Peggy L. Ferguson, Ph.D.
Licensed Marriage/Family Therapist
Licensed Alcohol/Drug Counselor
405-707-9600
www.peggyferguson.com
peggyferguson@hotmail.com
Articles on College Success By Peggy L. Ferguson, Ph.D.
To access the articles, just click on the title of the article. It will open in a separate word document that can be saved to your computer and/or printed off. All articles are copyrighted. We welcome you to use them for your own information and to share them with others as long as you cite my authorship, provide website information/link, and do not edit them.
School Success/Recovery Success Program Available in Stillwater, OK
School Success/Recovery Success is a psychotherapeutic program that Dr. Ferguson developed for students who are in recovery for substance abuse problems who are trying to get their lives back on track, and get back into school.
School Success/Recovery Success utilizes an individually customized treatment plan approach and has parallel goals for continuing recovery from substance abuse recovery, and for successful transitioning back into school and optimizing the student's opportunities for academic success.
Basic overarching goals for recovery include broad based goals for continuing abstinence from mood altering chemicals and relapse prevention, development of new livings skills, and resolution of problems that would serve as roadblocks to successful maintenance of recovery and ongoing personal development. Common goals for school success could include learning how to manage the academic tasks and requirements of a semester, developing self-discipline, practicing tools and techniques to reduce procrastination and other self-sabotaging behaviors, and developing a sense of competence and self-efficacy.
The School Success/Recovery Success Program (TM) involves individual and group counseling sessions. It is only available at this time to the Stillwater, Oklahoma area. For more information, call my office at 405-707-9600.
Why Am I So Stressed Out About College and
What Can I Do About It?
By Peggy L. Ferguson, Ph.D.
Going off to college may be one of the most exciting days of your life, but it is stressful. It is a time of tremendous change which requires much adjustment and the quick learning of new skills. Stress involves perception. People assess their situations in terms of demands on their abilities and/or resources and their internal and external resources to meet those demands. When they perceive the demands to be possibly greater than the resources, they experience stress.
When heading off to college you probably don’t exactly know what your resources are. You probably do not know what the real demands will be. In addition to trying to determine whether you have what it takes to meet academic demands, you might be trying to figure out how hard it will be to meet new people and make new friends, how you will balance your time and energy for academic vs. social pursuits, and whether you have the self-discipline to pull it all off. To read the rest of this article, follow this link: Why Am I So Stressed About College and What Can I Do About It?
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Start Now to Develop the Self-discipline
You Need to Return To School In Early Addiction Recovery
By Peggy L. Ferguson, Ph.D.
With the beginning of the next semester just around the corner, now is the time to begin to develop the self-discipline skills you need for a successful return to academics. For many people in early recovery (or late recovery for that matter), self-discipline has been a vaguely understood concept and a mostly illusive goal that still baffles, frustrates, and serves as an emotional "hot" button in relationships.
Lack of self-discipline is often a cornerstone issue in addiction. Without self-discipline, many people struggle in vain to accomplish goals, to achieve their potential, and to develop self-esteem, self-efficacy, and self-determination. By the time that alcoholics and addicts have found their way into recovery, they have identified low self-esteem and poor self-confidence to be core addiction and recovery issues. Many recovering folks have not believed that their own behaviors, decisions, thoughts, and feelings have very little actual impact on their life circumstances. Many have believed themselves to be victims of "bad luck", of being disliked and mistreated, and of being misunderstood. The idea that it takes more than intention to accomplish change in your life, is part of the disconnect that makes self-discipline so illusive. You can intend to run a marathon next year, but unless you develop a plan, get off couch and train on a regular basis, you probably will not accomplish your goal. To read the rest of this article, follow this link: Start Now to Develop the Self-discipline You Need to Return To School In Early Addiction Recovery
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College is a Stressful Time
By Peggy L. Ferguson, Ph.D.
Parents send their kids off to college with words of encouragement like, “college is the best time your life”. Everyone seems to expect a smooth transition into college where the young adult fits seamlessly into the fabric of their chose university with very little stress or strain. The expectation is that going off to college means that the young person is entering a new phase of life that provides a great opportunity for exploration, growth, and development. It is a cluster of great opportunities.
College is also a time of great stress. For many college students, this first time of being away from home for extended period of time is scary. Their support system is somewhere else, and even though parents are just a phone call away, the young person is on their own. This young person has typically been provided with consistency, structure, prepared meals, verbalized expectations, and built-in external accountability. Now, for the first time in their lives, they have relatively little externally provided structure and accountability. To read the rest of this article, follow this link: College is a Stressful Time.
Reducing End of Semester Stress By Eliminating Your Self-Sabotaging Behavior
By Peggy L. Ferguson, Ph.D.
If you are one of those people who habitually find yourself stressing out and cramming for finals at the end of the semester, there are a few things that you can do that will change that and improve your grade point average as well.
Of course it is a no-brainer to say “Don’t procrastinate.” Many people tell me that they know they are procrastinators, that it causes them all kinds of problems and distress, and that they cannot make themselves not procrastinate. You may not know why you procrastinate. There are many reasons that people procrastinate. You may be self-sabotaging. Perfectionism and/or low self esteem may prohibit you from getting started, staying on target, or completing projects. You may not have the academic skills needed nor the assertiveness to ask for help. You may not have basic organizational or time management skills. To read the rest of this article follow this link: Reducing End of Semester Stress By Eliminating Your Self-Sabotaging Behavior
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Copyright: Peggy L. Ferguson, Ph.D., 116 W. 7th, Suite 211, Stillwater, OK 74074, phone 405-707-9600, fax 405-707-9601, email peggyferguson@hotmail.com, http://www.peggyferguson..com
Serving Stillwater (74074, 74075, 74076), Perry (73077), Perkins (74059), Cushing (74023), Pawnee (74058), Guthrie (73044), Ponca City (74601, 74602, 74604), Morrison (73061), and other local communities.
Providing services for Alcoholism, Drug Addiction, Chemical Dependency, Sex Addiction, Mental Health Issues, Depression, Anxiety, Stress Management, Addiction Recovery, Drug Abuse, Spouse of sex addict, Relapse prevention, Drug cravings, Family Business Issues, Couple Money Issues, Co-dependency, Adult Children of Alcoholism Issues, Cross-addiction, Co-occurring disorders, marital family therapy, marriage family counseling, step-parenting, step-family issues, couple money issues, grief, mid-life issues, infidelity. Providing individual, group, marriage, family, and couples sessions. Providing professional supervision and training and consultation services.