I offer a variety of services including individual tutoring and life planning.
I am available for consult and speaking engagements to businesses and organizations.
Please contact me to discuss a service agreement and check availability.
FOR INDIVIDUALS
Life Planning (in person, via Skype, or telephone):
I work with young people and adults who are struggling with academic and career goals. This is especially true if you are facing problems with required work that you are either uninterested in completing or work you are terrified by and feel lost in knowing where or how to start. Time management skills are important and there are many strategies you can use to make the best of the time you have.
How is your environment connected to how you feel? Learn simple solutions you can use for enhancing and creating a space you feel good about. A space that enhances your sense of peace, increases your productivity, awakens your creativity, and makes your down-time more relaxing!
Through a plan that we create together, I will assist you in shining light on the gifts and skills you have, support you as you figure out how to better use your time, encourage you to increase your confidence for taking on challenging tasks, and watch you become even more goal directed than you already are. In short, life planning skills to help you determine and get the life you want and deserve.
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Individual Coaching (in person, video conferencing, or telephone):
- Time Management
- Leadership Skills
- Awakening Your Creativity
- Creating Presentations
- Public Speaking
- Life Skills
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College Planning (in person, video conferencing, or telephone):
- Assistance with navigating applications for undergraduate and graduate studies.
- How to handle the first few weeks and months in a new place.
- How to do what you want to do and still succeed.
- Rights of Students with Disabilities: To Disclose or Not to Disclose
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College-Level Tutoring Services (in person, video conferencing, or telephone):
- Libraries, Academic Internet Searches, and Reading Research;
- Before You Start Writing College Papers;
- Literature Review;
- Writing College Papers;
- Creating PowerPoint or Keynote Presentations;
- Introduction to Psychology;
- Research Methods and Ethics in Social Sciences;
- Psychopathology;
- Theories of Personality;
- History and Systems of Psychology;
- Historical and Archival Work;
- Experimental Lab in Social Psychology;
- Developmental Psychology;
- Social Psychology;
- Cross-Cultural Psychology; and
- Environmental Psychology
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Thesis and Dissertation Services (in person, video conferencing, or telephone):
- Conceptual Sounding Board;
- Research Design;
- Institutional Review Board Applications;
- Literature Review;
- Historical and Archival Work;
- Qualitative Analysis;
- Discourse and Content Analysis;
- Video as a Research Tool;
- Writing Your Dissertation/Thesis;
- APA Style; and
- Thesis and Dissertation Formatting
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FOR BUSINESSES AND ORGANIZATIONS:
Business and Organization Development
Your organization's mission statement and vision are as an essential part of the success of your business endeavors as your businesses strategic plan. Along with key members of your team, we will evaluate and update your mission and vision, determine what areas need to be of greater focus, and create strategic plans for improving the flow of your business. Using force field analysis (Lewin) and mapping strategies your team will gel together to create a sustainable plan for success. Successful businesses and organizations annually evaluate their development and growth on an annual basis using short- and long-term plans.
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Even the most successful businesses and organizations can benefit from creating a sustainable infrastructure. One of the key ways of accomplishing this is through team building exercises. In the event that your employees are struggling in developing collegial and trusting relationships, or in the aftermath of a major loss to your organization, bringing employees together in a safe environment to debrief will be beneficial to your business. Team building services are offered to strengthen and bond bridges between co-workers, creating a healthier and happier work environment.
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The Delphi Method for Decision Making
The Delphi Method is described as an iterative process (Skulmoski, Hartman, and Krahn, 2007) conducted through several (originally four) rounds of questionnaires, which allows respondents to alter their answers when they are given data of how others have responded. It is often used in social science research and high-stakes decision-making. If you are trying to seek consensus or come to new answers the Delphi Method will provide great insight. Along with a team of your choosing, we will establish the parameters for discussion and move through each level to come to the best answers your team can develop.
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Together we will develop and implement qualitative and quantitative measures to determine the outcomes of your services. Each plan for evaluation research is entirely unique to the individual organization or business. Together, we craft a research design which will elicit answers to questions your organization feels important to answer. This can include customer satisfaction, product development, and hard data to show your outcomes.
