The National University System Repository exists to increase public access to research and other materials created by students and faculty of the affiliate institutions of National University System. Most items in the repository are open access, freely available to everyone.
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Item The Role of the Counsellor's Voice in Therapy(2025-06)A counsellor's voice can have a significant therapeutic impact. Viewed through the lens of polyvagal theory, the prosody of the counsellor's voice communicates their nervous system regulation and creates a sense of safety for the client. The warmth of the counsellor's voice and their ability to mirror the client’s vocal features contributes to the strong establishment of the therapeutic alliance. The voice also supports corrective attachment experiences with soothing and comforting sounds that let the client know they are seen, understood, and valued, while syncing and out-syncing with a client's vocal features can facilitate movement towards secure attachment. At a neurobiological level, the voice expresses attunement and facilitates emotion regulation via the connection between right brains of counsellor and client. Similarly, vocal synchronization and entrainment are associated with perceived empathy. Counsellors with vocal awareness and flexibility can employ different prosodic patterns for validating a client’s emotions or challenging them to explore new meanings. Arousal correlates well with the fundamental frequency of the voice – the pitch – but studies yield mixed results when measuring counsellors' pitch patterns against outcomes. This paper presents a 90 minute voice workshop for counsellors and counselling students to increase their awareness of their voices and increase vocal skill and flexibility.Item Beyond the Screen: Social Media's Impact on Young Women's Well-Being and Romantic Relationships(2025-10)This capstone explores the psychological and relational influence of social media use on young women, with a particular focus on self-perception, body image, and well-being. As social media platforms become significantly popular and central to identity development, young women may experience heightened vulnerability to social comparison, internalized beauty standards, mental health challenges, and relational implications. This paper highlights the intricate ways online engagement can influence emotional and interpersonal outcomes by examining current research on social media use, body dissatisfaction, and relational dynamics. This capstone aims to raise awareness of the extent to which social media use can influence young women while providing practical strategies that foster self-compassion, critical awareness, and healthier online interactions.Item Dissociative Trauma: A Framework in Working With Substance Users in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside(2025-05-18)Dissociation, once narrowly defined as a rare and extreme disruption of consciousness, is now increasingly understood as a spectrum of responses to trauma, particularly in the context of complex developmental histories (van der Hart, 2021). This evolving understanding is highly relevant in addiction treatment, where individuals frequently present with unrecognized or under-treated dissociative symptoms stemming from chronic, relational, and developmental trauma (Huỳnh et al., 2016; Oviedo-Joekes et al., 2011). Emerging research indicates that complex trauma is disproportionately prevalent in populations with substance use disorders, often driving both the initiation and maintenance of addictive behaviours as maladaptive coping mechanisms (Baudin et al., 2022). Trauma-focused therapeutic approaches, including models like eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy (EMDR), have shown promise in addressing the underlying dissociative processes that fuel addiction (Bae et al., 2016; Deacon & Abramowitz, 2004; Karatzias et al., 2019). This paper advocates to incorporate dissociative symptom screening, and evidence-based trauma focused treatment into addiction recovery settings, emphasizing clinical strategies (van der Hart, 2010). By addressing the dissociative roots of addiction, treatment programs can offer more sustainable recovery pathways for this highly vulnerable population.Item MBA capstone: managing strategy, planning and innovation [case study: Recreation Equipment Inc.](2013)REI, an outdoor gear company has been an all-round achiever and has managed to be in Fortune magazine's "100 Best Companies to Work For" list every year since 1998 ("REI is a Best Place to Work," n.d., para 1) with its unwavering focus on what it deems to be its winning streak - its valued employees. CEO Jewell "solidified and professional ized " (Lamm, 2013, para 11) and integrated a high engagement culture into the company. With its new found emotionally intelligent culture REI progressed into becoming a place where people come to work and share their passion of the outdoors while helping others to experience the wonderful nature. Though the co-op's faces many challenges enroute its sustainability efforts but the four frame recommendations I provide a strong base for it to progress as desired. Hopefully we will witness many more honors coming the co-op's way in the years to come.Item Motivating students to read: motivating elementary school students toward recreational reading(2000)Research and theory have demonstrated that there is no single magic formula for motivating students to read. Research has also shown that good everyday teaching practices can do more to counter student apathy than special efforts to attack motivation directly. Some students seem naturally enthusiastic about learning while some are not motivated. Research has shown that even students who seem naturally enthusiastic about learning may expect their teachers to inspire, challenge and stimulate them. The teacher must be responsible for providing an environment that encourages students to be motivated to learn. This report describes an action research program that draws on different theories to create an effective strategy to motivate students to read for recreational purposes. The targeted population consisted of twenty-five fourth-grade students in an inner city school. Evidence of the existence of these problems was gathered from teacher observations, assessments, students, and parent surveys. A review of research literature combined with analysis of the problem settings suggested a three - faceted intervention: setting up of a classroom library, creation of a reading workshop, and establishment of an at-home reading program. Post intervention data indicated an increase in students' responsibility toward learning and an improved reading attitude in school and at home.
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