After the Storm: Helping Students and Colleagues (and Yourself)

Those who are dealing with the physical, financial, and emotional aftermath of Hurricane Sandy face a long struggle, with many months, perhaps even years, of unwanted changes and unforeseen hurdles. The challenge of clean-up and recovery is daunting, but not impossible. Here in my community, rebuilding from Tropical Storm Irene, which devastated many parts of Vermont, is still underway. There was quite a bit of anxiety as Sandy approached. The trauma experienced 14 months ago was on the minds of many; for some the trauma was retriggered. Thankfully, we escaped the worst of it this time, but not everyone was so lucky.

A Halloween Reminder About Self-Care

Happy Halloween! Make sure to balance all the TRICKy situations you have to handle with some TREATS for yourself!

What Shall I Be? A Truly Scary Career Resource

Halloween is just around the corner, so what better time to share a career resource that is bound to inspire gasps of horror and perhaps even send you off screaming in terror?  Oh yes, this one’s a nightmare, all right, but all wrapped up in a very pretty package!

Seconds after I finished my last post, Role Models – On Paper!, about a nifty new career resource, I got a blast-from-the-past reminder about a career resource from my childhood that I had managed to completely block from my memory, thank goodness!

Role Models – On Paper!

Here’s a creative way to share career information – paper dolls of a civil engineer, construction manager, emergency responders, and chemists, complete with accessories like blueprints, laptop, oxygen mask, Bunsen burner, and career related attire – lab coat, clean room suit, helmets, and noise-protection earmuffs!

Cybersafety: Shut the Door on Bullies and Predators

Most kids and parents would never dream of leaving their front doors wide open so that anybody could walk right into their homes. And yet, many unwittingly do just that. Strangers, advertisers, predators, unkind classmates, and bullies slip directly into homes, bedrooms, backpacks, and pockets, browsing through photo albums, diaries, activity schedules, and other personal details about kids’ lives. Sometimes they leave something behind – perhaps a taunt or threat – and sometimes they take something with them when they leave – a photo or information that can be used to hurt the kid.

Revenge of SuperCounselor!

Administering standardized tests means that you have no time at all to accomplish the myriad things on your to-do list, much less teach classes, run groups, see individuals, or deal with the inevitable crises that arise when you are unavailable. It does, however, give you plenty of time to plot revenge, even if you are also scribing and reading all the allowable bits.

Who, you might ask, is deserving of SuperCounselor’s particular brand of justice? Well, today it’s the the Kingpin of the Testing Mafia, the guy who decided that it was a fine idea to make eight-year-olds

School Counselors Are in the House!

School Counselors are in the House – the State House, that is!

Vermont is a very small state, and the Vermont School Counselor Association annual conference is not the multi-day extravaganza that associations from larger states offer, but this year school counselors from the Green Mountain State got to feel especially important when the VTSCA conference was held at the State House, in the chamber of the House of Representatives. (And we got to meet a presidential candidate! More on that later.) The theme of the conference was Mindfulness, Movement, and Motivation, and we got to experience some of each of those in a very grand setting.

The Lousy Truth about Attention and Good Counseling

Photo credit: http://www.imperfectparent.com

Scratching your head about how this whole school counseling thing plays out? Feeling like a lousy counselor? Stay tuned . . .

Let me set the scene: End of the school day. Me, teaching (aka tap dancing to keep everyone focused, on task, and in their own space) a lesson on self-regulation to 14 kids, in grades 1-5, in our PBiS Targeted Program. Two paraprofessionals, who deserve to be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, providing back-up. Did I mention that this class/group is scheduled at the very end of the day in a behavioral program?

I-Care: The Foundation for Conflict Resolution

Teaching kids how to resolve conflicts is at the very center of the counseling program at my school. When I started at my school in the dark ages 1996, it was as a long-term sub. Being a sub had its challenges, but one of the major advantages it provided was that I had the opportunity to assess the skills and needs of our students and how the counseling program addressed those skills and needs. Here are my findings in a nutshell: They had some skills, many needs, and there was no program. When I was hired to fill the position permanently, one of the first things I did was develop