Saint Mary's Newsroom

By Courteney Jacob ’19

Brian Mockler ’18 admits he isn’t certain what his future holds after graduation, but a meaningful summer internship at Ocean Tides in Narragansett, R.I., provided him with new career opportunities to explore.

Ocean Tides—operated by the De La Salle Christian Brothers— is a year-round residential and educational facility in Rhode Island for young men in grades seven through 12 in need of diversionary counseling or residential treatment. The facility’s goal is to help each student achieve personal growth, behavioral development, and life success.

Mockler, a psychology major, decided to pursue the Ocean Tides internship largely because he was interested in exploring this type of career environment.

Especially appealing to him was that fact that the internship involved both psychology and criminal justice aspects. Mockler said that he not only had the opportunity to frequently shadow and work with social workers at Ocean Tides, he also shadowed court liaisons a couple of times, which connected him with judges and parole officers as well.

Mockler said that when he arrived at Ocean Tides in May,  he generally spend time observing social workers while classes was in session.

During the summer, however, the routines changed, and the young men were assigned to summer work crews for a few hours in the afternoon as a way to earn money. Mockler would often join one of the work crews, which proved to be a great opportunity to interact more with the students on a personal level. He also frequently joined the students in evening activities.

Mockler was also allowed to sit in on weekly meetings where the behavioral and educational progress of each student was discussed.

“I was in an environment that I had never experienced before,” he said. “It was an eye-opening experience. I gained a new understanding about where a lot of these boys come from. A big takeaway from the overall experience is that people come from many different backgrounds. Although some of the boys at Ocean Tides may have had similar experiences growing up, they all had something unique that made their early childhood different.

“I think a lot of us take many things for granted. Some of these boys don’t have positive role models in their life; some of them have seen some pretty traumatic things; some of them also have mental illness.”

Interning at Ocean Tides allowed Mockler a chance to put what he had been learning at Saint Mary’s into practice. It also allowed him to build on skills that he learned at Saint Mary’s.

He credited Dr. Beth Seebach’s Clinical and Counseling Psychology course for preparing him for the internship. “I’d recommend the class to anyone,” he said. “We learned a lot about different therapeutic theories and how to use them. I was able to build on my verbal and nonverbal cues in this class as well. Things like making eye contact, shaking your head, repeating what the person said, and your posture are important. If you use these correctly, the person will know you’re listening and be more likely to feel comfortable talking to you.”

Mockler said he enjoyed the internship and could see himself eventually working in a similar environment.

“I respect the work being done at Ocean Tides,” he said. “I think their work is meaningful. Many of the boys have become successful after finishing the program. I know that Ocean Tides changes lives.”

By Kassondra Burtis ’12

When Leslie Shore M’00 was doing her thesis research, there’s one thing she realized we can all do better—listen.

“Communication is the key not just to success, but to any kind of relationship,” Shore said. “Listening is at the foundation of that.”

Shore had discovered that in all of the books she has read on communication, less than 10% of them focused on listening. She knew that this largely unexplored area was something she wanted to delve into with her thesis research while she was as a student in Saint Mary’s M.A. in Human Development program back in 2000.

That same research has now led to a successful self-help book titled Listen to Succeed: How to identify and overcome barriers to effective listening”—as well as numerous interviews and guest lectures across the U.S.

Shore is also the owner of Listen to Succeed, a consultancy business located in St. Paul that focuses on using listening analytics to help individuals, teams, and organizations achieve their highest level of effective communication ( www.listentosucceed.com).

Shore credits the flexible structure of the Human Development program at Saint Mary’s and her program director for supporting and encouraging her research vision. “The program allowed me to take my communication studies in a new direction,” she said. “It allowed me to do my research and assessments in the way that would best help me and my goals. The learning I was able to do in the program would not have happened in a normal communication master’s level program.”

For her research, Shore based her understanding of successful listening on her own family’s interactions. “I realized that I grew up in a family that had a high level of communication and a low level of conflict,” Shore said. “My grandmother had a knack for listening to others. They puffed up in her presence and felt valued and heard. Thinking about how my grandmother was an effective listener, I wanted to figure out how exactly that fit into everyday communication.”

