MSSA Spring 2011 Conference

This year, I joined Minnesota Social Services Association (MSSA) and attended their spring conference at the Minneapolis Hilton, last week.  Most of the attendees were county workers, social workers, counselors and various helpers.  Most of the attendees were public/government employees so conference included only sessions and no food of any kind.  In comparison to other conferences that I have attended before, it looked like there were a lot of people and everything looked very bland and simple on the rich Hilton’s background. 

There were offered so many different breakout sessions, it was very difficult to figure out which one to attend.  The sessions that I attended, some were very good, and some were just plain for me.  I don’t really like sessions that talk a lot about statistical data and unfortunately I ended up in one of those.  Also, a few sessions were talking about things that I already know and I felt like I didn’t get anything out of them.  I hope other attendees learned something from those sessions.  Of course, I will stop talking about the sessions that I did not like.

 

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MSSA Spring 2011 Conference

This year, I joined Minnesota Social Services Association (MSSA) and attended their spring conference at the Minneapolis Hilton, last week.  Most of the attendees were county workers, social workers, counselors and various helpers.  Most of the attendees were public/government employees so conference included only sessions and no food of any kind.  In comparison to other conferences that I have attended before, it looked like there were a lot of people and everything looked very bland and simple on the rich Hilton’s background. 

There were offered so many different breakout sessions, it was very difficult to figure out which one to attend.  The sessions that I attended, some were very good, and some were just plain for me.  I don’t really like sessions that talk a lot about statistical data and unfortunately I ended up in one of those.  Also, a few sessions were talking about things that I already know and I felt like I didn’t get anything out of them.  I hope other attendees learned something from those sessions.  Of course, I will stop talking about the sessions that I did not like.

 

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Dealing with highly resistant clients by Clifton W. Mitchell, Ph.D.

On Tuesday, I attended a full day seminar on Dealing with highly resistant clients by Clifton W. Mitchell, Ph.D.   This was the highlight of this conference for me because it left me with wonderful tools that I can use with my clients and even my kids at home.

The presenter was excellent!  Dr. Mitchell kept my attention all day, entertained us, he was very funny at times and somehow made me remember almost everything he was talking about.  I even bought his book Effective Techniques for Dealing with Highly Resistant Clients for later reference.

 

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Dealing with highly resistant clients by Clifton W. Mitchell, Ph.D.

On Tuesday, I attended a full day seminar on Dealing with highly resistant clients by Clifton W. Mitchell, Ph.D.   This was the highlight of this conference for me because it left me with wonderful tools that I can use with my clients and even my kids at home.

The presenter was excellent!  Dr. Mitchell kept my attention all day, entertained us, he was very funny at times and somehow made me remember almost everything he was talking about.  I even bought his book Effective Techniques for Dealing with Highly Resistant Clients for later reference.

 

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19 years in USA

Today is 19 years since we emigrated from Kiev and made it to our final destination, Twin Cities, Minnesota.  I often joke with my clients and tell them that I am Minnesotan now; I have lived more than half of my life here.    

There were so many difficulties for me and all members of my family during the first 10 years.  All of the struggles that we experienced don’t seem to exist today.  Many times I need to remind myself of those days when I didn’t speak any English, when I did not believe that I was smart enough to learn different languages, when I struggled in college trying to translate every single word from the book with English /Russian dictionary for hours without any meaningful result.  It was very frustrating and embarrassing that I spent so many hours doing my homework and I couldn’t learn anything.  All those translated words did not make any sense.

 

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19 years in USA

Today is 19 years since we emigrated from Kiev and made it to our final destination, Twin Cities, Minnesota.  I often joke with my clients and tell them that I am Minnesotan now; I have lived more than half of my life here.    

There were so many difficulties for me and all members of my family during the first 10 years.  All of the struggles that we experienced don’t seem to exist today.  Many times I need to remind myself of those days when I didn’t speak any English, when I did not believe that I was smart enough to learn different languages, when I struggled in college trying to translate every single word from the book with English /Russian dictionary for hours without any meaningful result.  It was very frustrating and embarrassing that I spent so many hours doing my homework and I couldn’t learn anything.  All those translated words did not make any sense.

 

( Read more... )