Professional Development for Counselors

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Group Counseling Skills for Counselors
Group counseling is considered a primary role of the school counselor by the American School Counselor Association and it has taken an even more important role in light of the expanding responsibilities of the school counselor. One-on-one counseling is appropriate in many situations; however, the support students can receive in a group is often more powerful that one-on-one counseling. This program will explore the types of groups, the six steps involved in getting a group started, gaining support from administrators and teachers, group logistics and, group process. Participants will receive lists of suggested resources, handouts of sample forms including group sign-up forms, attendance forms and, parent permission forms.

Group Counseling Skills for Counselors II:  Leading Groups the Solution-Focused Way
With experience in organizing counseling groups in a school, many counselors want to expand their skills in leading groups. This program is a workshop focusing on developing the skills needed for leading effective groups using solution-focused brief counseling techniques. Participants will be actively involved in many group activities and will receive ideas for topics, and handouts of sample lesson plans for use with selected groups

Counseling the Angry Child
In increasing numbers, teachers, counselors, administrators, and parents are seeking solutions for students with problematic behavior relating to anger. Research has shown that a large percentage of the discipline problems experienced in the classroom, school cafeterias, on the playgrounds and in the halls stems from the actions of an angry child or adolescent. This presentation will help counselors identify the common causes of anger in children, understand healthy and unhealthy responses to anger, and will provide a variety of anger management techniques to use when counseling children and adolescents experiencing anger.

Solution Focused Brief Counseling: A Practical Approach
With caseloads often exceeding 500 students, counselors can devote little time to providing students with long-term counseling. Solution-focused counseling offers counselors a unique method of problem solving that promotes change in a shortened period of time. It is a counseling method that meets the challenges facing counselors relating to time, large caseload, and accountability. Counselors learn to encourage students, parents, and teachers to discover and apply their own strengths to problems. In this presentation, counselors will learn the basic concepts and techniques of solution-focused brief counseling. They will observe an actual counseling session using the solution-focused approach and, will have the opportunity to practice these techniques using real problems.

Creating a Caring School Community
Based on recent research done by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, students do better academically when they are valued as individuals by their teachers, counselors, administrators, and other students. Counselors play an important role in promoting this sense of belonging and caring on the school campus. In this workshop, participants will be provided with many strategies and ideas including classroom guidance activities and school-wide activities that promote a sense of caring, belonging and connectedness on the school campus. With these practical ideas and innovative strategies, participants will experience a renewed sense of purpose to create and maintain a school environment that supports and encourages all students.

Helping Students Cope With Loss
Tragically many campuses are faced with situations dealing with loss each school year. Whether the loss involves the death of a student, death of a faculty member, serious illness or debilitating accident, it affects the entire school community. Students also are faced with personal losses relating to divorce of parents, incarceration of parents, loss of friendships, loss of home, etc. This presentation provides counselors with strategies for helping students deal with the strong and difficult emotions they will face and the new situations they will experience as they deal with issues relating to loss.

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