Spring 2013

In this Issue: A NOTE FROM THE CLINIC COORDINATOR.…1

ASPIRE STUDENT SPOTLIGHT….2

A HOLISTIC HOME: EXPANDING OUR DEFINITION OF INTERIOR DESIGN….5 ASPIRE Clinic HOLISTIC SERVICES, IMPROVED WELL-BEING

The ASPIRE Clinic, a collaborative unit of the College of Family and Consumer

Sciences at the University of Georgia, is a unique resource that provides coun‐

seling and education services to UGA and the Athens community.

ASPIRE to improve your... SELF RELATIONSHIPS NUTRITION HEALTH FINANCES HOME LEGAL SITUATION

acquiring strategies for personal improvement and relationship enhancement

T hank you for taking the time to explore the inaugural is‐sue of the ASPIRE Clinic

Newsletter. We are excited and proud to offer the members of our college and our community support‐ers a snapshot of all things ASPIRE. Every semester, we will be high‐lighting the work and achievements of our fantastic students and faculty members. Also, as a clinic dedicated to service & outreach, we will be sharing thoughts and perspectives from community entities that view the clinic as an important resource.

April 1st, 2013 marks the begin‐ning of my 3rd year as the ASPIRE Clinic Coordinator. I am personally so proud of its growth and develop‐ment over this short time! It contin‐ues to be such a privilege to see how our services touch lives. With your support, I am eager to further our impact at UGA and within Athens. Keep Aspiring! Megan Ford

COMMUNITY IMPACT: THOUGHTS FROM THE ARK ….3

FINANCIAL THERAPY: BUDDING COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH….4

Volume 1 , Issue 1

Be A Better You!

A Warm Welcome from the Clinic Coordinator

ASPIRE Student Spotlight: Learning & Making a

Difference through Interdisciplinary Education

Meet Abby Suhr, UGA student and for-mer ASPIRE Intern, and Thomas Wil-liams, former ASPIRE financial service provider, as they reflect on their past involvement with the ASPIRE Clinic.

MFT,” she stated. “The internship made me realize that I might want to be a school counselor in the future and reaffirmed that I want a job that helps people, like I thought be-fore – that is something I know is never going to change.” Having such a positive experience has prompted Abby to encourage others to apply. “The internship is an AMAZING oppor-tunity, especially if you are interested in counseling or MFT. There is a lot to learn, but you will have more than enough support from supervisors and fel-low interns to be success-ful,” Abby shared.

In the year ahead, Abby will be moving to New York to participate in Teach for America as a Kindergarten teacher at a brand new school, Leader-ship Prep Canarsie. “I am so excited for the year ahead,” said Abby. “I hope my job will help a lot of kids, which is exactly what I am about.”

I nterested in applying or learning more about ASPIRE Clinic

internship opportunities? Positions are available during spring, summer, and fall each year. Contact Megan Ford at aspire@uga.edu or 706-542-6795.

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MEET THE ASPIRE

ADVISORY GROUP

Linda Fox, Dean, College of Family and Consumer Sciences Deborah Murray, Associate Dean of Extension and Outreach, FACS Megan Ford, Clinic Coordinator Jerry Gale, HDFS, Marriage & Family Therapy Program Maria Bermudez, HDFS, Marriage & Family Therapy Program Sarah Zenti, TMI, Furnishings & Interiors Program Joseph Goetz, HACE, Family Financial Planning Program Barbara Grossman, FDN, Dietetic Internship Program Alex Scherr, UGA Law School

T homas Williams, a Virginia na-tive, moved to Georgia in 2010 to begin the HACE Master’s of

Science program in Family Financial Planning. During the spring of 2011, he was informed about a financial counsel-ing practicum that Dr. Joe Goetz was creating that summer. He enrolled and began working at the ASPIRE Clinic in

June 2011 as a financial service provider. “My experience at the clinic influenced me to want to learn more about the rela-tional, emotional, and behavioral aspects of money,” Williams said. He recalls that the unique educational environment of ASPIRE has helped him to grow signifi-cantly. “Student service providers at the clinic learn how to collaborate with pro-fessionals from different disciplines and how to put classroom knowledge into action. I personally gained quite a bit from partnering with other service pro-viders in the clinic and learning about their respective professions,” said Thomas. Through his experience with ASPIRE, Thomas has also adopted new professional goals, including further ex-ploration of the therapy field. He has

found a passion for working with clients and assisting them in resolving complex concerns involving both finances and emotions. “The ASPIRE Clinic has mo-tivated and encouraged me to want to learn more about the mental health pro-fession and pursue a career as a thera-pist, with a focus on money,” he shared. “In the end, I would like to have a doc-torate degree within this profession.” As Thomas works towards these goals, he plans to take both the Certified Finan-cial Planner and Accredited Financial Counselor exams, while continuing to learn more about the mental health field.

