This study examines the commonality of life themes held by bulimic women, as measured by the Adlerian Lifestyle Questionnaire. Both clinically diagnosed and self-diagnosed subjects participated in this study. The subjects participated in a structured Lifestyle interview, including the reporting of five early recollections and additional biodata information regarding their bulimia. A panel of Adlerian expert judges analyzed the interview data and summarized life themes. Results indicate that Adlerian judges were able to identify several common Lifestyle themes and personality characteristics among the bulimic participants in this study.

<p> At-risk youth tend to be children and adolescents who are more likely to discontinue their educational career and fall prey to illiteracy, drugs, crimes, and jails. Casa Pacifica Non-Public School provides direct services to at-risk youth mainly on a therapeutic level. More specifically, Casa Pacifica Non-Public School aims to help students achieve the goals of their Individualized Education Plan, meet academic standards, and exhibit acceptable behaviors. Service learning literature offers evidence that students who participate in such programs have the potential to improve academic achievement and reduce negative behaviors. The purpose of this project was to write a grant to obtain funding to create service learning opportunities for the students of Casa Pacifica Non-Public School. Actual submission and/or funding of this grant were not a requirement for successful completion of this project.</p>

<p> This autoethnography focused on the following overarching question: How did I overcome the indoctrination and socialization in my early human development to accept the unexamined assumption that my life was limited to being a wife, mother, and cosmetologist that prevented me from aspiring to a career as a school counselor that would increase my sense of purpose in life using the framework of Erikson's stages of development and feminist thought as the theoretical lens for inquiry and analysis of my experience? Seven sub-questions were developed to guide the study. Analyzing the review of literature and my own experience related to the overarching question and sub-questions resulted in the emergence of twelve themes. These were socialization historicity, systemic societal power, freedom for self-determination, abandonment, sense of belonging, sense of responsibility, ethic of care, confidence, advocacy, personal transition, wounded healer, and authenticity . Erik Erikson's life stage theory, feminist theory and modern research comprised the theoretical framework for the study. Becoming an educational counselor at mid-life could only be told as one women's story, and this autoethnography provides just a small portion of what could be said about the experience. </p><p> Implications for practice and implications for future research were shared. The significance of the study was that it may help other females in their pursuit to understand their lives, help counselors in working with others, and contribute to the research on mid-life career change to become a school counselor.</p>

<p> Students who have achieved academic success after reinstatement are largely overlooked in higher education. Studies on academic success and the experiences of reinstated students are fewer and less informative compared with the studies of students on academic probation and those at-risk. This study explored, through the use of a qualitative thematic approach, the experiences of reinstated students who persist to graduation and the barriers or contributing factors that they felt have influenced their success.</p><p> The findings from the study identified whether the students perceived the experiences that affected their academics as institutional or as personal barriers. Using Schlossberg's transition theory as the theoretical framework, this study identified that during the time of academic difficulty students predominately perceived their struggles as personal issues and were lacking in one or more of Schlossberg's 4 Ss (Self, Situation, Support, Strategies). Upon gaining resources with the 4 Ss they gained academic success. The findings also identified sub-themes that emerged within the 4 Ss during a student's academic struggles and eventual success, such as, Self (lacking and gaining maturity); Situation (unexpected life transitions and medical issues); Support (not utilizing resources and benefiting from advisors, faculty, and significant others); Strategies (utilizing and understanding policies and taking time away from their academics).</p><p> The themes expressed by participants suggest that universities use a more theory based approach in advising and readmission to focus on the whole student's self-identity and situation not just courses and curriculum. The results also suggest a possible expansion of the Schlossberg transition model. The 4 Ss provide a framework for the student to understand their resources within the transition, however; the concept of recognizing and sustaining their resources in future transitions could prove beneficial when working with students who are struggling academically due to a transition.</p>

<p> This thesis explores how the depth psychotherapist can experience a sacred passage of initiation in the context of archetypal dreams. It examines the intersections of meaning making in alchemical and mythological dream imagery and the numinous experience of initiation. It explores C. G. Jung&rsquo;s individuation process and whether identifying dream images as archetypal wounds can deepen the psychotherapist&ndash;client therapeutic relationship. Using hermeneutic and heuristic methodology, this research uses a comparative analytical lens and the author&rsquo;s personal process of tracking two archetypal dreams that coincide with the author&rsquo;s answer to the soul&rsquo;s calling to depth psychology and the first phase of seeing psychotherapy clients in graduate training. Honoring the unconscious as a map for psychological complexes, emotional states, unexpressed narratives, and symbols of both the personal and collective, the author expands upon an ancient way of honoring the death and rebirth of an individual in a transformative state of growth.</p>

<p> The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of a Two-session Child Parent Relationship Training on parental perception of children's problem behaviors; parental acceptance of child; parental stress; and parental attitudes, knowledge and skills about child-centered play therapy. All of the parents of children with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in grades one to five in a small southern county were eligible for the study. Sixty parents were randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups. </p><p> A two-way ANOVA with one between subjects and one within subjects effects was used to examine differences between the experimental and control groups on the VADPRS pre-test and post-test, and independent t-tests were used to compare the experimental and control groups for each of the dependent variables. The statistical analyses found no differences between the experimental and control groups with regard to parental perception of child problems, parental acceptance of child and parental attitudes about child-centered play therapy. There were differences with regard to parental stress and parental knowledge, such that parents in the experimental group reported lower levels of stress and more play therapy knowledge than the parents in the control group. These findings are promising in terms of both helping parents of children with ADHD and exploring alternative models of CPRT that could be more widely used.</p>

