#ATSA Practice

[prepopedia]

Pre Employment Testing Samples and How They Can Help You Hire the Best?

Searching for the perfect employee in today's competitive job market has become the most precious quest. 

Employers use diverse tools to determine who will be hired among the millions of applicants. Pre-employment testing has emerged as one of the most powerful tools utilized in this respect. 

Studies reveal that 82% of companies today are using some form of testing as part of their hiring process trend, which marks the extent of this commonly adopted hiring method. 

Free Pre-employment Testing Samples are quite helpful in a way that it is possible to evaluate a candidate before risking full-scale testing for the company. 

Cognitive abilities tests like these ascertain an individual's mental capacity. Still, even industry-specific tests such as the CCAT Test and the ATSA test are accessible to individuals for free, giving a definitive view of a candidate's likely performance on the job.

What Are Pre-employment Tests?

Pre-employment is a test meant to assess an applicant's skills, knowledge, personality, and other characteristics suitable for a particular job. Research findings show that 70% of organizations report improved productivity and performance following the implementation of pre-employment testing. 

It is conducted to help screen out applicants with fewer qualifications that might have been used to interview unsuitable applicants.

Types of Pre-employment Tests

Cognitive Ability Tests: These tests assess a candidate's general IQ and ability to solve problems, as well as determine their learning capacity. According to a study conducted by Criteria Corp, it was discovered that those candidates who scored higher in such cognitive ability tests, CCAT being one of them, were likely to perform 50% better at work.

Personality Tests: This assesses the individual's traits, such as agreeableness, extroversion, and emotional stability, that affect their work behavior. Organizations that used personality tests discovered an increase of 21% in staff retention.

Industry-specific Tests: Tests include the Air Traffic Skills Assessment (ATSA), which is very specific for areas such as air traffic control, where 99% of U.S. air traffic controllers must pass a pre-employment test.

How Free Pre-employment Testing Samples Can Benefit Employers

Free Pre-employment Testing Samples can be a no-risk way for employers to check the quality and efficacy of different tests. Here are just some ways that free samples can benefit employers:

Low-Cost Screening

You get a first glimpse at how well these assessments will work for your business, and all this happens without having to commit to buying full tests. You can measure how they screen applicants before investing in a complete pre-employment testing package.

Customization

The pre-employment testing samples can be customized to meet the requirements of your industry. For instance, if you are hiring in a technical position, you can carry out skills-based tests before determining whether they offer enough value to include in your standard hiring process.

Minimize Hiring Bias

Pre-employment testing samples help make the hiring process quite objective, as the focus is on the abilities of the candidates rather than subjective impressions gathered during the interview process. Testing via the CCAT practice exam is an unbiased assessment of a candidate's cognitive ability; hence, only the merit-based finest talent is chosen.

Early Hiring Process

Pre-employment testing samples can quickly narrow down a pool of candidates for employers. The tests do not, like some resume screening and interviews, leave the employers with many candidates only to discover the best employees on the job. This way, by incorporating the ATSA practice test into your selection process for air traffic controllers, you would filter out candidates who cannot qualify for the position early in the process.

Improving Retention of Employees

A well-crafted pre-employment testing sample will predict with a fair level of accuracy whether or not the candidate will fit in with the company culture and perform well on the job. This leads to better hiring decisions, fewer turnstile employees, and higher job satisfaction overall. When people are properly matched for jobs, they tend to stay with the organization for longer.

The CCAT Practice Test: A Key Tool for Hiring

The Criteria Cognitive Aptitude Test (CCAT) is one of the most applied cognitive ability tests in pre-employment testing. It tends to measure how well one solves problems and thinks in a critical way, driven by applying logic to new information. 

This free sample of pre-employment testing makes the CCAT practice test available for free, allowing employers to check whether this test fits their hiring needs.

How Does the CCAT Practice Test Work?

The CCAT provides 50 questions that must be answered within 15 minutes as a test of verbal reasoning, math, and spatial reasoning. Available research points out that CCAT test scores have been very effective in predicting performance in jobs that call for quick decision-making and analytical thinking.

Benefits of Using the CCAT Practice Test

Standardize candidate evaluation   

Pinpoint candidates with exceptional cognitive abilities.

Correlate CCAT scores with future employee success.

Minimize subjective judgments in the selection process.

The ATSA Practice Test: A Must for Air Traffic Control Jobs

Specific tests designed by the industry are to be used by such industries as air traffic controllers. ATSA practice test is a free sample for pre-employment testing intended to help both the employer and the job candidate prepare for the real test. 

How the ATSA Practice Test Works?

The ATSA practice test is modeled like the real ATSA and tests several cognitive skills and personality traits. The test includes:

Candidates must remember and recall information accurately.

It tests their understanding of the ability to manipulate in space, which is a fundamental skill for air traffic controllers.

Tests how well a candidate can handle multiple tasks simultaneously, an essential air traffic control skill.

Benefits of Using the ATSA Practice Test

Assess aviation safety knowledge

Select individuals with the necessary skills for aviation roles.

Reduce safety risks and an efficient aviation environment.

Demonstrate commitment to hiring qualified aviation professionals.

Summary

Free Pre-employment Testing Samples are an inexpensive and time-effective method whereby employers can assess the candidates. More intelligent hiring decisions and better retention of employees are achieved through the CCAT practice test and ATSA Practice. Therefore, through these tests, companies can hone their recruitment process by getting the right people inside their organization.