Best of luck to Thomas & all of our ASPIRE students graduating this Spring!

A bby Suhr, a senior at UGA was involved as an ASPIRE Clinic in-

tern in Fall 2012. As a psy-chology student, she recounts that the unique internship op-portunity at ASPIRE was the ideal way for her to learn more about the mental health field, and marriage and family therapy (MFT) specifically. “The ASPIRE Clinic had a great impact on me,” she said. “It was helpful being around therapists and my supervisor who were so supportive of my future career aspirations and who were there to answer any questions I had about my pre-sent or future goals.” In completing the intern-ship, Abby has found more clarity regarding what she wants to pursue. “Before the internship, I thought I might want to go into counseling or

ASPIRE Outreach: Creating a Lasting

Impact on our Local Community

Director of The Ark, Lucy Hudgens, dis-cusses how the ASPIRE Clinic has become an important local resource and how our work contributes positively to the mem-bers of the Athens community.

T he Ark, an outreach center in Athens, provides emergency fi-nancial assistance to the low-

income population of Athens-Clarke County and surrounding counties. The assistance community members receive from The Ark helps to prevent the loss of necessary utilities and homelessness. The Ark & ASPIRE Clinic are active partners in the Ark’s Jubilee Fund Loan Program. “The Jubilee Fund pilot pro-gram started in 2009 to provide interest-free loans to our neighbors who had en-countered a recent financial emergency,” Hudgens explained. “However, we felt that our clients needed a more holistic approach to financial literacy and educa-tion, so The Ark partnered with the AS-PIRE Clinic to provide our clients with financial counseling sessions throughout the duration of their loan.” As the part-nership has grown, Lucy noted how AS-PIRE’s involvement has made a signifi-cant impact. “With the new partnership, we began to see an increase in the num-ber of our neighbors repaying their loan and also completing their sessions at the ASPIRE Clinic,” she said. “The sessions

truly help educate and guide our neigh-bors to understand and navigate their financial situations, resulting in positive and long-term changes.” A recent loan recipient offered to share her personal ASPIRE experience. “I appreciate the information, advice, and education ASPIRE and the Ark have giv-en, as well as the connections they have shared with me. This program has helped me to overcome the hurdles my family was facing.”

Find out more about The Ark of Athens.

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ASPIRE: TIPS FOR

WELL-BEING Research shows that exercising with your partner can actually bring you closer emo-tionally. So, instead of lounging on the couch, get out and take a walk

together! When we are anxious and stressed, our bodies often crave foods that will exacerbate these feelings most. While seemingly paradoxical, people naturally gravi-tate towards the wrong foods during the wrong times. The following may be things to avoid, particularly during stressful times: energy drinks, candy and sweets, processed foods, coffee drinks, alcohol, & spicy foods.

“Thank you to the ASPIRE students who helped me get

back on track.” – Ark Jubilee Loan Neighbor

“Our neighbors continue to go to

the ASPIRE Clinic after the

completion of the loan, which says a

lot about the counselors and the

program!” - Lucy Hudgens,

Director of The Ark

Noteworthy Look for the newly re-designed & enhanced ASPIRE Clinic Website (www.aspireclinic.org) launching in April 2013! The highly-anticipated ASPIRE Financial Literacy Lab, created with a generous donation by SunTrust Bank (www.suntrust.com), will be fin-ished in April. The lab will focus on providing ser-vice and outreach related to helping others im-prove their overall financial health.

www.athensark.org

Sneak Peek!

F or the ASPIRE Clinic and the University of Georgia, innova-tive research is key. Helped by

the unique, integrative nature of the ASPIRE, important collaborations among UGA faculty members are pos-sible...and happening. Financial therapy, a new field that is pioneering the examination of the rela-tionship between finances and our feel-ings about money, has brought three outstanding FACS professors together through research efforts that explore more holistic and effective ways of working with financial problems. Dr. John Grable and Dr. Joe Goetz, from Housing and Consumer Economics and professors of Family Financial Plan-ning, along with Dr. Jerry Gale, from Human Development and Family Sci-ence and professor of Marriage and Family Therapy, discuss their budding research efforts. “We are collaborating to develop evidence-based therapeutic financial interventions and strategies,” said Goetz of their current work. As nation-al leaders in experimental and clinical research in financial planning and fi-nancial therapy, Goetz, Gale, and Gra-ble are focusing new research on more effectively improving the financial well-being of individuals and families.

