Build Away: An Experiential Program for Overcoming Workplace Stress
2025fri26sep9:00 amfri12:30 pm
Event Details
The Strategic Ohio Council for Higher Education (SOCHE) invites you to an interactive IN-PERSON training, “Build Away: An Experiential Program for Overcoming Workplace Stress,” which is scheduled for Friday, Sept. 26, from 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m. ET at Montgomery County Business Solutions Center (1435 Cincinnati Street, Suite #300, Dayton). Presented by Dr. Thomas Dickson of Beech Dickson Consulting, this session is designed specifically to support higher education personnel.
A recent national survey of college faculty and staff showed that more than half (53%) have considered quitting due to burnout, increased workload, and stress, highlighting ongoing challenges in employee retention post-pandemic. During these stressful and rapidly changing times, finding ways to reduce the mental overload among higher education personnel is vital.
Dr. Dickson will facilitate an immersive workshop that helps address burnout while utilizing the LEGO® Serious Play® method. This approach is heavily hands-on, requiring participants to build physical models out of bricks — models that represent their stressors and work environment. After each build, everyone will share-out the meaning of their builds to their group tables.
The session will address the top burnout factors, which are environmental in nature. We will review how to audit stressors in the workplace and implement impactful changes beyond just individual self-care.
Upon completion, participants will be able to:
- Recognize and the symptoms of burnout and high stress
- Understand and identify the core factors and influences for stress and burnout in the workplace
- Identify and apply environmental auditing with their teams
- Create and apply supports to reduce and prevent stress factors, burnout, and turnover
Don’t let stress and workload challenges take a toll on you and your team – join us for a fun, unique learning experience that will open your mind to other avenues for managing job fatigue and emotional drain.
Registration for this event will close on Sunday, Sept. 21, or when the event is full, whichever occurs first. Click here to register now.
When: Friday, Sept. 26, 2025, from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. ET
Where: Montgomery County Business Solutions Center (1435 Cincinnati Street, Suite 300, Dayton, OH)
Cost
- Personnel from SOCHE Member Schools: $15 through Sept. 14 (price increases to $25 on Sept. 15)
- Personnel from NON-Member Schools/Orgs: $25 through Sept. 14 (price increases to $35 on Sept. 15)
- Students: $5 through Sept. 14 (price increases to $15 on Sept. 15)
Questions? Contact Mindy Claggett at SOCHE
Student Registration Fee Policy
Registration Cancellation Policy
Registration for this event will close on Sunday, Sept. 21, or when the event is full, whichever occurs first.
Pre-registration is required. There will be NO ON-SITE REGISTRATION for this event.
About the Presenter
Thomas Dickson, Ph.D.
Owner
Beech Dickson Consulting
Dr. Thomas Dickson is the owner of Beech Dickson Consulting and is an experienced educator with over twenty-five years of higher education experience in student success initiatives, academic advising, and first-generation supports. Dr. Dickson currently serves as Director of the Ohio Strong in Science initiative for the Ohio Department of Higher Education focused on STEM curricular reforms and co-requisite models. Before Ohio, he led post-secondary initiatives for a regional cradle-to-career organization that supported institutional transformation at 18 community colleges and universities in southern California. His work experience includes advising and advising administration at Arizona State University, University Arizona as an Assistant Dean, and University of California Riverside as an Assistant Vice Provost of Undergraduate Education. He has taught over 75 courses ranging from first-year success courses, career exploration, democratic pedagogy, and higher education graduate students. He has a Bachelors in psychology, a Masters in Counseling, and Doctorate in Higher and Post-Secondary Administration.
Dr. Dickson researches and presents on academic advising, burnout and compassion fatigue, imposter phenomenon, first-generation students, student engagement and high-impact practices, and higher education and non-profit administration.
