paul swiatek, lmsw

Over the past twenty five years I have given a number of lectures, workshops and seminars on a variety of topics to a number of audiences. Listed below are some of the topic areas that I have presented on. Feel free to contact me if you are in need of an interesting, dynamic lecture/discussion about some of these topic areas, or let me know if there is some other topic area, not listed here, that you would like me to bring to your group.    

                    Menu of Topics

1) Understanding Any and All Addictions:

A basic primer for teens, adults, educators or helping professionals to get a frim grasp of the essence of how the process of addiction takes over the mind, body and spirit of the addict, leading to loss of control and self defeating behaviors. Drugs, alcohol, gambling, video gaming, shopping, etc. If you live or work with individuals who are suffering from addiction, this lecture will improve your understanding of what you are seeing on a regular basis, and help you deal with it in a better manner.

2) Understanding Co-Dependency and Enabling:

Addiction and mental illness do not occur in a vacuum. When a persons life begins to revolve around the under-functioning behaviors of an addict or a person suffering from mental illness, they can fall into the trap of trying to over-function to make up for the impact of the afflicted person. This lecture gives people the ability to recognize enabling behaviors and beliefs that feed the downward spiral. Reversing the direction of this cycle comes about with an awareness of new ways of thinking and behaving.

3) Children of Alcoholics and Addicts:

An exploration of how addiction profoundly effects the beliefs, behaviors and experiences of a person growing up in this unique family system. There are millions of adult children of alcoholics who are in need of developing their own recovery program as a result of growing up in an environment where booze or addiction was a major player in the family dynamics.

4) Emotional Recovery in Cancer Treatment:

Cancer treatment creates an emotional strain on the individual as well as the entire family system.  Learning to identify and express emotions  in a healthy way is vital to the recovery process. As feeling are identified and expressed, acceptance and peace have a chance to flow into our experiences. I have received positive feedback about this lecture, and have given it a number of times.

5) Emotional Recovery in the Process of Addiction:

Just like cancer treatment, the stress and emotional strain on individuals and familes experiencing addiction or, recovery from an addiction, creates a need to identify and express the emotional realities in healthy ways. What you don't express in a healthy way will usually be acted out is an unhealthy way.  It is time to stop denying feelings and time to start dealing with them.

6) Parents and Teens: "Holy Tug O' War Batman! We're in a Power Struggle!"

Explore the fascinating dynamics of power in the family system! Examine how the needs of parents to be "slave masters"collides with the needs of teenagers to be "independent little twirps". What could be more fun than trying to manage limits and boundaries with teens who want no part of limits and boundaries? We'll spend some time re-visiting the classic story of Icarus (young boy who didn't listen to his father) to help us see why this story got written 2000 years ago and how it is still relevant in today's plugged in world.

7) The Process of Change:

How do we change, what motivates us and how do we deal with long standing patterns of thinking and behavior? Examines four models of change. Raising awareness of how change occurs is oftentimes a first step to experiencing change itself.

8) Dismissed, Devalued and Disposed of: Transforming the Heartache and Shame of Rejection:

Nothing is more emotionally devastating than experiencing the sting of being rejected by a source of love and attachment. Getting to the other side of  this experience requires some tough emotional work, but it can be done! As time moves on, feelings of worth, wholeness and power replace feelings of shame, fragmentation and hopelessness. This topic can best be addressed in a seminar format that allows participants time to share and digest the material.

9) General Counseling/Communication Skills:

There are many counseling skills that can be taught to counselors and anyone who works with people for a living.  Whether you are a counselor, medical professional, lawyer, financial adviser or supervisor of a department, brushing up on your foundational skills as an effective listener/ communicator is as essential part of providing quality services in your field.  Contact me to discuss the possibilities!

"We need to ask our parents for their stories; we need to share stories with our friends.  The real stories that will sustain us will only come out of a community where we tell and listen to other stories.  The act of telling a story creates community and, at the same time, elicits more stories."

Sam Keen, Our Mythic Stories

Hidden beneath all of the concepts, principles and information that I might share with a group of people when I present a lecture, is my  belief that people need to identify and share their stories with others. When one person speaks up and talks about their life, the class comes alive and a connective energy can be felt in the room. My hope is that my words become a catalyst for story telling, and community building. When teaching touches the heart, and people feel compelled to think about and share their honest stories, then you know something unique and a special is happening with the group. This is what I strive for every time I teach.