NSU Horizons Spring/Summer 2009

spotlight D riven by a desire to “figure stuff out” through creative collaboration, Douglas Flemons, Ph.D., is passionate about helping students who face pressures that they can’t address effectively by themselves. “The worst thing a student with a personal problem can do is to continue to hold it at arm’s length, trying to control or abolish it. Confusion and anxiety feel crummy,” said Flemons, a professor of family therapy who directs Nova Southeastern Univer- sity Student Counseling. Five years ago, Flemons was asked to become the director of Student Counseling and take it to the next level. A soft-spoken, unassuming Canadian with an academic resume that is today 20 pages long, Flemons is also known around campus as the creative force behind the Shark Shuffle, a 5K race/walk in which NSU students who finish get to enter a drawing for a $500 Deans’ Active Scholar grant. Last year, the students among the 765 finishers competed for 27 grants. Flemons has an eclectic background. His main area of study as an undergraduate was Chinese philosophy. After graduating, he spent five years as an independent video producer. Then, his fascination with the writings of systems theorist Gregory Bateson inspired him to study family therapy at the University of British Columbia. There, he earned a master’s degree in counseling psychology before heading off to Texas Tech University to study with Bradford Keeney, family therapy and Bateson scholar. When Keeney came to NSU, Flemons followed him, completing his doctoral dissertation here in 1989. One of Flemons’s books, co-edited with his wife and colleague Shelley Green, Ph.D., is provocatively titled Quickies: The Handbook of Brief Sex Therapy . In this case, “brief” refers to the solutions- oriented approach to therapy. Flemons maintains that psycho- logical therapy “does not have to be long and arduous to be effective.” His enthusiasm for brief therapy and taking on new challenges made him the ideal candidate to lead NSU Student Counseling. Upon accepting the assignment, Flemons assembled a topnotch group of professionals that today includes four full-time staff coun- selors and a psychiatrist. He also works closely with Scott Poland, Ed.D., associate professor at NSU’s Center for Psychological Stud- ies, as well as a psychology postdoctoral student and a doctoral psychology student to develop and deliver suicide- and violence- prevention training to employees and students across campus. Researchers working with national data estimate that every year one university student in 10,000 takes his or her life. Flemons and Poland are committed to creating an NSU safety net, educating the entire university community on how to recognize distressed individuals and how to access NSU resources, particularly Student Counseling, for help. “Figuring out how to administer Student Counseling was analogous for me to doing therapy with a client,” Flemons said. “Both involve resource-based synergy, respect, and a searching for possibilities.” It was a process that started with “hiring wonderful people who like to work collaboratively,” Flemons said, adding that for five years he’s been “fine-tuning the process.” Under his direction, NSU began going above and beyond to make mental health help available to students 24 hours a day, seven days a week. A student in crisis at three o’clock in the morn- ing can receive immediate crisis counseling over the phone as the prelude to a longer-term counseling relationship. Typically, the crisis team gets one to three calls each week. Student activity fees support the counseling operation. NSU is progressive in offering up to 10 free sessions per year with a qualified counselor. “Most students get into a better place after four Helping Students Juggle Life’s Challenges By Bob Ross 28 horizons Douglas Flemons, Ph.D.