News, Resources, & Events

In the first installment of our self-care webinar series, It’s Okay to Not Be Okay, we’ll address the consequences of being overworked and overinvolved. Our guest speaker will discuss how feelings of burnout, secondary traumatic stress, and compassion fatigue can appear in your life and how to combat them with self-care.

Date
September 24, 2020

Time
12 p.m. CT

Guest Speaker
Alexis “Lexi” Losch, MS.Ed., MA, LPC-Intern, NCC Supervised by Lacey Fisher, LPC-S, RPT-S
Alexis “Lexi” Losch earned her Bachelor’s in Psychology (2004) and a Master of Science in Education in Higher Education Administration (2006) from the University of Miami. She completed a master’s degree in Professional Counseling (2018) at Texas State University after realizing how much she wanted to help college students emotionally and mentally. Lexi fell into her passion of perinatal mental health after her own perinatal experiences and seeing how few counselors of color there were in the perinatal world and serving college students at PWIs. She currently specializes in perinatal mood and anxiety disorders, grief and loss, young adults, and trauma. She is EMDR trained, Gottman Level 1 Trained, and is a DONA Trained postpartum doula. Lexi currently resides in Texas with her husband and three children. She is an LPC Intern (Licensed Professional Counselor Intern) and is supervised by Lacey Fisher, LPC-S, RPT-S.

Recently, professionals of color in the higher education space have faced collective traumas that affect campuses, nonprofits, and community organizations alike. This presentation will focus on the importance of grounding yourself before helping others, how to use assertive language to set personal boundaries, and what the meaning-making process looks like in times of trauma.

Date
October 27, 2020

Time
12 p.m. CT

Guest Speakers

Alexis “Lexi” Losch, MS.Ed., MA, LPC-Intern, NCC Supervised by Lacey Fisher, LPC-S, RPT-S
Alexis “Lexi” Losch earned her Bachelor’s in Psychology (2004) and a Master of Science in Education in Higher Education Administration (2006) from the University of Miami. She completed a master’s degree in Professional Counseling (2018) at Texas State University after realizing how much she wanted to help college students emotionally and mentally. Lexi fell into her passion of perinatal mental health after her own perinatal experiences and seeing how few counselors of color there were in the perinatal world and serving college students at PWIs. She currently specializes in perinatal mood and anxiety disorders, grief and loss, young adults, and trauma. She is EMDR trained, Gottman Level 1 Trained, and is a DONA Trained postpartum doula. Lexi currently resides in Texas with her husband and three children. She is an LPC Intern (Licensed Professional Counselor Intern) and is supervised by Lacey Fisher, LPC-S, RPT-S.

Dr. Komal Chandra
Komal Chandra, Ph.D., is a Residence Coordinator at New Jersey Institute of Technology where she oversees the operations of a 600-bed facility with a staff of 17 resident assistants. For the past five years, she has developed and executed biannual training for the department of Residence Life focusing on community building, crisis response, and diversity & inclusion. She is certified in Mental Health First Aid, Critical Incidence Response, and ALICE Active Shooter training. Dr. Chandra has a bachelor’s degree in Biological Anthropology with a minor in Public Health, as well as a Master of Medical Humanities from Drew University. She completed her Ph.D. in Urban Systems, Health Track from Rutgers University. Dr. Chandra is passionate about improving social determinants of health in urban communities and advocating for holistic wellness.

How do racism and discrimination can appear in professional settings? In this webinar, we’ll address racial microaggressions and macroaggressions at work, explore the development of white identity and identity for other cultural groups, and discuss what actionable allyship in the workplace can look like.

