2019 Staff Development Day Keynote Presentation

“The Power of Anxiety: Strengthening Personal Wellness and Staff Performance”
Dr. Brian Ogawa

Dr. Ogawa’s presentation will describe a practical and proven approach to coping with common or severe anxiety for personal wellbeing and healthy work environments. Emphasis will be on spontaneity, balance, and adaptability in daily life. Dr. Ogawa will explain the natural aspirational basis for anxiety in the universal human desire to live meaningfully and powerfully.

The foundation for Dr. Ogawa’s work is a century-old blend of Eastern tradition and modern medicine, incorporating the holistic and transcultural principles of Morita Therapy.  Morita Therapy is used internationally to educate persons to respond effectively to a host of life challenges and circumstances. It is essentially a Nature-centered psychology of attention and awareness, a precursor of contemporary Ecotherapy, and broader than today’s popular Mindfulness Meditation techniques. The presentation will be informative, interactive, experiential, and humorous.

MEET OUR KEYNOTE SPEAKER!

Dr. Brian Ogawa grew up surfing in California and Hawaii (the reason he now lives in Kansas with its incredible ocean waves!); performed the marriage ceremony of Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne (yes, that Ozzy!); was raised by a Japanese immigrant father who became a French chef; and is part of the family that created the original French dip sandwich (his uncle is French).

Dr. Ogawa is an internationally recognized presenter and trainer in post-trauma, anxiety and depression, victimology, holistic wellness, multiculturalism, and Eastern therapies.  He is the Director of the Morita Counseling Education Center, and the foremost educator and practitioner of Morita Therapy in the United States. Dr. Ogawa was most recently Professor and Department Chair in Human Services at Washburn University, where he was recipient of the 2014 Ned N. Fleming Excellence in Teaching Award.

Dr. Ogawa has served on national and international boards and has received a number of awards, including the prestigious National Crime Victims Service Award for his pioneering work in post-trauma, cultural competency, and Morita Therapy from President Bill Clinton at a special ceremony at the White House.

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