School Counselor Community
A Newsletter for School Counselors in the SUHSD - Oct 2017
Wellness Tip
Avoiding Compassion Fatigue
For school counselors the second quarter is often a stressful one, yet it is equally exciting to continue working with our students, to continue implementing new ideas, and delivering our counseling activities. With so much going on, it is equally important to take care of ourselves to avoid burnout or compassion fatigue. Click here to learn more about compassion fatigue and how to cope.
Five Minute Self-Care Strategies to Build Into Your Day
- Deep breathing exercises
- Take a walk
- Use a mindfulness app on your phone or tablet
- Listen to music or access a guided imagery app
- Eat a healthy snack or have a cup of tea
- Post positive affirmations or inspirational quotes, magnets in your office that promote thoughts of resilience and confidence
- Drink water
- Take time to eat lunch without doing work
- Read a few jokes from a joke book or exchange jokes with a colleague
- Stretch
School Counseling Domains
Academic
Throughout the year parents often meet with the school counselor to inquire on their child's academic progress or over concerns on their changing adolescent.
Parents sometimes struggle with the transition from elementary to middle school or middle school to high school in terms of how much independence to give their child or how involved to get with school matters. Read more on ways parents can continue supporting their teens and stay involved throughout their adolescence. The article is also a good resource to provide to parents.
In terms of academics, parents often want to meet with teachers to discuss their child’s progress. Feel free to share with parents the guided Parent-Teacher Conference Tips courtesy of Montgomery Middle Counselors, Verenice Hernandez and Maria Zamora-Felkins. The worksheet provides questions for parents to ask their child and the teacher when addressing concerns.
Career
The SUHSD College Fair and Career Expo was a success! The event was held at Montgomery High School on October 2, 2017 where approximately 1,500 participants were able to connect with various college and career representatives.
There were 76 colleges from within and outside of California. Some of the career industries that were represented were fire and paramedic, nursing, immigration, engineering, military, apprenticeship programs, department of labor, cosmetology, and professions related to our CTE programs. Thank you to the individuals in the College and Career Readiness Office, to the counselors/staff who encouraged their students to attend, and to the Montgomery High School staff for making this possible for students!
Personal & Social
Ten of the Biggest Challenges Faced by School Counselors in 2017
According to the ASCA assistant director, Eric Sparks, these are the biggest challenges facing school counselors in their work with youth. You can click on the article link above to read more about each topic. Our goal is to address some of these issues in our District Counselor Meetings and upcoming professional development as they are similar concerns that came up in the counselor survey.
1. Mental Health Issues
2. Stress
3. Bullying
4. Suicide
5. Gender Issues
6. Inequity
7. Immigration
8. Planning
9. Balance
10. Burnout
Share the Safe Coping Skills with students. You can refer to the Equity, Culture, and Student Support Services Resource Guide for a compilation of resources related to many of the areas above. Additional Mental Health Resources were shared with counselors, psychologists, and therapists at the Suicide Prevention Training. The presenter, Richard Lieberman, provided the following websites, which have great resources:
- Know the Signs: http://www.suicideispreventable.org/
- San Diego County Suicide Prevention and Support (It’s Up to Us): http://up2sd.org/resources/suicide-prevention-and-support/
- The National Child Traumatic Stress Network (For Parents/Caregivers): http://www.nctsn.org/resources/audiences/parents-caregivers
- Rational Mind (Lessons and Exercises): https://www.excelatlife.com/downloads/cognitive_self-talk/rational_thinking.htm
School Counselor Institute
The goal of the School Counselor Institute is to provide opportunities for support and collaboration through purposeful mentoring and professional growth. Our goal is for our school counselors to be equipped and prepared to meet students’ academic, career, and emotional/social needs via a comprehensive school counseling program rooted in advocacy and one that creates positive systemic change for every student.
Below are the school counselors who are participating in the School Counselor Institute. They come with a wealth of experience in education or counseling related professions, were previously substitute counselors in our district or were counselors in previous districts.
Year 1 Cohort (Recent hires- 2nd year in SUHSD)
Eleina Vallejo-Paez
Michael Briney
Jorge Soto
Montgomery High School
Yumi Saiki, Lisa Diaz, Mariel Avalos, Brenda Gonzalez
(left to right)
Alex Conner
(pictured center)
Llacneli Castellaños
Samantha Haug
Sonia Bringas
Christine Barragan
Year 2 Cohort (3rd year in SUHSD)
Vanessa McPherson
Castle Park High School
Lorena Mata
Stephanie Hsu
Kristen Ereno & Bibiana Jones
(left to right)
Lizzette Torres-Matthews
Reem Rame
Edrey Ledezma
Lalaine Torres
Erika Daniels
Carla Jacobo
Erica Lama
Liliana Barron
Great CTE Options At The Adult Schools
For those students who are not college bound right after high school, the adult school CTE offerings are a great option. The adult schools offer in-demand, short-term CTE trainings and in many of the classes students earn Southwestern College units. Students then have the option to continue their career pathway at SWC if they choose. Most CTE classes are a semester in length and students need to enroll prior to the semester they wish to attend. Click here to learn which CTE programs and courses are offered at each of the respective Adult Schools.