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Atmosphere Improvement
Is the environment of your business and organization promoting the best atmosphere for productivity? Are there simple and inexpensive environmental changes you can make to improve the flow of your business? Atmosphere Improvement includes an inventory of what is in your space, minimization of unnecessary clutter, and an analysis of the psychological environment your employees experience. When simple changes are made in the physical environment of a place extraordinary results occur, improving morale, production, and satisfaction. Don't be fooled. The Psychological Environment exists and it effects us. Atmosphere Improvement includes techniques from the field of Environmental Psychology not limited to Environmental Inventory (Spivak), Behavior Mapping (Barker), and an Environmental Approach to space utilization (Architecture, Construction, Research, Inc.).
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WORKSHOPS
The Day the Girl in the Dark Met the Man with a Rubber Brain©
Interactive workshop on what it means to change the everyday practices of your organization or business. This workshop is suitable for any type of business, whether it be for-profit, non-profit, or a government entity.
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Social Networks for Support, Advocacy, and Activism©
Interactive workshop on the basics of community organizing on the web. A portion of this workshop is dedicated to social networking tips including Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, and whatever's next. . .
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Life for Sale: As Is.©
People who have been psychiatrically labeled experience prejudices and discrimination. This interactive workshop is based on changing perceptions of people with psychiatric histories. Ending oppression is essential to this. Far too many people choose to take their lives. Using trauma-informed principles, we move through extremely painful experiences of loss toward liberation. This work heavily relies on two earlier theoretical concepts. First, Erving Goffman's (1961) concept of "mortification of self," whereby a person is turned into a mental patient. Second, William Cross, Jr.'s (1971, 1991) theory and research "Toward a Black Liberation Psychology" which explained a staged process one goes through from a place of oppression toward a place of liberation, with the turning point being a person who is oppressed being introduced to a power movement or witnessing something heinous and tragic, such as Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination. The research I conducted for my dissertation showed evidence for a psychological spectrum ranging from mortification to liberation for people who have psychiatric histories. The turning point toward oppression, or mortification, was often discrimination they experienced for having a psychiatric diagnosis. The turning point toward liberation, was often meeting someone involved in the power movement for people with psychiatric histories, or experiencing or witnessing something heinous and tragic, like restraints or seclusion, or being electroshocked, or quite frequently described, being drugged. Too many people are rejecting their own lives because of what they are being told about who they can be and who they should be. The loss of our humanity is at stake.
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BAAAA Therapy©
The workshop that started it all! In this interactive workshop we work to discard myths about what can be accomplished in life when we stop listening to people who tell us we cannot accomplish our goals. This workshop includes a planning session for each individuals future life goals.
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What's That Dog Doing Here? The Ins and Outs of Psychiatric Service Dogs
Psychiatric Service Animals can greatly improve the quality of life for people who are experiencing extreme emotional states. Research shows that service animals: increase verbal interactions between group members; increase attention skills (i.e., paying attention, staying on task); help people further develop leisure/recreation skills; increase self-esteem; reduce anxiety; Reduce loneliness; make physical touch easier; and have physiological benefits such as lowering heart rate. For people who have challenges going outside by themselves, have a history of physical, sexual, or verbal abuse and trauma, and who have trouble connecting with others, a service animal might be part of the solution for a fuller, more enjoyable life. This workshop reviews these benefits and the rights and responsibilities of people with disabilities who use psychiatric service animals.
