Christine Routzahn, director of the Career Center was recently interviewed for the July 2023 Baltimore Sun Education supplement story, "The benefits of experiential learning: Students gain valuable skills while making a difference." Routzahn discussed the Maryland Technology Internship Program (MTIP), which is administered by UMBC and funded by the State of Maryland. MTIP was created to help Maryland retain top tech talent by increasing the number of paid technical internships offered in the state.
The article appears on page 2 of the Education supplement.
September is Suicide Prevention Month and at Retriever Integrated Health, we are observing this month of awareness by sharing resources UMBC community members can utilize for themselves or others if suicide is a concern.
Did you know that:
Sometimes the challenge lies in knowing how to prevent suicide, and in the inherent discomfort and fear in the word suicide. Many people believe that directly talking about suicide increases the likelihood of a person attempting suicide, but the opposite is actually true. Talking about suicide with a trusted person greatly decreases a person's likelihood of attempting suicide. For UMBC community members who need support in increasing their comfort and confidence in talking about suicide, RIH offers Question, Persuade, Refer, a one-hour-long skills-based workshop that provides practical tools for use with folx in suicidal crisis. Visit the RIH myUMBC page to learn more and to sign up for a session of QPR being offered this fall.
Having thoughts of suicide is more common than you may think. In 2021, 12.3 million people seriously thought about suicide and 3.5 million made a plan for suicide. If you are having thoughts of suicide, you are not alone and you do not have to figure out how to manage your feelings alone. At UMBC, there are many options for support:
By seeking help when you are struggling and knowing how to support peers when they are struggling, you can be a part of suicide prevention at UMBC.
David Hoffman Ph.D. '13, director, Center for Democracy and Civic Life, was interviewed for "Building Community Through Governance: A Video History of Civic Literacy and Engagement Models of UC Student Regents."
The project is funded by the University of California Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement 2022-2023 VOICE Fellowship.
Hoffman, a UCLA alumnus, served as the 12th UC student regent during his time as an undergraduate.
At the 2023 Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement meeting (May 31 - June 2, Boston), Student Affairs staff and students led two sessions with UMBC students and campus partners.
The Center for Democracy and Civic Life organized UMBC's delegation to the meeting, which included nearly 20 UMBC students, faculty, staff, and administrators. Division of Student Affairs presenters and speakers included Ricky Blissett '11, the Center's associate director; Meghna Chandrasekaran '25, the Center's research intern; Beatriz Gutierrez-Malagon, coordinator for leadership, Campus Life; David Hoffman Ph.D. '13, the Center's director; Musa Jafri '24, a Center affiliate and president of UMBC's Student Government Association; Tess McRae '22, the Center's coordinator for civic design; and Markya Reed '18; M.A. '23, former Center graduate assistant.
The delegation also included Ian Anson, associate professor, Department of Political Science; Candace Dodson-Reed '96, vice president for community relations and government affairs; Nia Hopkins '24, peer health educator, Office of Health Promotion; Joshua Le '23, chief of staff, Student Government Association; Emily Passera, program coordinator for service-learning and community engagement, The Shriver Center, and senator, Professional Staff Senate; Zoonash Syed '24, senator, Student Government Association; and Taylor West, MPP '23, senator, Graduate Student Association. It also included speakers/presenters Andrea Kalfoglou, associate professor, sociology, anthropology, and public health, and Simon Stacey, director, Honors College.
The delegation collaborated on several presentations about successful classes and programs developed at UMBC. Sessions included "Candidates in Our Backyard: Transforming Candidate Forums into Mutual and Reciprocal Spaces" (coordinating presenter Musa Jafri; speakers Jafri, David Hoffman, Candace Dodson-Reed, and Meghna Chandrasekaran); "This is Real: Two Civics Courses Grounded in Students' Everyday Experiences" (coordinating presenter David Hoffman; speakers Hoffman, Tess McRae, Simon Stacey); "Engaging students in mental health advocacy by collaborating with state-level advocacy groups" (coordinating speaker and presenter Andrea Kalfoglou).
Despite the dread that may come when a professor announces that there will be a group project, group work is necessary for higher education and everything that comes after. An African proverb says, "If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together." (For the record, I don't love attributing a proverb to an entire continent, but it seems like many people more knowledgeable than me have not been able to trace its origins: https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2016/07/30/487925796/it-takes-a-village-to-determine-the-origins-of-an-african-proverb.)
As an undergraduate, imagining my future life, I pictured a solitary existence and did not imagine much work with others. My imagination was far from the reality of my life as a therapist. I need a lot from other people. I need to work closely with my colleagues to consult about my therapy techniques and whether they are the best for the students I am working with. I depend on the researchers who verify that our field's practices are evidence-based and genuinely work. I depend on our team at RIH, who can treat and support different elements of the student experience. I think you're getting the gist. Life, for better or worse, is a group project.
The learning and growing that best prepares us for the rest of our lives can happen in groups. Otherwise, we would not be assigned these group projects year after year. This applies to therapy as well. Often, the concerns that people come to talk about in therapy are related to the "interpersonal" (i.e., our relationships with others). Difficulties making friends, keeping friends, trusting others, and trusting ourselves with others, are all very human and interpersonal concerns. Getting to explore these concerns as they are happening within the boundaries of ethical group therapy practices can be a powerful group project, but it's one that you get to choose for yourself.
At RIH we offer a wide variety of group counseling. We have skills-based groups such as Skills Training in the Application of Interpersonal Regulation (STAIR), which I often explain to students as an excellent entry into group therapy and, at times, might feel more like a class. You will learn concrete skills to understand and regulate emotions, become more mindful, and approach relationships in new ways. We also have more open-ended process groups, such as Reflecting Retrievers. In this type of group, you can explore how you show up for yourself and others and try out different ways of approaching relationships. There is something for everyone within our group program. If you are interested in joining a group, please call our main line (410-455-2542) to request an initial consultation appointment.