Speaking

In Leading From Within, Meg looks at how people define leadership, and which skills are important in various settings. What kind of leader works best in each situation? She helps participants define their own leadership skills, and how they are useful to them.

She also looks at the importance of feedback, and what are the most effective ways to deliver it. How to lead from any role in an organization is examined.

In Creating High Performing Teams, Meg takes the group through a series of hands-on exercises to learn about how individuals respond in a group situation, and what the role is of clarity of expectations of each person, sufficiency of resources, time management, and support from within and outside of the group. The central role of reflection is reviewed, and the dynamics of team development is brought up as a means for understanding the way groups develop. Participants will learn what each person can contribute to the formation of a strong, healthy team.

Using Writing as a Tool for Mindfulness provides participants a venue for looking at each day as the opportunity to stay focused, centered and connected. Writing is championed as a way to have fun with others, to hone observations about daily life, and to highlight what the participant is feeling and thinking from moment to moment. It is a way to turn up the volume on one’s inner voice, particularly in times of stress or difficulty.

Many people have mixed feelings about the word survivor. It brings up thoughts about being a victim, which is uncomfortable for many. On the other hand, it is a term that implies strength, perseverance and resilience. How does one reconcile these differences? Perhaps a new term may help.

The issue of hair is important to almost everyone. At the time of treatment it becomes particularly poignant, as everyone associates a bald head on a young person with chemotherapy. What are the other associations that arise with hair? And what are the choices for how to deal with it?

What characterizes a healthy relationship? How can we nurture one, or correct the course of a relationship that has gone awry?

Relationships are important to all of us, but many people have not had the opportunity to examine or practice what goes into a positive relationship. Practice counts, as well as intentionally using language (both verbal and not) in how we address others. We all play a role in both how we perceive messages as well as how we affect others, and the more mindful of this we can be, the better the chances of participating in a relationship that feels positive and respectful.

In this workshop we will identify what to look for in a healthy relationship, how to be aware of our own contributions and natural styles in participating in them, and how to give feedback that feels helpful and is received that way. We may choose to use assessments that help to clarify our natural and preferred ways of relating to others.

In this era of social media, the question of self-disclosure arises continuously in contemporary clinical practice. Social workers are faced with complex choices regarding privacy and how much or how little of their lives to disclose to their clients. This workshop examines the role of judicious self-disclosure within diverse practice settings. Typologies of self-disclosure, such as intentional and inadvertent self-disclosure, are covered along with an overview of the benefits and risks of self-disclosure based on current research, standards of care, and the Code of Ethics.