Month: November 2020

Caleb Williams

Diversity, Collaboration, & Inclusion Art Contest

The College of Family, Home, and Social Sciences’ Diversity, Collaboration, and Inclusion Committee is sponsoring an art contest as part of their campaign to nurture a Zion community, one that is based on unity, respect, and charity towards all, at BYU. They hope that this call for art submissions will inspire students to reflect on what it means to be a disciple of Christ and stand up for social injustice.

The theme for this year is Building a Diverse Community Today for a Zion Community Tomorrow. Students are encouraged to internalize this message and create something that accurately shares what that message means to them. 

This call is open for submissions beginning November 30th and will close January 11th, 2021. Students may create submissions in any medium they desire, as long as the following criteria are met:

*Student must be a Family, Home, and Social Sciences Major

*The entry may be any medium, but must be smaller than 2’ x 3’

*Student must agree that if chosen, their work will be donated to the college of FHSS

*Student must fill out the accompanying form (see bottom) to be considered

*Only one entry per student

Entries will be judged by a panel of DCI committee members and staff representatives based on aesthetic merit and how well the piece reflects the prompt. Winners will be chosen and will be awarded as follows:

1st Place: $300

2nd Place: $200

3rd Place: $100

Honorable Mention: $50

All students are encouraged to participate in this wonderful opportunity to reflect on the idea of fostering a Zion community at BYU. Submitted works will be displayed at the College, replacing artwork previously hung, as a way to demonstrate our commitment to upholding principles of diversity and inclusion. All artwork will be displayed/showcased throughout Black History Month.

For any questions, please contact Lita Little Giddins.

lita_giddins@byu.edu

All submissions due by January 11th, 2021.

Follow this link to the official site: https://fhss.byu.edu/diversity-collaboration-and-inclusion-art-contest

Submission form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfl1hFlA3Ls18cGMHoJD08VJMOZImc-VZXDv0CKvs2BmWxKSQ/viewform

Caleb Williams

Walking Through the Comprehensive Clinic

At a program anniversary event, faculty from BYU’s Marriage and Family Therapy program took time to ask themselves “What have we done?” In academia, impact is measured by publications, performance ratings, and research achievements. This time, however, they decided to look further, at the less measurable standards of impact. One clinician mentioned walking across campus at a different university when someone came up to him, recognized him, and said, “You saved my marriage.” How does one measure that kind of impact? Thinking of this impact, Dean Barley of the Comprehensive Clinic looks to the future, saying, “We will continue to learn how to do better what we do, what health looks like, and how to help people get there, so we can accomplish frankly the purpose for which we are on the planet: to get back to Heavenly Father.” 

That’s the spirit and overall purpose of BYU’s Comprehensive Clinic, which is located on the east border of campus, across the street from the Creamery. In the seventies, members of various disciplines within BYU had the idea to consolidate psychology, marriage and family therapy, and social work into a building designed to provide hands-on learning for students as well as service to the community. Barley explains, “one initial vision was that the academic side could do development of theory and practice, and they could help in the creation of training modules to be used by LDS family services…Cross referring and interdisciplinary research and services, that was the idea.” 

The Clinic provides students excellent training in clinical psychology, marriage and family therapy, and social work. Unlike BYU Counseling Services, which is designed especially for BYU students, the Comprehensive Clinic focuses on the uninsured and underinsured members of the surrounding community. Over 100 students and 30 supervisors take on anywhere between 850 to 1,000 cases a year. Graduate students provide the therapy under the careful supervision of their faculty supervisors, who are also licensed therapists.  

To receive access to these services, potential clients call the Clinic and are scheduled by the receptionist for a phone intake interview with a graduate student. These interviews last 20-30 minutes and are designed to assess the client’s needs and eligibility for care. As a training institution, the clinic is careful to not exceed what they are able to offer; more extreme cases are referred to an appropriate clinic elsewhere. Clients have access to therapy sessions as well as psychological assessments. Sessions are typically $15, though the client can negotiate with the therapist if that is financially challenging. The purpose of the Comprehensive Clinic is to help those in the community who struggle to receive help through normal clinical routes while providing excelling training for the next generation of therapists.  

The clinic isn’t just a place of practice though, as many faculty are conducting research in a wide variety of subjects: positive psychology, autism, obesity, violence in relationships, anxiety, marriage therapy, stress, trauma, and adolescent development, to name a few. The Comprehensive Clinic is the intersect of these diverse fields’ academic and applied endeavors.  

While explaining the function and operations of the clinic, Dean Barley shifted in his chair and began to speak more candidly: “The end goal of all we do is to create a heavenly family, and when we are all done, if things go well, we will be back together.” There was a clear empathy in his voice as he continued, “This is a beautiful and applied setting. How can we help those who are struggling—individuals, couples, and families—across a lifetime span to help us accomplish life’s real purpose?” For Barley, the Clinic is the “crown jewel” of the College of Family, Home, and Social Sciences, taking all of the theories across multiple disciplines and consolidating them into a place of true care. Barley says, “In this setting it’s: ‘Things aren’t going well, let’s get you healthy again so that you’re thriving and not just striving.’ So, we have a noble purpose here.”  