<p> Bullying is a serious problem that affects youth from all backgrounds and can negatively affect their development. The purpose of this project was to develop a program, identify potential funding resources, and write a grant to fund a bullying prevention program at Woodrow Wilson Middle School in Pasadena Unified School District. The proposed program will take a school-wide approach and implement Second Step, an evidence-based program to prevent bullying. Students will participate in classroom activities to build empathy, communication, bullying prevention, emotion management, and prevent substance abuse. Some enhancements such as assemblies, parent trainings, and incentives will be added to the program to promote collaboration between the school and the home and actively engage all of the systems related to bullying. Implications for social work practice are discussed. The actual submission and/or funding of the grant were not required for the successful completion of this project.</p>

<p> One of most significant challenges for international students studying in the U.S. is their ability to adjust to a new social setting. The maladjustment of international students in a host country has been associated with negative impacts to their psychosocial development, educational experience, and perception of the host culture. The increasing demand to recruit and enroll international students in colleges and universities across the U.S. prompts the need to further investigate the various factors that impact the cross-cultural and educational experiences of these sojourning scholars.</p><p> This correlational study was conducted using a 65-item online survey instrument. The population under investigation was international undergraduate students who have been studying in the U.S. for at least one academic year. The sample for this population was taken from three public higher education institutions in southern California. The total sample size of the study was 368 participants, One-way ANOVA and hierarchical multiple regressions were conducted to analyze the data and answer the research questions.</p><p> Overall, this study found that a relationship exists between the cultural composition of social support networks and the acculturative stress of international students. The results of the analysis indicate that international students who are more likely to seek support from members of their support network who are from a different culture experienced lower levels of acculturative stress. Furthermore, the findings suggest that the cultural composition of a social support network is positively correlated with feelings of homesickness. </p><p> The findings from this study can inform the practice of student affairs personnel responsible for working with international students. it can also inform institutional policies related to the strategic planning of increasing the enrollment of international students on a campus. This study contributes to the existing body of knowledge aimed at understanding the specific needs of international students by investigating the relationship between the cultural composition of social support networks and acculturative stress.</p>

<p> This qualitative study analyzes high school counselor caseload assignment models. It provides information on the impact of these assignments on the services provided to students, and the goals and mission of a school's counseling program and its site. It also examines the methods and rationales sites utilize to determine caseload assignment models, and counselors' perceptions of advantages and disadvantages of differing models. The study reviews relevant literature on effective and equitable school counseling programs, caseload assignment models, looping and developmental theories. The sample for this study is drawn from high school counselors in Sacramento County and its outlying areas. E-mails were sent to potential participants in the fall 2012. Nineteen in-person, semi-structured interviews were completed with 21 participants at 13 different school sites. Counselors interviewed came from schools representing the three major caseload assignment models utilized in the Sacramento area (alpha, grade level, and career academy) and five counselors whose schools did not fit into the above categories were also interviewed (alpha plus specialist counselor(s); alpha plus specialized program counselor; and counselor assigned by teacher advocacy group). Purposive, criterion and convenience sampling were utilized. School counselors in this study are clearly able to note distinct advantages and disadvantages for each major caseload assignment model utilized, and state that these distinctions affect major areas of the counselors working relationships with students, families, teachers, and the counseling team, as well as the specific function or role of the counselors at their sites. The study also shows that caseload assignment models impact the ways in which school counselors deliver guidance curriculum, individual planning services, and responsive services to students as outlined by the ASCA National Model. Descriptions for each major caseload assignment model are presented, and can be utilized for program planning and goal setting activities.</p>

<p> The purpose of this study was to develop a resource manual for teachers, educators, and community officials in the Los Angeles area to facilitate identification of an intervention program that meets their specific needs. The methodology of this project involved several steps. First, Internet research identified bully intervention programs in the Los Angeles area, who were contacted for participation in the research study. A total of seven programs were interviewed regarding program elements, including use of "effective" intervention strategies, as identified by previous research. The interview data was organized into a resource manual, along with information about bullying (i.e., definitions, types, risk factors). Following compilation of the resource manual, an expert evaluator was identified based on prior experience and research in the field of bullying. The evaluator was contacted and asked to participate in the evaluation phase of the study, which included review of the manual and completion of a brief survey. Following the evaluation phase, the manual was modified to reflect the evaluator's feedback. Results of the study indicate that the programs varied in length (i.e., 60 minutes to 1 year) and cost (i.e., free to $8,000) of training, and that all utilized interventions at the systemic levels of individual, classroom, school, and community. The most commonly endorsed intervention techniques included incident reporting, school-wide presentations, social skills training, increased social support, and engagement of families and the community. Use of other intervention strategies was varied. Thematic analysis revealed that several programs were nonprofit in nature, and shared similarities across websites (e.g., links to social media, program materials). In addition, several programs offered training in school and community settings, follow-up services, and an empathy-based approach. Obstacles to bullying intervention were also discussed. Results from the evaluation phase of the manual indicated specific strengths (i.e., informative, user-friendly) and limitations (i.e., lack of formal evaluation of programs) of the resource manual, which were considered during finalization of the manual content. The intention is that the resource manual will enhance the readers' ability to make informed decisions about the use of bullying intervention programs, and therefore confidently respond to bullying incidents.</p>