Note to CoSIDA members: On October 1, CoSIDA introduced our new mental health consultant, Lisa Stromeier,
via a letter from CoSIDA President July Willson. Lisa will be joining us for our November 12th continuing education call, and also will be on subsequent monthly calls and will hold a session during the 2016 CoSIDA convention.
Next week we will have more details on the November call and
how to send her your questions/comments privately prior to Nov. 12th.
Lisa introduces herself to the membership below.
Hi CoSIDA members,
I’m so excited to be joining the CoSIDA team this year! I thought it might be a good idea for you to hear a bit about who I am and why I do what I do before you email your questions to me in a few weeks.
So for the “who I am professionally” stuff, let me say that I’ve been a psychotherapist for more than 28 years and I love my work. I received my BS from Georgetown College and my MSW from Ohio State University.
For 17 years I was one of five partners at a thriving private practice in Columbus, Ohio. In May of 2014 I decided to leave my practice so I could devote more time and energy to
Creating Choices for Health, my speaking/consulting/writing business. This shift also allowed me additional hours for my work as a critical incident stress management debriefer and for the EAP work I do at Discover Financial Services on behalf of UnitedHealth Group.
When I’m not on the job, I enjoy kayaking (learned how to in Alaska and can’t get enough of it); hiking (recently got back from a trip to Yellowstone and The Grand Tetons); listening to and making music; traveling throughout the US and abroad; and whenever possible, kicking back and enjoying a good movie.
I like watching all sports, except boxing. I just can’t fathom why someone would allow themselves to be hit in the head repeatedly. (Maybe it’s
because they’ve been hit in the head repeatedly that they do it? Hopefully one of you can educate me on the “why” when we meet next June in Dallas during the 2016 CoSIDA Convention.)
Whether you love ‘em or hate ‘em, I cheer for the Buckeyes. (You’re not allowed to live in Columbus if you don’t.) However, I think I’ll be rooting for other college teams as I develop relationships with many of you in the coming year.
Finally, why do I do this? Because life is hard. Exciting, but hard. Through my personal and professional experiences I’ve learned:
- Having someone to talk with makes even a difficult situation a bit easier to handle.
- You’re not alone. Someone else has probably been in a similar struggle.
- It’s easier to tackle life’s challenges if you have helpful tips to use along the way.
- Many people are interested in talking with a psychotherapist but often find themselves too busy to schedule or keep an appointment.
- Sometimes the stigma of talking with a psychotherapist prevents a person from seeking the help they desperately need in order to keep moving forward.
I think you’ll find that I’m someone who understands many of the joys and challenges of being a sports information director. You’ll also see I try to find humor in most situations, so hopefully you’ll have a bit of fun along the way too.
I look forward to reading your questions and answering as many as possible during our continuing education call, presented by Capital One, on November 12th.