RICARDO SAUQUE

Executive Director Ricardo Sauque is a native of Argentina and speaks several different languages including Spanish, Portuguese and Italian. He moved to Wyoming from Hawaii where he had a private practice in marital and family therapy. Ricardo is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) in Hawaii, Utah and Wyoming. He is also a Clinical Member of the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists.

His education includes undergraduate degrees in Elementary Education from Argentina, and Business Management from BYU-Hawaii. He holds a Masters degree in Business Management from Central Michigan University, and Marriage and Family Therapy from the American School of Psychology, Argosy University. Mr. Sauque has solid experience working with families in distress. He enjoys working with children and adolescents.

He has been married to the love of his life, Koomesoo for more than 33 years. They have 4 children and are doting grandparents. In addition to working in the marital field, Ricardo has been a business executive, college lecturer and youth program & literacy mentor. He enjoys outdoor activities, staying in shape and reading.

CHRISTY JINDRICK-THOLL

Christy graduated from the University of Wyoming with a Master of Science in Counselor Education in 2008. Christy is a Licensed Professional Counselor with the State of Wyoming and is a National Certified Counselor as well.

Christy started her career in the counseling field working at the Central Wyoming Counseling Center as a Case Manager in 2003 and then the Foster Parent Coordinator in 2005. She then moved on as the primary therapist for Mercer Family Resource Center, formally known as Mercer House, in 2006. There, she had extensive training and work in group therapy, substance abuse, and child/adolescent therapy.

Christy considers herself to be an existential and experiential therapist and uses a lot of art therapy, hands-on activities, and creative play in therapy. She is trained in Becoming a Love and Logic Parent, Truthought:Corrective Thinking, Quantum Learning, and Strengthening Families. Her specialty is with children and adolescents, but has worked with a variety of ages, cultures, and family dynamics. Drawing from her own personal experience, Christy also specializes in women's grief, anxiety and personal growth.

When not working, Christy loves to spend time with her 13 year old daughter, 3 year old son husband and dogs. Her hobbies include house remodeling, 4 wheeling, and playing Co-ed softball.

LYNETTE COTTON

Lynette Cotton is the Administrative Assistant at Three Trails EFAP. She received her BA in HPER from Adam's State College minoring in Reading. A Colorado native, she came here from Portland, OR where she worked as an Administrative Assistant to Larry Steele (Portland Trailblazer Alum) and The Hoop USA.

Lynette joined Three Trails EFAP in July of 2006. She loves to travel with her husband, Todd, being active in her church & spending time with their children and grandchildren.

Board Members

Participating Employers

• Board Chairman - Leanne Woodfill
• Vice Chair - Peter Meyers
• Secretary - Peggy Milberger
• Treasurer - Linda Toohey
• Member - Judith Kirk
• Member - Gayle Schnorenberg
• Member - Crystal Mueller

• Casper College
• Central Wyoming Hospice & Transitions
• Child Development Center
• City of Casper
• Community Health Center
• Dr. Hoag's Smile Center
• Mercer House
• Natrona County Fire Protection District
• Natrona County School District
• Self Help Center
• US Department of Energy
• WCDA
• Wy Hy Federal Credit Union
• Wyoming Medical Center
• Wyoming Recovery Program
• Wyoming Wound Care Center

Below are some websites related to emotional well-being.

• Al-Anon / Alateen
• Alcoholics Anonymous
• Gamblers Anonymous
• Insight EFAP
• Love and Logic
• Music Therapy
• Nicotine Anonymous
• Parenting Adolescents
• Self Help Magazine

• ABUSE
• ADHD
• ALCOHOL AND DRUGS
• ALCOHOL AND DRUGS / FAMILY ISSUES
• ANGER MANAGEMENT
• CHILDHOOD ISSUES

• EATING DISORDERS
• FINANCIAL / GAMBLING
• GENDER ISSUES
• GRIEF / DEPRESSION
• INTERNET CONCERNS
• MISCELLANEOUS

• NICOTINE ADDICTION
• PARENTING
• PERSONAL GROWTH
• PHYSICAL PROBLEMS
• RELATIONSHIPS
• STRESS AND RELAXATION

Mindfulness Meditation and Humanistic Therapy

Mindfulness meditation has received a lot of attention in the psychotherapeutic community in recent years. This form of meditation, despite being several thousand years old, has enjoyed renewed interest in the western world and particularly in the counseling and psychotherapy communities. Its psychological value to the emotional well-being of the individual, group and community cannot be overstated.

Mindfulness meditation is a form of meditation that fosters an attention to the processes of awareness. Although this is true of all meditation forms, mindfulness meditation is not as concerned with a focal point of concentration. Rather, the moment-to-moment unfolding of experience is observed in mindfulness meditation. It has been referred to as "awareness of awareness". The elements of mindfulness meditation include an attempt to cultivate an open, accepting, and nonjudgmental awareness of current experience, which can include thoughts, feelings, and sensations. For example, a feeling of anger is noticed and fully accepted during the meditation. All aspects of one's experience have inherently equal value, no matter where they fall on the continuum of pleasant to unpleasant.

