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Counselor workshop offers talk by pioneer of reality therapy theory Robert Wubbolding

Janel Shoun-Smith | 

Wubbolding, Robert 1

Local counselors and counseling students are invited to Reality Therapy in Action, a workshop featuring Dr. Robert E. Wubbolding, a leading authority on reality therapy, on Tuesday, Sept. 10, in Lipscomb’s Ezell Center.

The day-long workshop, beginning at 8:30 a.m., provides the local counseling community the chance to learn from a pioneer in one of the most frequently-used cognitive behavior theories: reality therapy, intended to help clients examine their harmful behaviors and make smarter choices.

Dr. Robert Wubbolding has over 30 years of experience and is a licensed psychologist and professional clinical counselor. He currently serves as director of the Center for Reality Therapy, professor emeritus at Xavier University in Cincinnati and senior faculty for The William Glasser Institute in Los Angeles.

“Every therapist struggles with how to deal with the resistant client, and this workshop provides some ideas and techniques on how to get clients moving forward,” said Jake Morris, chair of Lipscomb’s Department of Psychology and Counseling, which is coordinating the workshop. “Avoidance and resistance are very common obstacles in therapy. So the chance to personally hear Wubbolding talk about reality therapy, which he helped develop, is a wonderful opportunity in this career field.”

Some of Wubbolding’s major contributions to reality therapy are the Cycle of Psychotherapy and Counseling chart and an expansion of the WDEP (wants, doing, evaluation, plans) system’s evaluation procedures, as well as published works that include more than 145 journal articles, essays, chapters in textbooks, 11 books, 12 DVDs and the comprehensive book “Reality Therapy for the 21st Century.” Additionally, he wrote the American Psychological Association’s “Theories of Psychotherapy Series: Reality Therapy (2011),” the first book on reality therapy published by American Psychological Association.

Wubbolding has taught choice theory and reality therapy in the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. He is a member of the American Psychological Association, American Counseling Association and American Mental Health Counseling Association.

At the workshop, behavioral health professionals will learn skills that can be used as brief interventions, combining empathy with the belief that a better life is possible for clients. They will also lean tools for helping clients move from helplessness to more effective control of their lives by gaining a sense of hope and plans for self-improvement.

The information presented in this one-day course will include using multiple teaching and learning techniques such as role play demonstrations of specific cases, group activities and implementation plans.

This workshop is acceptable for six continuing education units in accordance to rules of the Tennessee Board for Licensed Professional Counselors, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists and Licensed Pastoral Therapists, Rule 0450-1-.12 Continuing Education, Section 2.

For more information or to register for the Reality Therapy Workshop, contact Kathi Johnson at kathi.johnson@lipscomb.edu or 615.966.5237 or log on to www.lipscomb.edu/counseling/Reality-Therapy-Workshop.