Part of successful listening is watching body language and facial expressions, she said, adding that “What’s really important is your word choice when speaking, listening, and observing the person you’re talking with to see if your words landed. It may be clear to you, but clear as mud to the person on the other side.”

While attending Saint Mary’s, Shore uncovered eight major barriers that may stand in the way of effective listening, and from that she created a listening assessment which accurately measures these barriers.  “I’ve used this assessment for about 10 years during workshops and my work with nonprofits,” she said. “There was a counselor who finished taking the assessment and said, ‘I don’t like the results I got, but they’re right.’”

After years of additional study and sharing her findings through workshops, Shore decided she wanted to pass along her message to a wider audience.

Shore began gathering her thesis research and information she has shared in her workshop presentations, which proved to be challenging. “What I had been saying in my seminars about the value of effective listening, how it affects a person’s self esteem, the dynamic of a team or company when you listen to others—I was saying all of that in my seminars but wasn’t writing any of it down.”

After a couple of years of transcribing, writing, editing, and illustrating, Shore said the end result was “worth every second.”

She hopes that Listen to Succeed will encourage its readers to reassess the way they communicate. “My hope is that they will push aside any preconceptions of communication and recognize that listening is the way to create relationships, allow themselves to take in this information and—as a result of that—their personal and business relationships will automatically be richer, deeper, and more effective.”

By Stacia Vogel

Graduate student Casey Skeide has been named a 2017-2018 American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT) Minority Fellow. This national award is highly competitive and from the AAMFT Research and Education Foundation with grant support from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

Skeide is among a select group of individuals chosen for the Now Is The Time: Minority Fellowship Program for Youth (NITT-MFP-Y). Aimed at helping strengthen our nation’s youth and communities, this fellowship program provides significant financial and professional development support to students who are interested in providing access to and improving the behavioral health care services for racially and ethnically diverse children, adolescents, youth, and individuals in transition to adulthood.

“Without a doubt, this is a privilege to nurture my skills as a therapist and it’s a major milestone in my career and life,” said Skeide, who is a student in the Saint Mary’s Master of Arts in Marriage and Family Therapy program.

“As a marriage and family therapy student, one of the very first lessons that one learns is of the interconnectedness and systemic nature of all human interaction. In communities that I am from and work together with, it is not the individual that makes the community, but the community that makes the individual.” Skeide said. “With this notion, I have always sought institutions and experiences that exemplify this, and Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota is no exception. Saint Mary’s MFT program is dedicated to the nurturing and empowering of learners to live lives of service and leadership and I believe are able to do so because of the emphasis on community.”

With this fellowship, Skeide will have the opportunity for national trainings in MFT leadership, attendance and recognition at the 2017 annual AAMFT conference in Atlanta, as well as mentorship.

“The Saint Mary’s graduate school community could not be more proud of Casey Skeide for being selected as an AAMFT Minority Fellowship recipient. The goals of the fellowship program are in complete alignment with our Lasallian values of access, social justice, and culturally responsive service. This fellowship aims to expand the delivery of culturally competent mental health services to underserved people as well as to increase the number of culturally competent therapists. Skeide embodies these values with all of their passion, energy, and creativity in academia, research, and in direct client service. Our community is better for having Skeide in it,” said Samantha Zaid, Ph.D., Rev., L.M.F.T., who is Director of the Marriage and Family Therapy Graduate Program at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota.

A little more about the fellowship: In 2014, the Now Is The Time: Minority Fellowship Program-Youth was established. This Fellowship was part of President Obama’s Plan, Now Is the Time, to increase access to mental health services for youth in America. The objectives of the NITT: MFP-Y are to reduce health disparities and improve behavioral health care outcomes for racially and ethnically diverse populations by increasing the number of culturally competent master’s-level behavioral health professionals serving children, adolescents, and populations in transition to adulthood (ages 16 to 25) in an effort to increase access to, and quality of, behavioral health care for this age group. The MFP is Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) premier mental health workforce development training program focused on mental health disparities faced by underserved and minority communities. For more about AAMFT, visit their website.