Grable explains that one current research endeavor could be considered “psychophysiological economics,” which examines the link between thinking and behavior. “Basically, what we are finding is that how people per-ceive events has an immediate impact on the physiological responses,” he stated. “We are looking to see if in-creased financial stress leads to differ-ent intentions to seek financial therapy services.” Grable asserts, “A better un-derstanding of the connections be-tween stress and behavioral intentions might help explain why some people seek help and why some clients fail to implement recommendations offered by therapists, planners, and financial ther-apists.” As the newly-elected President of the Financial Therapy Association, Goetz shared his enthusiasm regarding the growth of financial therapy re-search. “If you would like to contribute to our emerging field, please explore the Financial Therapy website and the Journal of Financial Therapy, which both highlight the outstanding devel-opments within the field.”

To find out more about Financial Therapy, please visit:

financialtherapyassociation.org

WHAT IS FINANCIAL THERAPY?

Financial Therapy is an emerging professional field that has grown out of the noted overlap be-tween finances and our emotions and behaviors. Financial therapy pro-vides a conduit for deep-er understanding of these overlaps and cre-ates a path for improved practice and research in instances when feelings and finances intersect. Financial therapy is growing to include academicians, practition-ers, and researchers from a variety of disci-plines including finan-cial planning, financial counseling, financial coaching, marriage and family therapy, social work, psychology, and more!

Check out the Financial Therapy Association’s professional journal

publication:

www.jftonline.org

ASPIRE Eye on Research: Budding Collaborations in

Financial Therapy

Important Contact Information Change: The ASPIRE Clinic’s email address has changed from

ftclinic@uga.edu to

aspire@uga .edu Please update us in your contacts!

ASPIRE Clinic 210 McPhaul Center

706‐542‐4486

aspire@uga.edu

www.aspireclinic.org

Thank You!

March Newsletter Contributors

Abby Suhr

Thomas Williams

Lucy Hudgens

Joe Goetz

John Grable

Jerry Gale

Sarah Zenti

Newsletter Design/Layout/Editing

Megan Ford

Q. Tell us about your background. I grew up in the Midwest and attended Iowa State University, earning both a BFA and MFA in Interior Design. I began teaching in the FACS Textiles, Merchandising, and Inte-riors Department in 2011. Q. In your mind, how does interior design fit into the ASPIRE Clinic?

The ASPIRE Clin-ic understands that the home environ-ment is an essential support for creat-ing and maintain-ing a happy and healthy family. Along with the work of the other ASPIRE Clinic professionals, resi-dential interior designers can help

make a house feel like a home by creating a functional and expressive environment that supports the needs of its individual members. The work that a residential interior designer does within the clinic is diverse and individu-al, we are able to assist clients with any needs, including establishing a personal identity, issues of organization, setting up a functional interior, and assessing issues of accessibility. No matter what a client’s need, big or small, design service providers at the ASPIRE Clinic understand that the home can influence emo-tional, physical and, behavioral reactions, making it an essential component to the com-prehensive approach of the clinic.

Q. How are you working to ex-pand the traditional definition of design and create new educational opportunities? For many, the traditional understanding of residential interior design is that it is a profes-sion which only deals with aesthetics: the ap-plication of colors, textiles, etc. I want to ex-pand this definition and alter the perception of the profession through education and demon-stration of the various areas within a residen-tial environment that interior design(ers) can affect. Over the course of this semester, I have tasked my Furnishings and Interiors students with developing potential educational classes that can be offered to the Athens and UGA communities through the ASPIRE Clinic. Students were asked to examine the numer-ous demographic groups located in the com-munity and select one specific demographic. Once selected, students researched and identi-fied potential residential interior design-related topics/issues that would impact their chosen demographic and develop a class around it. The result of this exercise was an exciting and fresh mix of client classes and content that begins to expand the perceived definition of interior design and supports the collaborative mission and spirit of the AS-PIRE Clinic. The classes created by students focused on important, inclusive topics like establishing and maintaining a healthy kitch-en to promote healthy eating and sustainable living, in which clients might learn how to plan and set up a kitchen/dining space in a way that promotes family meal preparation, organization, family communication, and healthy, sustainable alternatives for cleaning and maintaining kitchen surfaces. A class like this could easily incorporate and be supple-mented by other ASPIRE services: Nutrition, Marriage & Family Therapy, and Financial.

A Holistic Home: Expanding Our Definition

of Interior Design

A Q&A feature with TMI Lecturer, Sarah Zenti, helps us to under-stand the impact of our physical environments on well-being and

how home environment & design consultation services are providing exciting educational opportunities for her students.

Sarah Zenti TMI Lecturer,

FACS Furnishings & Interiors Program

© 2013 ASPIRE Clinic