta Chapter. You must be currently enrolled in the program to serve as representative of the program. For example, if you are currently enrolled in the Clinical Mental Health Program you can only be the representative for Clinical Mental Health Counseling – you cannot run to be the Marriage and Family Counseling Representative, even if you meant to change your program. Listed below are the committees of the chapter and a brief description of what chapters typically do on that committee. What your committee decides to do may vary, however, the Professional Development committee is not going to organize chapter socials and the Social Committee is not going to organize educational workshops. Your committee will need to stick to its mission. Please be aware that CSI is the honor society for professional counselors who are licensed as counselors at the state level. CSI is affiliated with the American Counseling Association (ACA) and its chapters and divisions only. CSI is affiliated with the ACA code of ethics and the codes of its chapters and divisions only. CSI is affiliated with CACREP accreditation only. CSI promotes excellence in the profession of counseling with professional counselors who are licensed as counselors at the state level. With the exception of legislators and other policy makers (which we welcome to our chapter for professional advocacy reasons), our speakers hold LPCs (or their state's equivalent license), hold School Counselor Endorsement/Licenses (or their state's equivalent license), are current CSI members, or serve as CECP Counselor Education Unit Appointed Faculty. Students co‐presenting with speakers must be enrolled in Clinical Mental Health Counseling, School Counseling, College Counseling, Marriage and Family Counseling, Rehabilitation Counseling or the Counselor Education Doctoral Program. CSI is about professional identity, advocacy, and development of counselors who are licensed as counselors (not licensed as psychologists, social workers, etc) at the state level. Social Committee – Chaired by the Chapter President Combined the initiation ceremony with awards and leadership installations. Dinners or light refreshments were commonly reported to accompany initiation ceremonies. University campus was the most commonly reported location for initiations. Additionally, chapters reported that local CSI chapter students, alumni, guest speakers, family, friends, faculty and staff attended the inductions. Social activities are primarily coordinated to help build a sense of community for members and nonmembers of CSI (within chapters and within the programs in which they are chartered). Chapters largely capitalized on events that focused on food and/or informal socializing. A more frequently occurring trend across chapters has been to integrate social activities with more formal, traditional programming. That is, chapters coordinated workshops or called business meetings, which were followed by an invitation to socialize in a specified location. Professional Development Committee ‐ Chaired by the Chapter President‐Elect Held student‐
orientated workshops which included the following topics: using proper APA style, building resumes, preparing for comprehensive examinations/licensure, writing a dissertation, preparing for life after graduation, and stress management. Held workshops addressed practical information for clinical and school counselors, focusing on therapeutic interventions including EMDR, DBT, and play therapy. Roundtable discussions were utilized in some of the workshops themed for clinical and school issues, as well as poster sessions. Held workshops on professional development and leadership workshops that provided information on professional identity, different types of counseling, leadership, ethics, as well as advocacy for counselors and students. Held workshops, focusing on topics such as: AIDS training (required for licensure in some states), women’s work/life balance, a research roundtable, and utilizing body language to with clients. Staffing booths at college/university or community events (e.g., mental health awareness week, suicide prevention/eating disorder awareness week, local fairs/festivals) and teaming up to bring in speakers to local meetings Mentoring program within their department at their college/university. Through the mentoring program, future counselors (counseling students) were assisted both on an individual and professional level. Professional Advocacy Committee ‐ Chaired by Executive Committee Representative These events often fall in three major areas: advocacy within the community (e.g., appealing to legislators and participating in events to raise awareness of various counseling profession topics), advocacy within the profession (e.g., collaboration and/or presentations at conferences, communicating about advocacy within the counseling department), and education about advocacy (e.g., guest lecturers, poster sessions, workshops). Held different professional “meet and greet” activities on various topics (e.g., Medicare coverage for counselors, attending counselor education doctoral programs, state licensure, private practice, supervision, legislative advocacy, strengthening the profession through advocacy, doctoral programs, multiracial identity development, ACA, orienting new students to the profession and CSI, and professional identity). Took advocacy into action by participating in legislative days at their state capitol or by writing letters/e‐mails to state representatives on behalf of the counseling profession. Some chapters worked with the state licensing board. Newsletter ‐ Editor is an Executive Committee Representative – Need newsletter editorial assistants Will be distributed as a PDF document to members 2 times a year. One issue in the late Fall and on in the late Spring. Most chapters discussed the content of newsletters to include, but not limited to, the following: teacher, student, and alumni spotlights; introductions to new officers and faculty; employment opportunities; counseling‐related articles; student and faculty research articles; and updates on special events, volunteer opportunities, and chapter functions. Some chapters also had photos of events and students and reported having words of encouragement from faculty and the counseling community as well as recognition of students. The Chair of every committee will write an article on their committee's activities and plans for each of the two editions of the Mu Beta Newsletter. Community Engagement Committee – Chaired by Executive Committee Representative These activities included Donations, Advocacy/Volunteerism, Run‐a‐thons/Walkathons, Community Awareness, Professional Development, Community Collaborations, and Community Fundraising. Donations: Toy drive/Toys for Tots, goody bags to incoming international students, book drive, Adopt A Family/holiday gifts for families, gift drive for children, Habitat for Humanity, supply collection for women’s abuse or domestic violence center, canned food drive, clothing drive, school supply drive, donation drive for families affected by disaster (e.g., Hurricane Sandy, explosion in West Texas), Wounded Warriors Project, Salvation Army Tree Advocacy/Volunteerism: Dinner at homeless shelter or soup kitchen, face painting, volunteering at battered women/domestic violence center, Take Back the Night events, food bank, school fair, cleaning up the school/community, holiday gift wrapping, Special Olympics, disaster clean‐up (re: Hurricane Sandy), mentorship in local schools, Run‐a‐thons/Walkathons: NAMI, suicide prevention/awareness walk (e.g., Out of Darkness), walk for autism (e.g., Autism Speaks), domestic violence walk (e.g., Brides Walk, Relay for Life, Cancer walks (e.g., Susan G. Komen), sexual assault awareness (e.g., Take Back the Night), MS Walk, Color Me RAD Community Awareness: Mental health awareness in communities, mental health week, screening days (e.g., depression, substance abuse, suicide), community education programs and workshops (e.g., Fall Family Conference), community health fair Community Fundraising: Change drive, T‐shirt sale, bake sale, chili cook‐off or supper, tournaments (e.g., bowling), chapter 5K run/walk, “night out” at local restaurant. Wellness Committee – Chaired by Executive Committee Representative These activities included counselor and client wellness and self‐care (weekly Run/Walk club, yoga, Pilates, spirituality, meditation, breathing exercises, encourages and lives out personal and professional wellness, mentally, socially and physically by creating and sustaining healthy boundaries with self and others, art therapy, cooking demonstrations, stress management, the importance of nutrition and exercise). Membership Committee ‐ Chaired by Executive Committee Representative Promotes Mu Beta CSI membership for Counselor Education students within classrooms, at new student orientations, through bulletins, various announcements, etc. Peace, Dr. Burns