Nearly 100 guests joined Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota as it broke ground for a new 10,000-square-foot addition to Cascade Meadow Wetlands and Environmental Learning Center in Rochester on Aug. 15.

Although the event celebrated a physical expansion, the excitement multiplied as university officials discussed the programming that will take place inside.

Once approved by state and regional accrediting bodies, this expanded Saint Mary’s facility will house the graduate portion of a proposed 3+2 Physician Assistant program, a collaborative effort with the Mayo Clinic School of Health Sciences.

Participants chosen for the program could potentially become a physician assistant in as little as five years—spending three years studying at Saint Mary’s Winona Campus, followed by two years of graduate study at Cascade Meadow.

Students successfully completing the program will earn a bachelor’s degree from Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota and a Master of Health Sciences in Physician Assistant Studies from Mayo Clinic School of Health Sciences.

This new addition will also house programming within the university’s Schools of Graduate and Professional Programs. Saint Mary’s has had an educational presence in Rochester since 1985.

A generous $5 million gift from Jack and Mary Ann (Wera) CST’64 Remick of Rochester will support the building expansion and programming.

Scott Walker, associate vice president, partnerships-Rochester, and executive director of Cascade Meadow, said that “when longtime Saint Mary’s University supporters Jack and Mary Ann Remick gifted this beautiful facility to Saint Mary’s in 2015, we began envisioning the ways we could best utilize this natural environment and expand upon the important work Jack Remick had started.

“Cascade Meadow continues to be a regional resource for environmental education,” Walker said. “Our students—as well as students throughout the region—are finding that the hands-on learning opportunities here in this diverse ecological system are invaluable.

“It’s because of the Remicks’ continued generous support and leadership, that we will expand and growour Rochester presence and usher in a new educational opportunity to help Rochester continue to thrive.”

Luis Escobar ’12 provided a unique perspective as a Saint Mary’s alumnus who is working as a certified physician assistant at the Mayo Clinic Health System in St. James, Minn.

“I’m a proud Saint Mary’s University alum, and I am honored to work for the Mayo Clinic Health System. I can also attest that a career as a physician assistant is a very rewarding one,” he said. “I was excited to hear about the proposed collaboration between the Mayo Clinic School of Health Sciences and Saint Mary’s University for a physician assistant program. Physician assistants play a very direct role in being of service to others.

“Working for the Mayo Health System, we are part of an unbelievable support system,” he added. “Every medical provider working within Mayo Clinic Health System is equipped to give our patients the best care. This proposed Physician Assistant program would be a tremendous asset to students. Being able to learn from the best in the nation would be a dream come true for many Saint Mary’s students.”

Audrey Kintzi, vice president for Development and Alumni Relations added, “Saint Mary’s students deserve an education that prepares them to address the needs of tomorrow, and they deserve an environment that meets their expectations as well as their drive and determination. It makes me incredibly happy that we are now able to house such very important study and work in a wonderful new facility.”

Brother William Mann, Saint Mary’s president, told attendees that the ground breaking was just part of the growth occurring at Saint Mary’s. “We are proud to be in Rochester. We’re proud to be collaborating with the Mayo Clinic,” he said. “Today is only the beginning. That was our promise in (our 2012) centennial. It’s not just that we got to 100 (years), but we got to 100 strong and determined. Because of our friends, we continue to do great things.”

DLR Group is serving as the architect of the project, and McGough Construction will serve as general contractor. Construction will begin Sept. 1.

View photos from the event.

View KIMT’s news coverage of the event.

Groundbreaking participants included (from left): Amado Guevara, project manager, DLR Group; Abigail Propsom ’19, Cascade Meadow intern; Dr. Michael Silber, dean, Mayo Clinic School of Health Sciences; Brother William, Saint Mary’s president; Mary Ann (Wera) Remick CST’64, chair, Saint Mary’s Board of Trustees; Jack Remick, founder, Cascade Meadow; Luis Escobar ’12, physician assistant, Mayo Clinic Health System; and Dan Melbostad, general manager, McGough Construction.