[wht-raven]

March Porter - Son of Apollo

White, 6′2′’, Built, Strong shoulders

Golden brown, wavy hair, blue eyes, freckles and sunburnt

Cis-male (he/him), Bisexual, Biromantic

Birthday: January 10 

Dating Jean Cordova 

Literal ball of sunshine, can make anyone laugh and smile no matter how upset they might be. Wears his heart on his sleeve. Big brother figure. Great with kids. Secret anime nerd. Respectful. He is a healer through and through and tries to help people any time he can. Empathetic to a fault. A little naive.Tries to be a pacifist but if anyone he loves is in danger be warned. Super Artistic.

His favorite hobby is painting. Some of his siblings theorize that his artwork has a magical impact on people.

March also has some minor light/heat manipulation. He doesn’t practice it often so it isn’t his strongest ability. He is a deadly accurate archer though.

Works as one of the healers at camp and dreams to become a doctor. He is the second best next to Will Solace.

Backstory

March was a teen pregnancy, born on September 22, 1993. His mother, Dawn Porter, was 17 at the time in her senior year of high school. However, she didn’t let any of that stop her and she finished school with a baby and went to college to learn animation.

In 1998, when March is 5 and Dawn is getting ready to graduate, Dawn meets a woman named Gyphon Wilson who was a music major. They hit it off and move in together and start raising their children together. Gryphon has a daughter named Ellie who was less the one at the time and March becomes the best big brother ever!

As March continues growing older, the small family starts experiencing some weird things, be it flashes of sunlight in the middle of the night or him magically healing Ellie’s cuts and bruises. Dawn is honest with them all about who his father was, explaining that she has always been able to see another world out there. 

Although Gryphon isn’t able to see past the Veil, Ellie can surprisingly. Either way she believes and trusts Dawn because she has always been very open to what is really out there.

March takes it most to heart and he ends up being upset with Apollo even before going to CHB as he felt it was wrong for his father to just abandon his mother. He also feels guilty because he realizes the impact hsi birth must have had on his mother.

March starts to attend Yancy Academy around 11 years old, but in 2006 after the events that occurred there the year prior, his parents decided it’s time to send March to Camp Half Blood.

They knew of its existence through Sally Jackson, who they reached out to in the aftermath of The Lightning Thief

In the first couple days he’s there, March becomes fast friends with Atsa who he saw brooding in the corner of the Hermes Cabin. However, there friendship took a small hit when March was claimed just as fast and Atsa grew jealous of how perfect his life seemed in comparison to hers.

Camp is good for March as he makes plenty of friends like his new siblings, especially Jasper. He also meets Jean who is one of his closest friends like Atsa. At the end of the summer, he does return to his family for the school year. Despite the chaos happening around them all, things stay pretty normal for him over the next year or two. That is until Atsa suddenly appears at his doorstep after the events of The Battle of the Labyrinth. She had been claimed by Hecate who demanded her to join Kronos’ army and she was so scared and confused she didn’t know where else to go. 

Atsa ends up staying with the Porter-Wilson household for several months. During that time, the mothers try to help Atsa to open up and home school her. March also helps her to reach out to her dad and repair their relationship. Atsa goes to see him in February 2009.

When the events of The Last Olympian occur later that year, during the Battle of Manhattan, March refuses to fight. He instead acts as a field medic saving lives from both sides, similar to Desmond Doss. He only acted violently once when he helps Jean fight off a couple of minotaurs.

Atsa also goes MIA in the middle of the battle and no one can find her. March sets out alone and finds her unconscious, poisoned by a manticore’s spine. He manages to save her just barely. 

After the war, March and Jean realize the feelings they have had for each other for awhile know. They dance around it for a bit, still recovering from the war but finally March confesses and they start dating!! 

I have yet to decide what March’s role is in HoO but he is my sunshine and I love him so there will be definitly more!

[domrod329]

Unique But Real Perspective

Many Native Students who do get the chance to attend a post-secondary institution are eager and excited to talk about their experience and be open to it. I was able to sit in with a Native American student from the University of Arizona. His name is Herman “ Atsa’ “Gleason, he is from Newcomb, New Mexico, which is the home for a small Navajo reservation. The reason I have decided to interview this individual is because he comes from a reservation of strong culture and where his Navajo traditions are practiced on the daily. Also, Mr. Gleason attended a high school which was a majority of Navajo students. The school was called Navajo Preparatory School. . The main point of this interview is to see what changes he has to overcome making the switch and what his thoughts are on low Indigenous population in higher education. 

The objective of this interview was to evaluate how a current Native student is dealing with changes from home and how he feels about the low rate of indigenous students. The questions I have decided to ask are how he has been able to adapt and how he feels being an Indigenous student in a majority white institution. The first question I asked is, “What do you miss most about home?”. Herman answered that he misses his elders because they would give him guidance and would take care of him, they would offer the help and support he needed in his low points. Another thing Herman misses from home is the pow-wow which he and his family were really involved in. I also questioned how the change was, from his home on a reservation in a rural area to an urban city. Mr. Gleason mentioned that it was a challenge because he was never exposed to this kind of environment, having a social life like making friends has also been difficult because he was more exposed to his family more than friends. Over the course of his life, he was responsible for making sure that his ranch at home was taken care of, he was always working and had little time to be a kid. Herman stated, ”The first time I was able to hang out with a friend outside of school was my freshman year in high school” (Gleason, 2019). Another question I had for Herman was if he feels safe at the University of Arizona? He answered yes, physically, but when it comes to other making statements about Indigenous students and microaggression comments, he feels he’s in danger. The more important question I wanted to ask this individual is, ”Coming from a reservation, why do you feel the population of Native students is low compared to other minorities and white individuals?” He answered, “From my experience, It is based on how the parents bring up their children, on my reservation, drugs and alcohol is a big problem that has taken over a lot of the families where I’m from, so I feel like the problem with Native students is that the parents aren’t setting a good example for the students.” (Gleason, 2019). 

