The Utah Tech University marriage and family therapy master’s degree students are hosting the first-ever therapy night March 30 from 4:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.
Students, faculty, staff and community members are invited to attend this free event.
There will be six different classes offered to those in attendance:
- The five love languages
- Play therapy for children
- Sensory therapy
- Self of the therapist
- Playing for keeps
- Internal family systems
Matthew Valentine, a marriage and family therapy major from San Antonio, Texas, is excited to lead the class self of the therapist while creating an invaluable experience for himself and those in attendance.
“Mental health is booming, and many people are on six-month waitlists to go see a therapist,” Valentine said. “We are the future of mental health; we can give-back to the community we love by hosting this therapy night. We have the skills and abilities to help the community right now for free.”
Valentine’s class will focus on how to help oneself’s mental health before helping others in order to not project their own issues onto another.
Sterling Downer, a marriage and family therapy major from Provo, said this night will provide exposure to mental health and resources to help those struggling.
“We want people to become a little bit more exposed to what is available and to therapy at large,” Downer said. “A lot of times people don’t get help because they don’t even know it’s there.”
Downer will be hosting the internal family systems class along with fellow classmates. This class is formatted to help anyone, as everyone has a little voice in their head that gives multiple emotions.
Downer said: “The concept of the model is that we have voices in our head that speak to us and motivate us to act in certain ways. During the exact same event, we can be pulled in opposite directions. The point of this class is to listen to the different parts of those voices and become a little more understanding of our internal system.”
This event will offer an opportunity of “Active Learning. Active Life.” for all those involved.
Jonah Slade, a marriage and family therapy major from St. George, said this night has the dual purposes of getting the word out about the master’s program to future students and reaching out to the community in regards to mental health and different forms of therapy.
Slade will be working will fellow students in the master’s program in the play therapy class. This class will be open-house style with different stations of examples of play therapy, general education about this therapy style and a Q&A station.
“We want people to know that we are here as a program and know what we do,” Slade said. “We want to break down the stigma of going to therapy and let people realize it is not scary to talk to a therapist.”
Utah Tech therapy night will be able to benefit those leading the classes in an opportunity to pursue their passions and future career field. It will also give the chance for free, and immediate, therapy to those in need of a listening ear or a better understanding of themselves.
No registration is needed before hand to attend these classes. Therapy Night will be held on the second floor of the College of Education building.
For more information visit the Masters of Marriage and Family Therapy website.