When one walks the halls of the Clinic, it is clear that this noble purpose is at the forefront of all that the Clinic tries to do. There are several rooms where the actual therapy sessions take place, each designed to be relaxing for the clients and educational for the students. Beautiful photos hang on the wall, toys for children fill cubbies, and comfortable atmospheres make an environment that encourages healthy and productive therapy. There are also rooms dedicated entirely as spaces for students to work, study, and relax. The faculty and students who spend much of their day in this building are dedicated to improving their skills and providing the best possible service to people in the surrounding community. 

With the arrival of COVID, the Clinic was forced to transition most of their care to online meetings, which was an adjustment. However, this has had the unforeseen benefit of allowing them to access clients in a broader geographic area. Where once only those in Utah County were able to meet for regular appointments, the introduction of teletherapy sessions has allowed for a more expansive coverage. The Clinic will continue to operate online for as long as is appropriate, after which a decision will be made on how to move forward and improve access to these services for the community.  

If you or someone you know in the community could be helped by the services of the Comprehensive Clinic, please contact them through the resources provided below. They are happy to get you the care you need.  

(801) 422-7759

https://comprehensiveclinic.byu.edu

Baylie Duce

Family Life in a Pandemic

Findings presented by deseret.com/AFS

How has a devastating pandemic, social unrest, and political turmoil affected American families? Though most might assume family life has become more stressful, strained, and shaky in recent months, the 2020 American Family Survey results showed despite “pockets of trouble” in family life, there is still strong evidence of “resilience in the face of adversity”. Despite societal tumult, the state of the American family seems to be better than we might have expected.

Principal Investigators Christopher F. Karpowitz & Jeremy C. Pope and Co-Directors of the Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy at BYU, designed the 2020 American Family Survey, an annual nationwide poll with 3,000 respondents, to test how families are faring under unprecedented conditions.

The survey was administered between July 3-14, at the height of racial, social, and political unrest, and these are five of the most interesting findings as identified by the Deseret News.

Finding #1: The pandemic is making families stronger.

56% of respondents say the pandemic helped them appreciate their partner and 43% evaluated their own marriages as getting stronger. Nearly a majority, 47% of respondents agreed with the statement that, “the pandemic has deepened my commitment to my relationship.” During the 2020 American Family Survey webcast from the Brookings Institution, Principal Investigator Karpowitz concluded, “We do see resilience in relationships.” In a time of worldly upheaval, some think couples would struggle, but surprisingly 62% of respondents disagreed that the pandemic had made them question the strength of their relationship.

Finding #2: Since the pandemic started, men are more likely to say they struggle balancing work and home life.

With many men and women now working from home, work and home life is all managed under the same roof. 40% of men versus 31% of women say the balance is a struggle.

Finding #3: The role of a parent has become more important

80% of parents say their role as a parent is important to their identity, up from 71% in 2018. Karpowitz said, “We are living in a unique moment, a moment that is priming those identities, a politicized moment. But it’s also a moment where people are especially cognizant of their family relationships.” Panelist and Senior Fellow of Economic and Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution Camille Busette discussed how parenting has increased in importance for respondents, and how greater percentages of Blacks, Latinos and Whites reported that their role as parents is important to their identity than in previous years. Busette discussed how this increase could be attributed to the fact that many parents took on the additional role as educators and invested personally in their children’s education during the pandemic.

Finding #4: Men think they’re carrying their weight around the house.

With many men and women staying home, men say they’re dividing tasks 50-50, but women disagree. Women say it’s more like 65-35.

Finding #5: More extended families are moving in together.

There was a significant increase in percent of families living with extended family. 25% of respondents live with extended family, up from 20% last year.

These findings show the resilient nature of American families, but there is also a relationship between respondents who reported lost income and increased stress in marriage. 24% of those who reported no lost income during the pandemic also reported an increase of stress in marriage as compared to 34% of those who reported lost income of a spouse or partner. Dr. Pope discussed the negative effects of the pandemic on the family: “This highlights that most people are resilient but there are pockets of people who are experiencing trouble and it’s worth us paying attention to.”

Panelist and Senior Fellow in Economic Studies at Brookings Institution Richard Reeves shared his thoughts about the importance of relationships within American families during the pandemic, “The survey shows the need for, and a hunger for a good relational quality of life…I do think that the things that people associate with marriage and family are being more valued, [and] that’s true with extended families coming together [and] people having to spend more time with their children.”

Busette proposed future implications of the survey results, “The picture that’s clear here is that families are very resilient, particularly during COVID. And I think the fact that they have been so focused on their families means that there is an interesting foundation upon which to pursue pro-family policies in the next few years.”

Reeves concluded that the survey shows that “if there’s a piece of hope, maybe it’s that we have a broader recognition of how much our relationships matter.”

Topline reports and data sets are available for download from BYU’s Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy.

Watch the Brookings Institution presentation of the results and expert panel.

See more findings at deseret.com/AFS.