This interview is crucial to the research I am conducting because it is coming from a primary source who is dealing with changes from back home. This is a convincing source because it is coming from an Indigenous student. One thing that I found unique was how Mr. Gleason mentioned that it is not the students fault for not attending college, but how the parents bring up their children and what they surround them with. Also, I found out that missing the culture is a major impact of some students, which correlates to other texts that were found. Some things I am curious about is, how has being a Native male impacted this experience, is it frowned upon? The information I was able to obtain from this interview was unique and brought up new questions to ask others. 

Citation: Gleason, Herman. Personal Interview. 7, November 2019.

[impossible-rat-babies]

Oc as a child meme!

Dar’theneras “Dimitri” Enallasani

Been seeing this meme around, but @elvenbeard tagged anyone who wanted to do this, so I’m doing this for Dimitri! (He’s about 14 here. Poor kiddo hasn’t grown into his ears nor is he ready for the storm coming his way.)

I’m gonna tag: @pavustive @smolpocketsmonsters and anyone else who wants to do this! Tag me back in it because I wanna see your oc’s as children!

1. Who named them/significance of their name:

He doesn't remember the name he was given when he was born because when his magic manifested his name changed to Dar’thenaras by the Keeper when he became First. It was a rather large ceremony involving the whole clan and quite the celebration. It’s an elvish conjugation of the words “dar” to/be and “theneras” dream. It’s both a name and a title to refer to mages since they are ones who dream as in ones who have vivid dreams/interactions with the Fade. After his clan died, he took the name Dimitri so it would be easier for him in human lands. He already stood out quite a bit with his tattoos, dark sclera and white hair, so he didn’t want to attract further attention because of his unique/different name.

2. Home they grew up in:

He was raised within his semi-nomadic clan as they roamed between ancestral oasis locations in the Anderfels from the Weathered Pass to the Feral Fjords and the hills/mountains surrounding Weisshaupt Fortress. They would occasionally draw close to the Tevinter boarder, but they never stayed long. They never strayed close to cities, but did have interactions with Orth people of the Wandering Hills when they needed to trade for goods they couldn’t create themselves. They nomadic lifestyle and the fighting they experienced from raider groups and roving bands of darkspawn made for a tough childhood where the safety of everyone in the clan was dependent on each person pulling their weight. It was a very tight knit clan however where parents and siblings were more than blood relations. It was common for children to refer to other clanmates as mother/father/sibling even if they weren't blood related.

His “home” was more in his possessions and people, but he had fond memories of the back of his father's sled-like araval where he brewed potions/toxins for the clan along with white tents and pavilions pitched around watering holes with blue and green patterned blankets and tapestries with stories illustrated across them.

3. Relationship with their parents:

He was very close with his mother, Fisianna, and his father, Atsas. She was the clan’s master hunter and took her role very seriously; she was the one in charge of their protection. She cared deeply for each member of the clan and particularly her own children. Dimitri has very precious and fond memories of her holding him close, smiling and laughing at his smallest accomplishments. He credits her with teaching him strength lies in yourself and how there is no weakness in relying on others for help when you need it. He also shares her protective instinct. 

His father was a little more distant in his way, but Dimitri didn't feel any less love from him. He fondly remembers sitting perched in his father’s lap while he explained how each potion/toxin worked as he mixed them by memory and purely touch. (His father was blinded and lost his one leg before Dimitri was born.) He spent many days hiding away with his father to get out of practice lessons with his mother. He would often tell her that there was no harm in him learning a few things from him to compliment the skills she was teaching him. (He does have a basic and rudimentary knowledge of potion crafting because of his father. He has a special recipe that makes wyvern venom twice as dangerous and unable to be cured). His father taught him resilience, caring and how to look past one’s and other’s perceived deficiencies to see how they are capable in their own way.

4. Three words to describe them as a child:

Curious, inquisitive, stubborn.

5. Childhood Friend(s):

Many of the other children in his clan were de-facto siblings, so he readily had friends about to spend time with. He did have a few rivalries with some of his friends, most notably Tassal. They butted heads a lot and were in the business of trying to one up each other quite a bit. They aged out of it, but always had that competitive spirit between them. He grew apart from some of his clanmates as his magic manifested and he was taken as First. At that point he was always busy with his lessons and he had his “adult” title in life. He was bitter for a while at “adulthood” being forced upon him while everyone else got to be just children.

6. Favorite toy:

One of the other mothers in the clan made him a small hand knitted Varghest toy when he was three years old. It was made from wool dyed green which they could only get by trading with humans. He treated it like it was his most prized possession and obsessively took care of it. He wouldn’t let the other children play with it and once threw an incorrigible tantrum for several hours when one of the older children took it from him. He grew out of always keeping it beside him, but it always had a safe place tucked onto the shelf in his father’s araval and remained a prized possession. He would’ve given it to one of his children if the clan had survived.

7. Childhood Trauma

Life wasn't really easy in the Anderfels with the occasional raids, wildlife threats and darkspawn. He saw his share of people die, but the clan always had a healthy regard for dealing with the trauma of their lifestyle. If they could recover the bodies, they would decorate a pyre with any number of desert flowers, herbs and tapestries and burn the bodies late at night. This way, the smoke would carry their souls back home.

