The Counseling Center offers workshops designed to assist students with personal growth and development. These workshops teach valuable skills to help students achieve personal and academic success from their first semester on campus all the way to graduation and beyond. In addition to open workshops, the Counseling Center meets with student groups/organizations, classes, faculty/staff departments, and community groups. Workshops might be in person, via MS Teams, or using whatever medium works best to answer any questions or consult.
Mindfulness Skills Workshop
Mindful Skill Building is an experiential course designed to teach coping skills for individuals who struggle with stress, anxiety, depression, or other overwhelming emotions which interfere with their ability to stay in the present and/or their sense of self. Open to all experience levels. Every week is open to newcomers, who are encouraged to return to learn and practice the interconnected skills.
Learn and practice a new mindfulness skill each week:
- manage stress and anxiety from within
- reground and reset in the present moment
- recognize and process difficult emotions
- improve your focus and memory
- listen and learn more effectively
- settle your mind to access your wisdom and talent
- access your own internal resources to better navigate change and uncertainty
Register on Bengal Connect, or email counselingenter@buffalostate.edu with any questions.
Wednesdays, 3:30-4:20pm, from Feb. 21 - May 8, 2024
Weigel Wellness Center 203
Flyer can be viewed or downloaded here, and can be shared with any interested student.
Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR)
QPR training is designed to teach participants how to recognize someone who may be in emotional distress or having suicidal thoughts, and how to appropriately engage and connect that person to resources that can help.
Anyone can practice QPR in any setting, and it is appropriate in all relationships. QPR does not require clinical training, only a willingness to listen, care, and help.
Registration
- Create Your Account
- Enter organization name: SUNY
- Add your name and Buffalo State email address
Counseling Center staff frequently meets with groups after they have taken the online QPR training to debrief and discuss applying QPR skills in their unique settings.
Cannabis Screening and Intervention for College Students (CASICS)
CASICS is a brief motivational intervention for students struggling with Cannabis use. This program is provided upon request.
Marijuana use among college students is the highest it has been in 35 years and is associated with negative physical, mental/emotional, relational, and academic effects. With marijuana becoming legal in New York State, there can be a lot of conflicting messages and confusion about the risks of use and many students may find that their marijuana use is having a harmful effect on their lives.
CASICS is a two-session, interview-based intervention where students are provided information on the impact of cannabis use, explore personalized feedback and recommendations based on their own experiences, set goals related to their use, and identify ways to minimize the impact of marijuana on their lives.
To learn more about CASICS or schedule an initial session, call the Counseling Center at (716) 878-4436 and ask to speak with Ashley Maracle.
It’s Complicated: Grief after 2020
This workshop focuses on grief associated with current events, including but not limited to the COVID-19 pandemic, increasing media/national attention to systemic racism and police brutality, individual instances of discrimination, decreasing access to social supports, and the transition to distance learning.
Students will be able to:
- Identify the impact of grief on their individual lives
- Understand that the grieving process is non-linear and individualistic in nature
- Identify at least 3 self-care strategies to cope with grief
Beat Stress for Academic Success Workshop:
This 50-minute workshop focuses on the top three factors that disrupted academic performance: stress, anxiety, and sleep difficulties.
A social worker from the Weigel Wellness Center will help participants learn healthy ways to predict and cope with stressful times in the academic year, mental and behavioral ways to reduce anxiety, and small ways to change one’s habits and environment to improve sleep.
For more information, contact the Counseling Center at 716-878-4436.
Supporting Communities of Color
This workshop focuses on exploring the impact of current events on marginalized communities. This program will take an intersectional approach to identifying the various ways that these communities are uniquely affected by national crises including racism. Additionally, facilitators will offer strategies for self/community care aimed at improving and maintaining mental wellness.
Creating Routine to Support Distance Learning
This workshop provides effective tools to increase routine and motivation for remote learning and directs students to additional resources for virtual academic support.
LGBTQ+ Cultural Competency Training
This workshop encourages support for sexual and gender minority individuals and creating safe, affirming spaces for dialogue surrounding sexuality and gender. Participants learn some relevant vocabulary and history, discuss sexual and gender orientation, identities, and the coming out process, participate in discussion and activities to help them understand the information in a meaningful way, and identify ways to continue supportive advocacy beyond the workshop.