Contact your local adult school counselor to learn more about the CTE programs offered and college pathways available to your students post high school. Adult school counselors are able to meet with your counseling teams to discuss these exciting opportunities for students.
Chula Vista Adult- Hank Austin & Saul Cruz
619-796-7020
Montgomery Adult - Andrea Aragoza & Deborah Simone
619-600-3820
National City Adult - Nestor Vallar & Debra O'Brien
619-336-9420
San Ysidro Adult - Kathy Hernandez & Debra O'Brien
619-428-7220
Around the District
PSAT Day
On October 11th, throughout our district most 10th and 11th graders took the PSAT exam. At some sites, 9th graders also took the PSAT 8/9 exam. Many school counselors used the time during the PSAT to provide direct services to either freshman or senior students.
Eastlake High School counselors worked with 400 of their seniors who voluntarily came onto campus. Counselors led three different workshops, a college application workshop, a writing workshop to complete the UC personal insight/common application essay questions (led in collaboration with the AP English teachers), and a financial aid workshop. A fourth workshop on information about SWC was provided by SWC Outreach office. The students had the option to attend two out of the four workshops.
Southwest High School counselors coordinated a college and career fair day for all of their seniors. Students rotated into three different workshops. The first was a college and financial aid workshop where students were able to begin working on their college or financial aid application with some of the counselors. The second workshop was with an outside presenter who stressed the importance of financial management. The third workshop was a career fair where representatives from various professions tabled for students.
San Ysidro High School took a different approach and held their first annual four-year planning event for 9th graders (modeled after HTH). The day started off in the gym and with the help of the teachers, freshman divided into three groups and rotated into three different sessions. The sessions included the US Army who provided fun leadership and team building activities and SDPD who delivered an important message on drugs, alcohol and the dangers of addiction. The other session, which was the purpose for the event, was a counselor led core curriculum lesson on completing a four-year plan. Counselors met with their own students and taught the details of high school graduation, high school success, and college entrance requirements. Parents/guardians were also notified of the activity so they could continue the conversation at home.
These are only three of the sites, many other counseling teams engaged in similar activities with their students. Job well done for EHS, SOH, and SYHS counseling teams and all the other teams who put many hours of planning to make this a successful day for our students. Overall, it was an engaging and productive day for them. Thank you to the custodial staff, administrators, teachers, support staff, and presenters who assisted in making this a great day.
Counselor Standards Committee #SUHSDCSC
Standards Google Drive
http://tinyurl.com/SUHSDCounselorStandards
Sign-In Sheets
Do not forget to submit your Sign-In Sheet data by the 5th of every month.Race To Submit Financial Aid Applications
Our goal as a district is to have a 100% completion rate of FAFSA or CA Dream Act applications. Where does your site currently stand? Go to https://webutil.csac.ca.gov/Dashboard/ to track your sites progress.
Second Quarter Focus - Core Curriculum (Guidance Lessons)
Middle School
Middle School counselors are delivering an Educational Essentials core curricular lesson plan for all 8th graders in SUHSD. The daily learning target is for students to be able to calculate and understand the importance of a GPA as evidenced by a discussion with a partner. In addition, the objectives of the lesson are for students to understand what a credit is, have a solid understanding of promotion, A-G, and Compact for Success requirements, and have strategies for school success.
Check out the lesson plan, PowerPoint, pre/post test, and 8th grade newsletter. Each site adds onto the Educational Essentials Power Point by adding their tutoring schedules and school success information. The newsletter is also customized by every site.
High School
High school counselors are focusing on delivering a 6-year plan for academic success core curriculum lesson plan for all 9th graders in SUHSD. The daily learning target is for students to apply the graduation and A-G requirements as evidenced by completing a six-year plan. This is building on what the middle school counselors started with students in 7th grade.
Check out the lesson plan, PowerPoint, pre/post test, and six-year plan template. Stay tuned for results of our pre/post lesson. Once counselors are done completing their six-year plans, please submit the number of 9th graders with a six-year plan here.
