WORKSHOPS AND TRAINING: Counselor Training for the Gifted and Talented Population This seminar recognizes this tremendous need for training counselors and mental health-related professionals for the gifted and talented population, and the provision of such services as a specialty within the mental health field. This seminar will provide the foundation and a methodology for the delivery of these services. Attendees will begin to understand the characteristics, complexities and nuances of the gifted and talented population. Emphasis will be placed on how to determine the difference between when a behavior is related to giftedness or a diagnostic issue related to a mental health concern. During this seminar, participants will be provided with a comprehensive model on how to assess and deliver relevant counseling and related services that adjust for these special needs. Upon leaving the seminar, attendees will have a more complete understanding of the identity struggles and mental health-related concerns for this population; a practical method to intervene in treatment; and an opportunity to develop a new specialty area for practice that is in high demand. To receive further information regarding workshop and training with Andy Mahoney contact Jennifer Smith at jhsmith2020@yahoo.com or Andy Mahoney at asmahoney@aol.com. For more information on this specific workshop, click here. “The Fit” Workshop Do you feel that you aren’t living up to your potential? Do you lack motivation in your career? Do you have a dream that you’ve given up on? Do you love what you do, but you want to be better at it? Do you hate what you do even though you are good at it? Have you realized that you want to change careers, but don’t know how to start? Do you want to have better relationships with your loved-ones? These questions and many more like them come up when our Identity is not aligned with our gifts and our purpose. Identity is the expression of the Self, and when we live in an Identity that does not fit with our unique constellation of gifts, attributes, and purpose, we create a sense of discomfort or disturbance in our lives. When we create an Identity that is in alignment with our unique self and with our purpose, we activate our full potential and live in fulfillment. How is such an aligned Identity created? Through understanding the Fit: the complex interplay between our unique makeup and the environmental systems ( the epigenetic fields ) around us and inside of us. The Fit workshop empowers individuals to reach their unique potential through consciously developing their Identity. Ninety percent or more of our behavior feelings and thoughts originate in our unconscious mind, non-declarative behavior ( i.e. habits) out of our awareness. In his one-day workshop, Andy teaches how to bring our powerful unconscious identity process into consciousness. With more conscious awareness, we can appreciate our unique gifts and how they interact, or Fit, with the world around us. Conscious awareness also grants us the power of free will--changing our thoughts and actions to better support our goals and Identity achievement. Through awareness of our Fit, we align our Identity with our gifts and our purpose, which is the key to unlocking potential and finding fulfillment. To receive further information regarding workshop and training with Andy Mahoney contact Jennifer Smith at jhsmith2020@yahoo.com or Andy Mahoney at asmahoney@aol.com

Academic achievement. Workplace performance problems. Inflexible institutions, alienation and isolation. Talents developed fully, at the expense of the full self. In more than 25 years of working with gifted and talented people, I've seen many gifted people struggle with issues like these.

As a result, I've become convinced that focusing on your identity as a gifted person -- and how that relates to the whole self -- is the foundation for growth. Learning how people are gifted or about your giftedness / talent and understanding it in the context of family, friends and co-workers is always the first step to activating your potential and leading more fulfilling lives. For me identity is the tool of your expression not who you are.

As a counselor and potentiator seeking to define and organize the variables affecting gifted identity and its development, I created the Gifted Identity Formation Model. (now referred to as “The Fit”) Based on identity formation and its crucial variables in the counseling or any growth process, the model gives you a method for assessing potential and delivering interventions, etc. that explore and strengthen the identity formation of gifted people and all people in the process of activating potential.

The Model uses a grid plotting influences on identity and constructs to help you discover the deeper issues of identity that relate to being gifted or whatever identity(s) you wish to potentiate your self through. That grid, my explanation of the Model and my suggestions for its use in a client interview are detailed on the Gifted Identity Formation Model page.

• Go to the articles page for my writings on issues facing gifted people, their counselors, parents and educators.
• The books and links pages offer more resources.
• To learn about my new practice The Center for Identity Potential, click outline of services.
• I speak often to fellow counselors, parents, educators and gifted adults on wide-ranging topics involving the gifted and talented and their lives at home, at school and at work. Click speaking opportunities to learn more about my presentations and how you can engage me to work with your organization.

Thanks for visiting my Web site. I welcome your comments. Please direct them to the appropriate address on my e-mail page.

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