The most notable incident directly related to him which spawned his fear of darkspawn and the start of his phobia of being chased was when he was fourteen and him and his fellow clanmates found some abandoned ruins hidden beneath a trapdoor in the sand. They made it into a sort of hideout/place to store hidden items. But one day they were exploring too deep into the ruins and they discovered a large trapped group of darkspawn that chased the group all the way to the surface. Everyone made it out alive, but Dimitri tripped on a rock while running back to the clan and fell. The darkspawn were nearly upon them when they bursted into bright blue flame and then to dust. It was how his magic first manifested.

8. Hobbies:

Categorizing his father’s potion/toxin ingredients, reading old scrolls from the Keeper, trying (and failing) to whittle wood and engrave metal, tending to the halla, caring for the Keeper’s Hart named Ghilan. This is beyond his set duties of keeping watch, preparing food and hunting game like any other member of his clan.

9. Childhood Fear(s): 

Tevinter slavers (he saw the effects of their abuse upon many of the clanmates who were former slaves), Darkspawn, Varghests, Wyverns, venomous snakes (he’s fine with messing with nonvenomous snakes; he actually likes them quite a bit), being chased in a malicious manner.

10. Quirks: 

Even as a child he had a penchant for organizing things and counting things. He would count each of his toes and fingers when he would wake up in the morning; he once counted each of the varghest and wyvern teeth that made up his mother’s weapon. (there were three hundred teeth). He would click his tongue a lot and as his sharpened canines came in after he lost his baby ones, he would run his teeth over them. When he would get very nervous, he would run his tongue over them until he would cut himself.

Wanna know more about Dimitri’s clan? I’m slowly working on a guide for it and the tag can be found here: X

[someshavedsheep]

Alright, we need to talk about something. And you need to listen, because the way you’re operating right now, might just be harming children.

That’s right. THE WAY YOU OPERATE MIGHT JUST BE PUTTING CHILDREN IN HARMS WAY!

Shock ya? Good. Ready for another?

Pedophiles. Paedophiles. Don’t care where in the world you are, I’m talking about kiddy diddlers. They make me sick. And if you have any common sense, your stomach is turning and your rage is starting to boil just thinking of them... Luring kids into their vans with candy... Watching the swing sets through binoculars from their car...

Okay. So lets address the issue specifically. Child abuse in general should certainly make you mad. Sexual abuse of children should make you furious. Perpetrators of these actions are some of the lowest common denominators of the human race. We’re in agreement there.

Here’s the deal. First, we need to separate two distinct groups. People who have sexually abused children, and people who get aroused at the thought of it. People who have abused children have ruined other peoples lives, and without much dispute, deserve to have their lives irreversibly altered.

Do you think that people who are sexually attracted to children don’t know that? How horrible, and disgusting they are? How much hurt they deserve?

Now, let me ask you this, has a vegan telling you how gross your half pound ribeye steak really is, ever made you want to not eat it? Ever made you want to put down your fork, and take up the mantle of ‘animal liberationist’ alongside them? No, it hasn’t. And you telling them how gross and detestable their appetites are doesn’t make them any less hungry.

What I want is for you to think about the ones that havn’t hurt anyone. Lets ONLY address the people who have this horrible desire, that they KNOW is wrong. That YOU know is wrong. That EVERYONE has told them their whole life is WRONG.

YOU ARE CORRECT SIR!

Now stop feeling good about being right, because the way you go about being right is dangerous.

Most of us have a secret. A secret we don’t want getting out. Most of us will not have our lives utterly ruined if that secret came out. So what do they have to do? They have to try to hold this in. Hold in this desire. This urge... I tried to go without coffee for lent. I made it 3 weeks. I’d make a horrible pedophile. I’d have been lynched years ago.

So.. it’s wrong. Pedophiles are sick. We all know it.

So... when you’re sick... you go to the doctor, right?

If you tell your doctor that you’re sexually attracted to children, patient confidentiality does not apply. Children are at risk. The doctor is, if not morally or ethically, often legally required to report you. So you can’t go to your doctor or shrink for help.

Go to a friend?... Imagine, your best friend of 20 years, known him since you were in diapers, came to you one day and said... “Man, I think I really need some help, I just can’t stop thinking about little kids...” Would you keep that person in your life? My first instinct would be to knock all the teeth out of their head!

Go to a stranger? That’s a funny way to commit suicide, but okay.

So, they know they’re sick, they know they’re a bad person... But even if they want to, how do they change?

They’re taught by us, by society, to just lock it down... don’t let it come out...

But all too often, it does. And every time it does, a child is harmed.

And it’s their fault. And they deserve to be punished as harshly as practicality allows. No argument there from me. Child sex is rape. Rape is incredibly offensively objectionable. Rape deserves to be punished to the full extent of practicality, child rape even more so.

And we should ask ourselves, what can be done to prevent these horrible crimes?

More teachers watching the playgrounds at school.

Regular, populated walking routes.

Educating your children and providing them with phones to call in cases of emergency.

All of these things are great. But they are band-aids that don’t get to the heart of this cancer.

The fact is, that no matter how angry the world is, some people get this curse. This horrible, disgusting curse that needs to be purged from the planet. But you telling everyone how you would mutilate the first pedo you can get your hands on doesn’t solve the problem. It just drives it, and the people who havn’t harmed anyone, people that are suffering, further underground.

