Past Events

Strengthening Relationships presentation series “The Musts of Trust: How to Build, Maintain, and Repair Your Relationships at Work” presented by Sarah Porter, PhD, a licensed psychologist and founder of a workplace training and consulting practice on Tuesday, September 24th from 11-12:30pm (90 minutes). This presentation will explore ways to establish and sustain trust within your team. You will (a) discover how six key trustworthiness indicators affect your work relationships, and (b) identify steps you can take right away to strengthen trust with your coworkers. Sign-up via UT Learn: https://utexas.csod.com/ui/lms-learning-details/app/event/22383f7d-f9d5…

A Collaboration of the Center for Teaching and Learning, the Employee Assistance Program, the Counseling and Mental Health Center, and the Dean of Students Part 1: All UT instructors (faculty, staff, graduate student instructors, and postdoctoral instructors) are welcome to join us for the first session of Teaching During Times of Crisis, an event co-facilitated by the Employee Assistance Program (EAP), the Counseling and Mental Health Center (CMHC), the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL), and the Dean of Students (DoS). We will discuss ways to identify and regulate bodily stress responses, process how to navigate ongoing and unexpected difficult moments in the classroom and on campus, and explore strategies for designing and facilitating courses with flexibility, compassion, and instructor and student wellbeing in mind. The DoS will review resources available to instructors should a disruption occur in the classroom or on campus. This workshop will be held virtually over Zoom on September 19 from 1-3pm. Sign-up here: https://ctl.utexas.edu/events/teaching-during-times-crisis-workshop-par…

Changes, big or small, can be stressful to live through and can bring up feelings of overwhelm, anxiety, and grief, to name a few. The body can sometimes experience the stress of change through panic, digestive issues, sleep disturbance, or other somatic symptoms. This 75-minute virtual therapeutic yoga workshop offers a space to turn towards the body to gently acknowledge and express the vulnerable and uncomfortable emotions spurred by various life changes. The workshop entails deepening and strengthening mindfulness-based practices for resiliency including a gentle hatha yoga practice appropriate for all levels and ability, meditation, breathwork, and exploration of emotions. Members will learn to embody a compassionate approach to mental and physical well-being. The workshop will be facilitated by Geeti Shirazi Mahajan, LCSW-S (she/her), one of the counselors at the Employee Assistance Program. Geeti is also certified as a Yoga Therapist (C-IAYT). The workshop will be held online via Zoom on Wednesday, September 18th, 2024 from 11am-12:15pm. Please sign up through UT Learn. https://utexas.csod.com/ui/lms-learning-details/app/event/b2acbf63-4d22…

"Structural Integrity" presented by Gareth White, LICSW & Zac Carter, LMSW on 5/17 at 11:30am. An interactive presentation where we take time to focus on the lived experiences of oppression of fat people, how fat people interact with various systems, how those systems further marginalize fat people, and our own internal biases against fatness. Talking about bodies is hard but there is no wrong way to have a body, and there is always time to be kind to our bodies.

“Balancing Love and Duty in Caregiving: Taking Care of Self While Taking Care of Others” presented by Monica Thiagarajan, Ph.D. a licensed psychologist, on Wednesday, May 8th at 12:00pm. In the complex role of caregiving, individuals often find themselves at a crossroads between nurturing their loved ones and safeguarding their own well-being. Caregivers frequently navigate the delicate balance between competing responsibilities and the relentless demands of those they care for. Whether simultaneously parenting while caring for an aging relative or managing multiple caregiving roles, the weight of these obligations can seem overwhelming, leaving little room for self-care. This presentation provides caregivers practical ways of nurturing their well-being while fulfilling their caregiving responsibilities. Through an emphasis on mindful awareness and fostering self-compassion, caregivers gain the tools to navigate their roles with attentiveness, empathy, and resilience. This approach equips them to provide compassionate care while mitigating the risk of burnout and overwhelm, ultimately fostering a healthier and more fulfilling caregiving experience. The practice of mindful caregiving cultivates a powerful synergy, benefiting both the caregiver and the recipient of care.

The last four years of massive uncertainty and change has invited us to reevaluate the place of work in our lives. We’re rethinking what we want out of life, looking for the tools that can help us build a way of living and working that cultivates well-being and flow. The sometimes-elusive feeling “work life balance” sits at the intersection of boundary setting, concrete time management strategies, and the larger clarifying question of what does work life balance mean to you. To begin answering this question we must pause, step back from the momentum, consider what’s on our plate and what environment we’re in. In this workshop presentation, Amber Hunter-Crawford, LCSW-S from the Employee Assistance Program will help us unpack the latest research on what healthy boundaries are, signs you may need healthier boundaries and why you might have trouble setting healthy boundaries. We’ll look at some potential time management strategies to help focus our work hours. And then we’ll engage in reflective exercises to make space for you to seek to understand what you want work life balance to be for you by understanding your needs, identifying your values, clarifying what deserves your energy and exploring ways to prioritize what matters most.

“Moving with Nature: Embodied Mindfulness" presented by Rosemary Candelario, Associate Professor of Performance as Public Practice at the University of Texas at Austin and Dance Studies Association Vice President for Publications and Research introduces UT Austin staff and faculty to an embodied mindfulness experience of the UT campus. We will use all of our senses to open up our awareness to our campus environment and will explore new ways to engage with it. Participants will come away with simple activities they can incorporate into their everyday lives. Come prepared to move outside, weather permitting. 

“It's a PART-Y: Helping our parts work together in relationships and work life” presented by Ashleigh Gore, LCSW-S a licensed therapist and leadership consultant, on Wednesday, April 3rd at 12:00pm. Do you ever feel like you are at war with yourself? Well, that could be your internal monologues (yes, monologues) conflicting with one another. In this training participants will learn about Internal Family Systems and the importance of “parts” work. We will discuss the different “parts” of ourselves, how they can show up in our relationships, our workplace, our daily lives, and ways to have our “parts” working together and accepting one another in order to live with confidence, guided by curiosity and compassion.

To survive at UT you need to: See that you make a difference. Connect your work to the overall mission of the organization. Have control over projects with meaningful outcomes. Managing up is about getting things done when you don’t have the formal or institutional power. In this workshop, you will learn skills that can work even when the other person is resistant to negotiating and seems to be focused on very different goals.

Self-care sounds like a good idea, but obstacles like time, money, and having the focus on one’s self in a busy world often means that self-care falls by the wayside. In this presentation, participants will learn about the foundations of self-care, including how to select self-care activities based on needs and availability of time. The group and the facilitator will generate ideas for self-care so that participants can leave the presentation with self-care ideas that they choose to use. This presentation also touches on the limits of self-care.