Date
November 19, 2020

Time
12 p.m. CT

Guest Speakers
Alexis “Lexi” Losch, MS.Ed., MA, LPC-Intern, NCC Supervised by Lacey Fisher, LPC-S, RPT-S
Alexis “Lexi” Losch earned her Bachelor’s in Psychology (2004) and a Master of Science in Education in Higher Education Administration (2006) from the University of Miami. She completed a master’s degree in Professional Counseling (2018) at Texas State University after realizing how much she wanted to help college students emotionally and mentally. Lexi fell into her passion of perinatal mental health after her own perinatal experiences and seeing how few counselors of color there were in the perinatal world and serving college students at PWIs. She currently specializes in perinatal mood and anxiety disorders, grief and loss, young adults, and trauma. She is EMDR trained, Gottman Level 1 Trained, and is a DONA Trained postpartum doula. Lexi currently resides in Texas with her husband and three children. She is an LPC Intern (Licensed Professional Counselor Intern) and is supervised by Lacey Fisher, LPC-S, RPT-S.

Tre Johnson, DEI Partner for Catalyst:Ed
Tre Johnson is a freelance writer on race and culture and a longtime career educator. He started his professional education career as a high school English teacher in Houston, TX and has since worked in Columbia, MD; Washington, D.C.; Philadelphia, PA; and Camden, NJ. His roles have included administrative roles in schools, Executive Director for Teach For America Greater Philadelphia, and Senior Manager of the District Advisory Board and Strategic Partnerships in Camden City School District. He is currently the DEI Partner for Catalyst:Ed.

His freelance career as a cultural critic and essayist has included appearances on CNN Tonight w/ Don Lemon; CBS This Morning; PBS NewsHour and NPR Morning Edition. His writing has appeared in Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, New York Times, Vox, San Francisco Chronicle, The Washington Post, and several other outlets. He’s served on panels for the NY TV Festival, Black Star Film Festival and others, speaking on race, popular culture, identity. He’s also given keynote addresses and lectures at University of Pennsylvania, St. Mary’s College of Southern Maryland, and Lewis & Clark College.

Outside of education, Tre has served as board and vice chair focused on issues such as education, teacher diversity, and juvenile sentencing and reentry.

Tre is a graduate from the University of Maryland, proudly born and raised in Trenton, NJ, and currently lives in Philadelphia, PA.

In the final installment of our self-care series, be prepared to meditate, breathe, and move with us during an interactive yoga session! Trained in healing intergenerational and systemic trauma, our guest presenters will guide you through a physically and mentally rejuvenating routine. Together, we’ll examine what it means to heal racial trauma, battle fatigue, and continue the work of dismantling systemic oppression.

Date
December 15, 2020

Time
12 p.m. CT

Guest Speakers

Nityda Gessel, LCSW, E-RYT, TITY
Nityda is a licensed somatic psychotherapist, yoga teacher, trauma specialist, speaker, writer, and heart-centered activist. Since 2006, Nityda has served as a Yoga Educator working within the intersections of yoga, mental health, embodied activism, and community advocacy.

Nityda is the founder of The Trauma-Conscious Yoga Institute (TCYI), an educational institution whose mission is to make embodied trauma-informed care more inclusive and accessible for trauma survivors within clinical and non-clinical settings, by way of providing comprehensive, body-inclusive, trauma education. Nityda’s vision is to expand mainstream trauma-informed care beyond the scope of micro-level trauma, advancing trauma discourse to more readily include the impact of macro-level and systemic trauma on both individuals and the collective conscious.

Alexis “Lexi” Losch, MS.Ed., MA, LPC-Intern, NCC Supervised by Lacey Fisher, LPC-S, RPT-S
Alexis “Lexi” Losch earned her Bachelor’s in Psychology (2004) and a Master of Science in Education in Higher Education Administration (2006) from the University of Miami. She completed a master’s degree in Professional Counseling (2018) at Texas State University after realizing how much she wanted to help college students emotionally and mentally. Lexi fell into her passion of perinatal mental health after her own perinatal experiences and seeing how few counselors of color there were in the perinatal world and serving college students at PWIs. She currently specializes in perinatal mood and anxiety disorders, grief and loss, young adults, and trauma. She is EMDR trained, Gottman Level 1 Trained, and is a DONA Trained postpartum doula. Lexi currently resides in Texas with her husband and three children. She is an LPC Intern (Licensed Professional Counselor Intern) and is supervised by Lacey Fisher, LPC-S, RPT-S.