And when you perpetuate this hatred and intolerance without fostering empathy and understanding alongside it, YOU ARE PUTTING CHILDREN IN HARMS WAY!

Just think..

Maybe if John Wayne Gacy had received therapy after his first offence, maybe he wouldn’t have gone on to kill so many.

Maybe if Michael Jackson had found help, we’d still be talking about his music without that big asterisk today.

Maybe if R. Kelly had some counselling, he wouldn’t have ruined so many young womens lives.

None of these men would have asked for help. Because they know whats coming if they do. A pair of handcuffs on their wrists, a fist up the ass from a fellow inmate, and a lifetime of having to introduce themselves to neighbors with “I legally have to inform you that...”

So look, I know I’m not going to change your mind. And I don’t fully want to. I want you to hate child molesters. I just want you to know, that not all people that experience attraction to children have molested someone.... yet. And until they have a safe way of finding help and treatment, and god forbid, some compassion, the world is a more dangerous place.

The Dunkelfeld Project in Germany, and StopSO in the United Kingdom, are two organizations that aim to support people with this inappropriate sexual attraction to find help, before they hurt anyone else. Elsewhere in the world, the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers (ATSA) has become more welcoming of non-offending pedophiles. There is a website called VirPed.org which can be a resource for people who have not yet harmed children to find help.

These organizations are a step to making the world a safer place for our children. And while you touting domination over the unrighteous is great and all, it’s not actually helping, it’s hurting.

Stop hurting children.

[stacisprout]

Book Review: Reflections on the History of the Sex Addiction Field: A Festschrift, by Jennifer P. Schneider, MD, Debra Kaplan, MA, & Mark Laaser, PhD

In today’s culture, this book matters more than ever.

Service to people suffering from the devastation of sex addiction is frequently sidetracked by disinformation “debate” over whether or not the disease even exists. In stark contrast to superficial treatment of sex addiction, this book clarifies the foundation of a 30-year movement that has only just begun to enter public consciousness. 

With today’s #metoo outpouring of stories of sexual misconduct and demands for accountability and treatment, public consciousness is changing, very quickly. People are waking up with outrage and a need for understanding - what is sexual misconduct? Is sex addiction real, and if so, what is it? What are the differences and similarities between sex addiction and sex offending? This book is a key part of this growing awareness about the origins of the sex addiction concept, and is particularly valuable for scholars, researchers, clinicians, and all fair media reporting on sex addiction.

“Simply put, we’ve reached a point in time where the diagnosis and treatment of sexual addiction is here to stay, whether it’s officially recognized or not, and whatever terminology we use to label it.”

--Foreword, Stefanie Carnes

What is a Festscrift? 

My blog spell check does not recognize the word, but authors explain the Merriam-Webster definition as “a volume of writings by different authors presented as a tribute or memorial especially to a scholar.” In this case, the collection pays tribute to entire field of clinical study and treatment of sexual addiction. It’s first-person accounts from the founders of the field are golden nuggets of wisdom we ignore at our collective peril. And, they’re fascinating!

Here are many of my favorite quotes from this book:

While I expected the uninformed, I was not prepared for the outright denial and, at times contempt, form colleagues for recovery models, particularly sex addiction. (p. 3)

Other criticisms took the form of debating the “right label.” Those unwilling to see that sex could be addictive rolled out various labels to describe the sex addict’s pattern: compulsive sexual behavior, problematic sexual behavior, hypersexual behavior, and out-of-control sexual behavior. These labels helped avoid acknowledging what many of us were seeing: addiction.(p. 6)

--Ken Adams

[At] the Vanderbilt Symposium in 2001...they not only brought together the giants from the sex addiction field, they had the presidents and leaders of [the] American Society of Sex Educators, Counselors, and Therapists (ASSECT) and Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers (ATSA) in the same room at the same time...I asked the presidents of AASECT and ATSA to join me on the balcony, away from the rest of the symposium participants and for the first times ever, the three presidents of these organizations met together. It was there on the balcony, that the three of us agreed that each of our organizations would invite the other two to present at each other’s annual conferences and start having conversations about how our missions overlap. (p. 19)

--Joseph M. Amico 

I was very impressed with [Patrick Carnes’] work, as were many others. Through his lectures in 1977 or 1978, he introduced me to the work of William White, who wrote about the concept of incest dynamics that can be played out in closed organizations. It helped me understand some of the incestual dynamics of the early years of the Program in Human Sexuality and even some of the early sexological organizations. (p. 29)

--Eli Coleman

As I began working in the field, I quickly discovered no one was providing dedicated treatment for female sex and love addicts, and I wanted to change that. (p. 81)

--Marnie C. Ferree

Our research group agreed there were important differences between men and women sex addicts, and were committed to writing a guide for therapists...Thankfully Marnie Ferree took on the job of editor and kept us organized and on task. Making Advances: A Comprehensive Guide for Treating Female Sex and Love Addicts was published in 2012. I believe this book, and Charlotte Kasl’s book Women, Sex and Addiction (1999) are two significant works on diagnosis and treatment of female sex and love addiction. (p. 61)

--M. Deborah Corley

As a treatment community, we began to identify, treat, and develop research that guided our treatment protocols over the last several decades. We also began to see the connection between physical anorexia and sexual anorexia and recognized that “romance novels” were the “porn” of love addicts. We were one of the first programs offering “gender-specific” treatment for females. (p. 109)

--Linda Hudson

We also talked about a broader concept of sexuality where women could ask for what they wanted and be open to passion, and to fully feeling the rhythm and pulse of their bodies. Sex as an expression of love and commitment also entered the conversation. (p.119)

--Charlotte Sophia Kasl

Is it Love or Is It Addiction? was a huge success, selling over 10,000 copies in the first month it was available to bookstores via Harper & Row. It was featured on the cover of Publishers Weekly, which let both me and the publisher know that the lay audience was hungry for the information. 