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So Psychiatry Said You or Your Child Have a Psychiatric Disability. Now What?©
First thing is first. Don't buy it. While you or your child may be experiencing extreme emotional states and you may be in a great deal of pain,or enduring many problems with the structure of your work or child's school environment, the assignment of the psychiatric label itself, in the long-term, can be devastating to one's life This interactive workshop pulls apart what a psychiatric diagnosis means. Relying on the work of Philip Zimbardo (2008) I will take apart a main flaw of psychiatry. Zimbardo (1974), who is famous for the Stanford Prison Study, in a TED Video (2008) explained how we should be approaching problems of evil. He said that some people think in terms of the bad apple - that there is something wrong with the person--others use the analogy of the bad barrel--that there is something wrong with the situation. Zimbardo suggested what you have to really look at to get at and resolve core issues is an examination of the barrel maker. Where is the power located, who has it, and how is it being used, or misused. It is much easier, for some unexplainable reason, for us to firmly believe problems which get diagnosed as psychiatric are inherent to the person--from inside the person. There is no biological proof of psychiatric disorders, there are no blood test, as an example. Yet it is easier for people to believe that there is something biological going wrong than it is to address the real problems we as a society face. Part of the problem, of course, can be found in the environment. Solutions such as ending child abuse, being kind to one another, welcoming diversity, and so on, cost next to nothing, and that presents a problem for the multi-trillion dollar industry of psychiatry. The cost of not returning to our human roots seems more expensive to me. A smile, and as reported in the (de)VOICED research, hope goes a long way. Second thing, do your own research. Really find out what they are doing and ask many questions. Find a good advocate. Learn your rights. If it is your child you are concerned about, listen openly to your child, make no assumptions about what your child is experiencing, and celebrate that you have such a gifted person in your life. Celebrate that you or your child still have the ability to feel. Perhaps you will find it disturbing and perhaps, at the same time you will find it comforting that the original diagnosis of "Child Schizophrenia" published by Lauretta Bender (1953) included this description:
They are precocious, develop too fast, have an exaggerated intellectual brilliance, are overactive and cannot be suppressed in their activity. They have precocious language development, are highly articulate, and often show special gifts, especially in language, the graphic arts and dancing, and in their insight into psychological problems. They tend to overidentify in any group and they relate too well. These children call forth strong counter-transferences from adults. They are excessively abstract in their thinking. (Bender, L. , 1953). Childhood schizophrenia. The Psychiatric Quarterly, 27(1 - 4), 663 - 681)
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So Psychiatry Said You Live in a Fantasy World? It's Time to Write a Novel.©
Do not let the fact that people do not understand what you are talking about stop you from talking about it. Using creative work as an outlet for the oppression that we face is the goal of this workshop. This interactive workshop puts guests center stage, with an in-shop adventure: writing the Great American Novel in under 15 minutes. Well, you will have the rest of your life to figure out the details. Be glad you're not an automaton--a machine--blunted. Celebrate your creativity. This fun and risk-taking workshop has no bounds, and through it, the ties that bind you will begin to loosen as you break free.
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So Psychiatry Said You See Things that Are Not There? Here's Some Paint. ©
Do not let that people cannot understand you stop you from feeling good about yourself. Sometimes, in our mind's eye, we see things beautiful and horrid, comforting and terrifying, filled with love, and filled with hate. We are human. Celebrate your abilities to experience things not everyone can, the good, the bad, and the ugly. People say art makes a person who cannot feel, feel, and a person who feels too much, comforted. In this workshop you will find some paint and brushes. Be gentle, be fierce, be bold, be soft. Be you. It's oil paint, you can always just add another layer . . .
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CUSTOM VIDEOS
A video promoting your organization can increase your business activities, improve the esteem of your employees, and enhance your presence on the Internet.
Custom Promotional Video of Your Business or Organization
This can include an overview of your organization's mission, vision, and offerings, or in-depth exploration of your services and products. You choose the length of the video(s) you want to produce, where to shoot them, and who appears in them. Together, we create a storyboard to let the world know about your business or organization.
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Custom Video of Your Conference or Event
This includes both raw video of the event and edited videos for your website. The edited videos are created in conjunction with your business, where you make decisions about what you want to appear in the edited video(s).
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Custom Video of Your Wedding, Birthday, and Other Celebrations
If a picture can say a thousand words, a video can say a million! Relive your special moments over and over again! Raw and edited videos of monumental moments and celebrations in your life are treasures. These make wonderful thank you gifts! These videos can also include mini-interviews of guest, footage of you preparing for the event, and a post-script, where you can share your thoughts after it's all over. Work with me in making decisions about what footage you would like to preserve in beautifully edited movies. Then, share your special days with family and friends either through the Internet or on DVDs. Friends and family will love being able to have a DVD of these special moments.
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OTHER SERVICES
Animal Grooming:
I am a certified animal groomer. I specialize in large dogs. I also am trained in T-Touch (Therapeutic Touch) for rescue animals who have been abused or animals who are very fearful or for whatever reason do not like to be groomed.
I also can create art on your dog with natural food color (light fur only).
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Piano Lessons
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Paintings by 10e
Commissioned Works:
Oils, Acrylics, or Sprays. In inches or feet, on canvas or walls, you choose the colors, size, and offer a description of the work you desire.
Under every painting is a secret painting based on the conversation we have when developing the concept for your commissioned work. This secret painting acts as the base for the painting people actually see.
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Novel?
I am also Xandi J. Storm, novelist. You can buy my books which support my advocacy and activism.
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