Facilitators
Moderator: Vicki Alden
Vicki Alden, Ph.D., LCSW (Licensed Clinical Social Worker) is in private practice with offices in Geneva. she holds a Master of Social work degree from Loyola University Chicago. She recently earned her Ph.D. from the Institute for Clinical Social Work.
Vicki has over thirty years experience in the social service/mental health field. She has provided services in a variety of settings including an inpatient mental health center, two community mental health centers, and three medical center outpatient clinics.
Her focus for the last decade has been her private practice for adults. Her specialties include Grief & Loss and Life Transitions. Vicki’s services include individual, couple, and group psychotherapy, and one-session, weekend, and multi-session education seminars and workshops.
Vicki’s Geneva office is located at 501 West State Street, Suite 204. She can be reached at (312) 305-3443 or Vicki@novocounsel.com.
Moderator: Laurie Walsh, MSW, LCSW
Laurie is the founder and chief executive manager of Insight EAP LLC. She is a licensed clinical social worker with more than a decade of mental health expertise who specializes in the evaluation & treatment of teens and adults with attention deficit disorder (AD/HD). In her private practice, Laurie also works with couples having relationship difficulties and those suffering from depression and anxiety.
In addition to treating individuals, Insight EAP helps companies reduce healthcare costs by addressing employee stress, behavior, and productivity through workshops, management training, and one-on-one counseling.
Laurie currently serves as the immediate past president of the Board of Alumni, as well as an Advisory Board Member for Loyola University Chicago’s Graduate School of Social Work. She is also a student pursuing an advanced degree in Oriental Medicine.
Insight EAP LLC has providers in Chicago’s Loop, Park Ridge, and Geneva, Illinois.
Moderator: Cynthia Hernandez Kolski
To all of you in the NOVO Community and to everyone who had the pleasure of knowing Cynthia, we have had to say goodbye to this wonderful and caring woman. She passed away from cancer this month.
Cynthia Hernandez Kolski
January 6, 1948-February 22, 2010
Cynthia Hernandez Kolski formed her own business in 1999, after recovering from a life threatening accident. She began her career as a nurse where she discovered the essential link between mind & body, mental & physical health. Shortly thereafter, she began to bridge her medical background with the field of training and development.
With over twenty-seven years in the field of human resource development, Cynthia has developed a wide breath of knowledge and an energetic and involving training style. Her workshops contain a “hands-on” approach which reaches both youth and adults. Administrators and managers appreciate Cynthia’s insites and common sense approach to the situations we all face at work and in our personal life. Participants leave with new techniques, renewed enthusiasm and an individual action plan. Audiences appreciate her directness and candor.
Cynthia has presented to national and international groups, for public and private sectors alike. She is commited to the personal and professional growth of her workshop participants, which is evident in her interactive and comprehensive program materials. Her business is based out of Wheaton, Illinois. Click here to contact Cynthia or go to www.communicationeducation.com for more information.
Moderator: Christina Kolski
Christina Kolski is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who works for Chicago Public Schools as a school social worker with the Department of Early Childhood Community Partnership Program. Christina received her Masters in Social Work from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and her Bachelors degree in Psychology and Theatre from the University of Notre Dame.
Specializing in children and adolescents, Christina utilizes an eclectic approach in therapy, incorporating dramatherapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) in her practice. Having worked in both schools and mental health, she understands the importance of supporting the child in every environment from home, school, and social settings. Christina has worked with children and adolescents with depression/bi-polar disorder, anxiety, eating disorders, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), oppositional defiant disorder and many others. She is committed to helping youth develop positive self-esteem and grow in their relationships with others and their community.
Christina will be providing individual therapy and facilitating groups for NOVO, including a dramatherapy group and a group for pre-teen/teenage girls. For more information, click on any of the links below.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drama_therapy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_behavioral_therapy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solution_focused_brief_therapy.
NOVO Assistant: Katy Dehaven
Katy graduated from Eastern Illinois University in May. She now holds a Bachelor Degree in Family and Consumer Sciences with a concentration in Family Services. Katy is researching, developing, and implementing NOVO’s teen/young adult program. Katy is planning to continue her education in a gradute program in the near future. She plans on attending Aurora University to attain her Masters in Social Work.