Of course, then and now, love addiction was not a DSM diagnosis. Nonetheless, it did not seem to get the same amount of resistance that the subject of sex addiction had received. As a psychologist I have become ever aware that clients, not the professional, first identify a psychological problem, and because of the suffering it causes, then bring the problem to a professional. The professional then is required to figure out a name for the distress, but before it has validity, it needs research to prove it exists. Whether the professional community believes love and sex addiction is real is less important to me than that we as professionals take our clients’ problem seriously and find ways to treat it. In other words, love, romance, and sex addiction were in existence before we put a name to them, and will continue to whether professionals accept them or not. (p. 159)

With over 600,000 books sold, and hundreds of presentations world-wide, my hope is that I have made a contribution to spreading the word about the pain and peril of sex and love addiction and ways to heal from it. In addition, I have done hundreds of radio, television, print interviews including Sally Jesse Raphael, Fox O’Reilly News, Fox Morning Show...and online interviews such as CNN, PBS, and You-Tube. (p. 169)

--Brenda Schaeffer

Relevant to the discussion [of how to view partners of sex addicts], research among soldiers returning from war has shown that those who had experienced early trauma, such as childhood abuse or neglect, were at greater risk of developing PTSD in wartime. In their behavioral health treatment, these soldiers need to deal with both sets of traumatic experiences - the more recent ones in war, and the earlier ones in childhood. I believe that the same is true for partners of sex addicts. Initially they need validation of their relational trauma and empathy. But many partners of sex addicts also need to work through their earlier experiences, to understand and overcome the unhealthy coping strategies they may have developed early in life to deal with their childhood trauma and which now prevent them from feeling in control of their lives and able to make good choices. (p.178)

--Jennifer P. Schneider, MD, PhD

Some years ago I introduced Drew Pinsky, MD, to [the] Society of Advancement of Sexual Health (SASH) and he subsequently contributed a number of presentations at their conference. He asked me to collaborate on his TV show treating celebrities with sexual addiction; he hoped that the show would educate more people to identify the disorder and get help. Through the media, Dr. Drew continues to be a major educator about addictions including sex addiction.

As sexual addiction became increasingly apparent in adolescent behavior, I pushed for more research in this area. I put together a panel to address this issue at a SASH conference, as most of the current generation of adolescents have been exposed their entire life to pornography through the Internet, whether by accident or search. Thus pornography, or the objectification of humans and their exploitation, has become an everyday experience, blurring the boundaries of unhealthy versus healthy relationship skills in young minds.

...As I review my growth from neophyte to experienced psychiatrist in the field of sexual addiction, it seems to me that my development parallels the awareness of sexual addiction in the practicing psychiatric profession, in general. Institutional psychiatry still remains woefully behind in recognizing the devastating consequences of untreated problematic sexual acting out behavior. (p. 203)

--John Sealy

The truth is that these men and women are addicted to their own neurochemistry in a process evolved for their emotional survival over profound early neglect and abuse or perhaps due to an early overexposure to sexual stimuli by way of the omnipresent digital world. And they need help form a trained addiction-focused professional. (p. 230)

--Rob Weiss

I couldn’t agree more.

The book is available here: https://www.amazon.com/Reflections-History-Sex-Addiction-Field/dp/154327093X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1513104095&sr=8-1&keywords=reflections+on+the+history+of+the+sex+addiction+field

[counselling]

Relationship therapist bloor west toronto

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[mintyisms]

💗 Powerpuff Girls S2 Sentence Starters – Part 2 of 2 💗

My favorite! Liver and onions!

If we had some real talent, we could raise money. But we don’t.

Look, I’m no sugar daddy. Those days are over.

Little monkeys are too dumb to golf.

They’re asking questions, waving badges, and pointing fingers!

JUMPIN’ JEHOSAPHAT! WHAT THE HECK IS THAT?!

But the juicy stuff doesn’t even start until at least nine!

That’s it? The parade’s over? Where’s the floats? Where the giant 3-D cartoon character endorsement balloons?

And so once again the day is saved thanks to Benjamin Franklin’s suggestion of setting clocks back during the winter for extra daylight to conserve economic spending on candles.

That’s it! I don’t need to stand here and be insulted by an insulter such as yourself

Begone, you cheese puff!

Shoot me now, shoot me now, shoot me now!

Atsa spicy meatball!

What do you mean, just great? What about the giant furbag that’s eating the town?

See? I told you that kid’s weird. He’s talking to himself.

I’m sorry. I didn’t know he would be evil.

You don’t even know what cooties are.

I’m sensitive, you know.

Hey. . .forget the other bosses. Our allegiance is with you.

I take over as mayor and rule the world, and you will be my little houseboy and obey my every whim.

Ta-ta! I’m off to take over the universe!

I need to punch!

I’m happy, I’m driving, I’m happy and I’m driving.

I’m a monster, and I’m eating Joe. I do that.

I’m gonna hide under my desk like I always do.

With my magic banjo, I brought the beast to life!

Only the greatest scientific mind this side of the galaxy could create such a beast. And because I have yet to meet a greater scientific mind this side of the galaxy, I can comfortably say that sentence comfortably.