Year-Long Focus
Foster & Homeless Youth Services Program
Building Grit With Students
Students are often facing so much in their young lives both in and outside of school. Often teenagers find they are unfamiliar with themselves or find difficulty coping in the face of adversity. Read the True Grit article, which touches on building resilience and grit with students and the implications for school counselors or watch the video below focusing on grit via building students’ passion and perseverance.
Master Calender of School Counselor Events
Go here for important counseling events, meetings, and professional growth/development opportunities.
Creating a Welcoming Counseling Center
As students and parents/caregivers come into the counseling center or office, it is important to create a welcoming environment so students know the counseling center is a safe space. Below are a few examples of the many counseling centers/offices with welcoming environments.
RDRM - Sonja Oritz' Office
When you walk into Sonja Ortiz’ office you get a sense of tranquility by how she has set up and decorated her office. She made use of the white board that was already in her office by filling it with inspirational quotes.
SYHS Counseling Center
SUHI Counseling Center
The SUHI team turned what could have been a long and mundane hallway into a colorful and enticing space by hanging banners from various universities. They also have posters with college and career information, which students can read as they are waiting.
CVHS Counseling Center
In addition to having college and career information, the counselors at CVHS decided to also focus on student’s mental health. They provided easy applicable tips to help students or anyone else who comes into the counseling center deal with anxiousness and stress.
SYHS LC
The SYHS Learning Center celebrates student accomplishments by putting pictures of the top credit earners, June graduates and rainbow graduates. Not only is the success of each student celebrated, but it also proves to be a motivation and positive examples for other students.
MVHS Counseling Center
This is one of the many vibrant bulletins found in the MVHS counseling center. Students, parents or staff are able to write inspirational words on post it notes. Students can take a post it note when they are needing to feel inspired, motivated or simply take a post it note they feel resonates with them.
Food For Thought
From "Finding a Way: Practical Examples of How an Effective Principal-Counselor Relationship Can Lead to Success for All Students
Go to www.collegeboard.org/nosca to learn more.
Ethical and Legal
Confidentiality/Need To Know
Consider the following two scenarios from ASCA's Legal and Ethical FAQ when it comes to practicing and upholding students’ confidentiality.
In the past, administrators have asked me to break student confidentiality regarding matters that, in my opinion, aren’t need-to-know. What should I do in cases like this? Is it insubordination to refuse to give that information?
This situation challenges you to use your best political and collaborative skills to demonstrate respect for the position of authority while still adhering to your obligation to protect students' confidential and sensitive information. To simply refuse an administrator’s request outright is to set up a power struggle that will cause you to lose time, energy and, in the case of a few lawsuits, money.
There are no hard and fast rules; rather your response to a request for confidential information has to be made in context of the school counselor/administrator history, relationship and trust. Confidentiality is much harder to respect with the competing interests in a school setting. In most all states, administration is entitled to information on students deemed need to know to optimize a student’s learning. The onus is on you to figure out how to promote students’ autonomy while also letting administrators know you’re listening and respecting their requests. Here are some suggestions for dealing with the confidentiality issue:
- Look for opportunities to interject information about the critical importance of your confidentiality before it becomes an issue. Early on establish a trusting relationship with your teachers and administrators by letting them know you will immediately involve them in information affecting students’ safety and well-being.
- Learn to deflect or address requests for confidential information in such a way that the teacher or administrator feels supported. For example: “What are you observing with this student?” “Is there a particular issue I can help you solve?” “Rather than have you labor through my notes, would it help you if I make a list of the most common problems students bring me?”
- Give your principal a copy of the ASCA Ethical Standards for School Counselors, and offer to highlight the most salient points. This may help set the stage so the administration will know not to seek sensitive confidential information from you.
If you believe the requester of confidential information would support and help a student if the requester had the information, then ask the student if you can share what the requester needs to know. Sometimes we may need to give out information without consulting a student, but this will be the rare exception.
If you do give information, then provide only the necessary information and nothing more. For example, if a student has witnessed domestic violence and comes to school the next morning traumatized and ready to fight it out with everyone in his or her path, it would help if the teacher understood the student has been through a great deal and may need extraordinary support and understanding from the teacher or administrator.
Who needs to know what? How do I balance the issues of confidentiality with need to know for students, teachers, parents and administration, especially with what could be considered at-risk issues?
The need-to-know rule requires school counselors reveal sensitive information only when the recipients of the information has a need to know and is in a position to benefit the student if they have the shared information. Without the assurance of confidentiality, many students would not seek our help. Breaching student confidentiality with teachers, parents and administrators requires continuously balancing the rights of students and parents against the criteria of need to know.
