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February 29, 2008

ULM Marriage and Family Therapy students, faculty present at state conference; one named “Student of the Year”

University of Louisiana at Monroe’s Bethany Snavely Simmons, a second-year Ph.D. Student (and a Penn State undergrad), was named “Student of the Year” at the annual Louisiana Association of Marriage and Family Therapists Conference in Baton Rouge Feb. 7 – 9.

Simmons has served as the state’s student representative for LAMFT for two years, where she assisted in conference planning and leadership training. She has also actively worked to establish the newly-minted ULM student chapter of Marriage and Family Therapists and a subsequent mentoring program.

Dr. Jana Sutton, a ULM MFT professor and new president of the state MFT organization, praised the student’s work. “Simmons is a very competent systemic thinker, clinician, teaching assistant and researcher.”

Twelve current ULM MFT students gave presentations of research at the conference, which drew nearly 300 attendees. Four ULM MFT professors and three program candidates were also involved in addressing the conference.

Topics included:

• “Burnout and/or Freezout? Sustaining Yourself in a Helping Profession” by Dr. Harper Gaushell
  
  
• “Systemic Diagnosis for Couples and Marital Relationships” by Dr. Charles Cole, Allison Lux, and Dr. Katherine Wilson
  
  
• “What Would the World Look Like Today if Gregory Bateson Had Been President on 9/11” by Matt Borer and Scott Shelby
  
  
• “Gay and Lesbian Issues: A Study of the Perceptions Between Male and Female College Students” by C.J. Aducci and Christina Speyrer
  
  
• “Being Solution Focused in a Sexual Abuse Survivors’ World” by Dr. Jana Sutton and Bethany Snavely Simmons
  
  
• “Systemic Therapy: Youth in the Legal System” by Dr. Si-Pui Pearl Wong and Adam Mathews
  
  
• “MFT Educators Roundtable” by Dr. Lamar Woodham and Dr. Jana Sutton
  
  
• “Utilizing Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy for Treatment with Ambivalent and Indifferent Couples” by Tanya Simons, Nichelle Mason and Bethany Snavely Simmons.

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