You two left me alone in a cupboard for two and a half hours.

Maybe you’re gonna throw your big shiny bucket at me.

And you know what? I hate everything!

Look at that family unity. It makes me sick!

As long as we have each other, we’re indestructible.

You drove my husband insane, you sent him to prison, but on top of all of that you ungrateful little brats ruined my dinner!

I couldn’t find any sugar, but I did find artificial sweetener.

I didn’t know where to get spices, so I got dirt and twigs and stuff.

Your sisters need you!

I was, uh. . .uh. . .just um. . .practicing my spelling.

It’s my blanket! It gives me the strength to be a great fighter!

You don’t need a stinky old blanket to fight!

I’m gonna lay out and work on my tan!

Get over here right away! I seem to have accidentally flushed myself down the toilet!

I’m just more aerodynamic than you. I don’t have big powder puffs to slow me down.

Sugar, spice, and. . .powdered rice?

As you raced through time, the whole world went to heck!

Don’t you see? I’ve already won.

Together you will be a wonderfully diverse and multi-ethnic superhero team, perhaps saving the environment or. . .whatever.

And you see? That’s why you should stay away from strangers.

Ooh, mama! This techno music is dope!

I was so afraid. . .I wish I could have called you sooner!

You know, we gotta stop meeting like this.

That woman is so fired.

Are you surprised by my tears? Strong men also cry.

YOU BROKE MY HAIR!

I would have gladly paid fifty million dollars for your safe return!

For the last time, it was not me trying to seduce you.

Who wants some tea? It’s my great-grammy’s secret recipe!

What did you think it was? Poisoned?

That’s right! Scream! Cower! Fear me!

You are now--dare I say it? Normal little girls!

[abiik]

kEMEJAY FIRST TIME DADS TO A SET OF TWINS

[cattarattat]

Transportation Security Administration (TSA) = Security Theatre

(Security Theatre: practice of investing in countermeasures intended to provide the feeling of improved security while doing little or nothing to achieve it)

A MUST, MUST, MUST READ!!!

"Following the attacks of September 11th, Congress passed the Aviation and Transportation Security Act (ATSA), creating the Transportation Security Agency (TSA). The TSA replaced private security screening companies with one government agency. Since then, air travelers have bowed to pat downs, bans on water bottles and other inconvenient, intrusive procedures as the “new normal” at our nation’s airports. But does any of this make us safer?

Security Theater and the TSA

Security expert Bruce Schneier coined the term “security theater” to describe some of the TSA's procedures and screening practices. Security theater provides the appearance of enhanced security without actually making anyone more secure.

Since 9/11, the TSA has implemented new screening procedures on an almost constant basis. The structual problem with these new screening procedures is two-fold. First, these procedures are almost always in response to past threats, not in anticipation of future threats. Second, average Americans suffer the consequences for years to come in the form of ever-increasing screening procedures and lost time.

...The TSA's 95% Failure Rate in Rehearsals

Although security procedures have gotten more aggressive under the TSA, detection rates seem no better than they were before September 11, 2001. An undercover investigation by the DHS in 2018, found that the TSA had equipment or procedure failure more than half the time.

Numbers don’t lie. The TSA’s failure rate at weapon detection remains strong, which is likely 80% at some major airports. And during undercover tests, that failure rate increases. During covert tests conducted by the DHS in 2015, TSA agents failed to detect guns and fake explosives 95 percent of the time. In one test, an undercover DHS agent was stopped and received an "enhanced" pat-down search after setting off a metal detector, but the TSA screener failed to detect the fake bomb taped to the agent’s back.

The U.S. hasn’t suffered any major attacks since 9/11. However, incidents like shoe bomber Richard Reid weren’t thwarted by the TSA – they were stopped by watchful passengers.

How To SPOT a Terrorist

Since 2006, the TSA has spent more than $1 billion on training so-called Behavior Detection Officers (BDOs) who watch passengers for suspicious behavior so they can be singled out for extra screening at airports. The program is called Screening Passengers by Observation Techniques (SPOT).

The specific behaviors that BDOs are trained to look for are supposed to be secret, but a leaked copy of the behavior checklist includes fidgeting, sweating, yawning and “suspicious” eye movements. SPOT operates on a point system. Sweaty palms and whistling earns travelers one point. Arrogance, a cold stare and good posture earn travelers two points. Other indicators include a recently shaved face, looking at the floor, clearing your throat, and complaining about the screening process. Travelers who get enough points can be flagged for extra screening.

Since its inception in 2006, and after spending more than $1 billion, the SPOT program has only identified one man who could be called a terrorist.

...The Israeli Art of Conversation

Israel faces more terrorist threats than any other country in the world, yet their airport security is a model of sensible, measured response to a very real danger.

The screening process at Ben Gurion International Airport starts with a vehicle and bag inspection before passengers even enter the airport. Once inside the airport, passengers must pass through increasing layers of security, facing heavier and heavier scrutiny until they board. The level of technology at Ben Gurion hasn’t changed much since the 1980s. Metal detectors, X-ray scanners and bomb-sniffing dogs are still considered state-of-the-art.

Israeli security screeners approach passengers to ask about their travel plans as standard practice. If passengers' answers seem practiced or implausible, security personnel can order extra screening. Instead of a checklist, Israeli security screeners rely on intuition and the art of conversation to judge passengers’ intentions. Science bears this out as a more effective technique than a behavior checklist.