The value of mindfulness meditation is seen in the ability to appreciate the transient nature of experience. A "mindless" state can be characterized as being out of touch with the actual nature of reality. For instance, thoughts are often mistaken for reality and not seen as merely being thoughts. There is a tendency for an individual to over identify with such thoughts (or feelings as well) and assign his total reality to them. Just consider the depressed person who has thoughts of self-loathing. Such a person sees these thoughts as statements of reality and defines himself accordingly. The practice of mindfulness meditation heightens the awareness and understanding that these transient aspects of experience (thoughts and feelings come and go) do not define the individual. Allowing such aspects of experience to be what they are frees us to not automatically react to them and thus gives us the ability to respond or not respond as we see fit. In this sense, mindfulness meditation teaches us to live in the moment and expands our freedom to create our lives.

Enter humanistic therapy. This form of therapy is made up of a variety of more specific therapies. The unifying factor that makes such therapies humanistic is the uncompromising belief in the freedom of the individual. People are not ultimately controlled by the environmental conditions around them, nor are they a product of early childhood experiences. Whatever influences these exact on the individual, the ultimate ability to choose one's course of action or even attitude toward something is the hallmark of the humanistic position.

Humanistic therapists are not as concerned with matters of the past as some forms of therapy are. A present focus in therapy is more characteristic of humanistic therapy, since there is literally an unending array of possibilities for the client. One's past does not define that person and does not have to determine the course of her life. In a sense, where one wants to take her life is more important than where she has been.

Humanistic therapy is concerned with uncovering authenticity. The authentic client is the healthy client, the fulfilled person. Such a person is present to her experience. She doesn't seek escape or avoidance from herself, nor does she seek resistance or defiance to her experience in the moment. Such a person knows herself. This is the goal of humanistic therapy and is the journey to be traveled.

The practice of mindfulness meditation fits with the principles of humanistic therapy. There is a concept in humanistic therapy known as unconditional positive regard (UPR) that is bestowed upon the client by the therapist. UPR captures the accepting and nonjudgmental position of being mindful to experience. It has been mistakenly seen as unqualified approval of a person's decisions and actions, but this is not the case. Rather, UPR is explained effectively through the language of mindfulness. The therapist provides an accepting and nonjudgmental response to the client's experience, fostering the client's ability to embrace his own experience without judgment and condemnation. As discussed earlier, this is a necessary condition for the client to act from an authentic position, creating the possibility for true change.

There is much that mindfulness meditation can teach regarding how to live in the present moment, something that the humanist respects as the hallmark of living fully. For example, the encounter between the therapist and the client is a genuine connection in the moment and can have a meditative quality all its own. The use of mindfulness meditation in humanistic therapy can broaden and deepen the experience of being human for each client.

Groups and Training:
Becoming a Love and Logic Parent Training Course

Beginning Tuesday, March 13 from 5:30 – 7:00 pm and running for 7 weeks, Christy Jindrick-Tholl will offer the Becoming a Love and Logic Parent training course. The course will be held at Park Elementary School located at 140 W 9th, Casper WY. Please call Lynette Cotton at 237-5750 for enrollment information and to be placed on the participant list.

The Becoming a Love and Logic Parent curriculum was developed by Jim Fay, Charles Fay, Ph.D., and Foster W Cline, M.D. of the Love and Logic Institute, Inc., in Golden, Colorado. Christy is an independent facilitator of the Becoming a Love and Logic Parent curriculum.

Ricardo has been conducting a Stress Management Course for the City of Casper that has been well attended. He will be conducting several more and would be more than happy to talk to any of our members regarding stress management for your employees.

The following is an outline of the discourse:

BASIC THINGS TO CONTROL YOUR STRESS
by Ricardo Sauque

Life imposes many demands and challenges in our daily existence. Stress is one of them and is present in many circumstances and in many forms. In addition, uncontrolled stress can kill us or unable us to perform normally.

Despite many assertions by so called "gurus", stress is manageable, can help to reach our potential and give us many satisfactions.

KEY WORDS:

• (Power): " Having control over outcomes (people, events)"
• (Status): " Having respect and admiration in the eyes of others"
• (Anxiety):" No more than fears"
• (Anger): " It is within ourselves, we own our anger"
• (PTDS): " Exposure to a traumatic stressor (event) as:
  • Witness to physical event to our own personal event, such as death threat, serious injury to physical integrity"
  • Fears
  • Helplessness
  • Recurrent images, feelings or perceptions
  • Physical, mental, emotional symptoms
• (Projection): " Our own insecurities or faults on others (politicians, children, criminals)"

CONCEPTS OF STRESS:
" Interaction between individuals and environment"

1. (Internal Forces):
    Concepts, interpretations of reality, worries, regrets, anxiety.
2. (External Forces):
   Fight or flight.
    When, why, who, where.

ACTION VS. REACTION:

We always need to respond to stress in a positive way, it is possible and rewarding when we have ways to reduce negative stress in our daily existence.