School counselors practice confidentiality through the following concepts: 1) in loco parentis; 2) substantial interest/need to know and 3) qualified privilege:
In loco parentis is a legal doctrine meaning educators assume custody of students in school because students are deprived of protection from their parents or guardians. The school counselor owes a special duty to exercise reasonable care to protect students from harm, and this includes protecting their right to privacy and respecting their confidences. Substantial interest requires school counselors only reveal sensitive information to educators who are in a position to benefit the student if they have the shared information. Qualified privilege protects educators when sharing unflattering information about a student to fulfill our obligations to educate and care for the student. Professionalism requires us to choose our words judiciously in an effort to maintain optimal communication with parents and students. Failure to recognize the power of words in conveying difficult information diminishes opportunities for growth and moves people away from rather than toward good resolutions.
Professional Growth Opportuntites
Counselor Conference: Career First
Date: December 5, 2017
Location: Marian Village (1936 Quivira Way, San Diego, CA 92109)
Time: 8:00am - 2:30pm
Register here. For questions, contact Andrea at andrea.hom@gcccd.edu or 619-644-7043.
Equity & Culture Professional Development Opportunities
Introduction to Restorative Practices (1-day Training)
Participants will learn practical strategies to build strong, healthy relationships with students and colleagues. There will be interactive experiences, including learning how to use circles effectively to facilitate conversations and build community. Through video, practice and discussion we will come to a full understanding of the fundamental unifying premise of restorative practices—that people are happier, more cooperative and productive and more likely to make positive changes in their lives when those in positions of authority do things with them rather than to them or for them.
Dates:
· December 5th, 8:00 am – 3:00pm
· February 6th, 8:00am – 3:00pm
Restorative Justice Conferencing (1-day Training, *Must have completed Introduction to Restorative Practices)
Facilitating Restorative Justice Conferences: Participants will learn how Restorative Justice Conferences benefit victims, offenders, and the school community by actively involving those harmed and those who have harmed others in the restorative process. Participants will learn how to effectively prepare and facilitate the conference and agreements.
Dates:
· October 25, 2017, 8:00am – 3:00pm - Location TBD
· February13, 2018, 8:00am – 3:00pm - Location TBD
Reaching Challenging Students with Dr. Ernie Mendes
Manage the oppositional/defiant learner; the unmotivated learner; and the gifted learner. Understand the causes of misbehavior, resistance and oppositional behaviors of the adolescent student and how to reduce and diffuse those effectively. Learn how to address the top 8 reasons for lack of motivation in students. Understand the often misunderstood characteristics of the gifted learner, and how to engage them.
Date: November 15, 8:00 – 3:30 pm at the PDC
Emotional Intelligence and Mindfulness with Dr. Ernie Mendes
A look at the current research on mindfulness practices and their positive effects for the classr
oom teacher and for students. Experience mindfulness as a tool to increase one’s emotional intelligence, reduce stress, and create a more peaceful classroom. Teachers who effectively manage their cognitive-emotional states get better results with the students they are teaching. Participants will gain tools to regulate mind-body states more effectively and efficiently, resulting in reduced stress. Participants will experience several practices that they can use immediately.
Date: December 11, 8:00 am – 3:30 pm at the PDC
Art of Communication
This training gives participants more skills in responding to conflict and offers strategies to help put those skills in practice. Participants learn how to improve their reaction/response to others when they feel attacked by someone. They also learn how to handle a situation in which they need to approach someone about a concern they have in a respectful, rather than confrontational, way. The participants leave with improved communication skills, the ability to de-escalate anger and proven techniques to better manage conflict.
Dates:
· December 6th – 3:30-6:30 pm – Board Room, District Office
· February 5th – 12:00pm – 3:00pm – Special Services Conference Room
High Performance Teams for Front Line Staff (*for staff who have attended the Art of Communication)
This advanced workshop helps participants (front-line staff) work more effectively in groups and/or teams. Participants will build upon the skills learned in the ART of Communication Training to collaborate effectively with colleagues who have different approaches to succeeding in the workplace. This advanced workshop will also help front- line staff acknowledge cultural differences to create a respectful, inclusive environment. The training takes into account diversity in the fullest sense of the word, including not only race and ethnicity, but also gender, sexual orientation, age, and life style.
Dates:
· January 24th – 12:00 – 3:00 pm, Special Services Conference Room
Call For Submissions
SUHSD Professional Growth
Email: liliana.silva@sweetwaterschools.org
Website: http://professionalgrowth.sweetwaterschools.org/counselors/
Location: 1130 Fifth Avenue, San Diego, CA, United States
Phone: (619) 407-4956