...Beyond Security Theater The TSA's poor performance record has led some airports back to the private screening companies that handled security before 9/11. Under the TSA’s Screening Partnership Program, an approval process that typically takes years, airports can hire private security screeners. The only requirement is that the private outfits maintain the same level of security as the TSA. More than 20 local and international airports have joined the program – with San Francisco and Kansas City already onboard and more set to join as the TSA promises waiting times will reach three hours at busy airports during the spring and summer travel seasons.

Private screeners at SPP airports have proven themselves to be more efficient and more effective than the TSA. A report by a House oversight committee in 2013 found that private screeners at San Francisco International Airport were much better at detecting prohibited items than TSA screeners at LAX, and wait times were shorter. As a result of the report, calls are growing in Congress to abolish the TSA and return to private screening companies."

[miriadonline]

CONF: Material Futures (Glasgow, 29-30 Jun 17)

Glasgow, Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA), 350 Sauchiehall St, June 29 – 30, 2017 http://nacca.eu/conference-2017/

Contemporary artistic practices have prompted a reconsideration of boundaries between the roles of artists and institutional staff, and between processes of art production, exhibition, and preservation. This conference will provide a forum for professionals, researchers, and students working across different disciplines to discuss urgent questions regarding artwork identity, permanence and impermanence, reproducibility and replication, and the role of the artist and the institution in constructing and maintaining memory. It will explore these questions and other areas where artistic practice, curatorial practice, and conservation decision-making intersect through themes of materiality, memory and loss.

Full programme below:

PROGRAMME

Wednesday 28 June

5.00pm ­ 6.30pm Karla Black (artist) Keynote Lecture

Thursday 29 June

9.00am ­ 9.30am Registration

9.30am ­ 11.00am Tiziana Caianiello (Zero Foundation) Keynote Lecture – (Re)Constructing Memories: Some Thoughts About Preservation

Jo Ana Morfin (Independent Scholar) Restored Behaviour: Performing Materiality

11.00am ­ 11.30am Coffee break

11.30am ­ 1.00pm Simon Fleury (Birmingham School of Art & Design) Encountering the Museum-Object

Hans-Jürgen Hafner (Critic & Curator) Always Trouble with Flynt. Tracing Conceptual Art

Denise Petzold (Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst) (Im)Materiality in the Museum: Shaping Joseph Beuys’s Information Action through Curating Documentation

1.00pm ­ 2.00pm Lunch

2.00pm ­ 3.30pm Gwynne Ryan (Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden) Refabricating, Re-Making, and Re-Thinking: A Continuation of the Artist’s Process

Yukiko Watari (HIGURE 17-15 cas) The Expanding Role of Art Installers: Distributed Model for Documentation Practice

Sanneke Stigter (University of Amsterdam) Picturing Peter Struycken’s Blue Waves: Collecting Memories as a Form of Conservation

3.30pm ­ 4.00pm Break

4.00pm ­ 5.30pm Martha C. Singer & Kate Wight Tyler (Owner/Director, Material Whisperer; Brooklyn Museum) Boob Jobs: Treatments of Duchamp and Donati’s Latex Foam Breasts

Alison Norton (Moderna Museet) Migrating Facsimiles: Copies and Conservation Control

Louise Lawson & Acatia Finbow (Tate) Reflections on Tate’s Documentation of Performance Artworks: Creating the Institutional Memory of an Artwork

Friday 30 June

9.00am ­ 9.30am Registration

9.30am ­ 11.00am Annie Fletcher (van Abbemuseum) Keynote Lecture

Ulrich Lang (Die Restauratoren) The Fortune of the Presence

11.00am ­ 11.30am Coffee break

11.30am ­ 1.00pm Laura Leuzzi, Elaine Shemilt & Stephen Partridge (EWVA, DJCAD) Methodologies, Strategies and Practice Based Research Methods to uncover and narrate early European Women’s Video Art

Adam Lockhart (DJCAD) Machine Vision

Claire M. Holdsworth (Kingston School of Art) Vocal and Material Mourning: Stuart Marshall, Mouth Works (1975/76)

1.00pm ­ 2.00pm Lunch

2.00pm ­ 3.30pm Lucy Askew (NGS) with contributions from collections management staff at NGS and Glasgow Museums Steven Campbell (1953-2007), On Form and Fiction, 1989-90

Ariane Noël de Tilly (Emily Carr University of Art & Design) What Remains of ATSA’s State of Emergency

3.30pm ­ 4.00pm Break

4.00pm ­ 5.30pm Hélia Marçal (Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa) Beyond Temporality: Performance Art Conservation as a Remembrance of Place

Anna Schäffler (Free University Berlin) Memory Process in Practice. On the Ensemble Art of Anna Oppermann and Contemporary Art Preservation

Nim Goede (University of Amsterdam) Tracing the Engram: Exploring the Neurophysiological Basis of Memory through Lead in Robert Morris’s Process-Type Objects, 1964-1965

Planning Committee: Dr. Dominic Paterson (University of Glasgow), Dr. Erma Hermens (Rijksmuseum), Brian Castriota (University of Glasgow), Nina Quabeck (University of Glasgow).

Book tickets here: http://www.cca-glasgow.com/programme/material-futures-conference

Send any enquiries to: materialfuturesconference@gmail.com

[malaysiantribune]

ATSA ARCHITECTS DIRECTOR SHARES CHALLENGES IN ARCHITECTURE AND INTERIOR DESIGN PRACTICE WITH HBP STUDENTS

http://dlvr.it/NX3PFW