2018 Annual Conference

Angel Hall, Ciera McKinnon, and Cameron Aurandt

Elementary
Middle
Secondary

Have you been impacted by a crisis in your school during your time as a school counselor? Are you prepared for when a school crisis happens at your school? Today, we are seeing school crisis on the media more and more. As school counselors, we must know our roles in the prevention and intervention of crisis at our schools. In this presentation, we will discuss the creation of a crisis intervention plan and what types of interventions can be implemented following crisis. Participants will be given a checklist that can be used to evaluate their crisis plans at their school.

 

The objective for this session is that all school counselors who attend are able to see the importance of having a crisis team in their schools and a crisis intervention plan. Although each of us hope to never have crisis within our schools, we must be prepared for chance that our schools do experience crisis. Another objective for this session is to inform the audience of ways to learn how to assess their crisis plan at their school. The session will also implement a better understanding of what theory or therapy that can be applied during a crisis. The school counselors in attendance will be able to recognize the necessary assets for a school crisis plan to be effective. It will provide opportunities for those attendees to hear what other schools are doing in their efforts of crisis prevention and intervention. With hopes of developing an effective crisis plan at their school, the school counselors will obtain useful tools and information that could possibly improve their crisis experiences.

Issues in Counseling

Natalie Edirmanasinghe

Middle
Secondary
Independent
Counselor Educator, Supervisor

Participatory Action Research (PAR) is a research method where those affected by the problem are the ones who conduct the research. It can be used to teach students how to investigate issues in their own community and use their voice for solutions. The audience will learn about the #CHICAS and how they use PAR to learn more about the needs of Latinas at their school.  Benefits of PAR use with underserved populations will be discussed

Learning Objectives: 

Upon completion of the session, audience members will be able to: 

-Define Participatory Action Research

-Identify the benefits of using PAR to investigate needs in the school

-Identify the benefits of PAR in working with underserved or underrepresented populations

The presenter will explain what PAR is and how it would be used in schools by outlining a program called the #CHICAS that she conducts in her school. She will discuss the benefits of PAR for the school and the students. The outline of the #CHICAS will include the following: 

-Description of #CHICAS

-How it started, identifying the need

-Additional resources used in the program (i.e., professors from universities, visits to surrounding colleges, participation in discussions involving other community needs)

--Mindsets and Behaviors that align with the use of PAR

--Connection to Science needs

The presenter will leave time for the audience to ask questions and to discuss their comfort with using this intervention with their populations. 

New Research
Career Development
College Readiness

Shaketha Blankenship, Ph.D, LPC, NCC
Tamila Jackson-Whitaker, Ed.S

Elementary
Middle
Secondary

Restorative justice is an emerging approach in school counseling. As an alternative to punitive methods, restorative justice represent an attempt to reform school discipline and improve relationships among stakeholders. The purpose of the presentation is to provide an overview of restorative justice in schools, benefits of restoring relationships that have been damaged, and implementation of restorative approaches to transform student behavior and build healthy school communities.

Restorative justice is an emerging approach in school counseling. As an alternative to punitive methods, restorative justice represent an attempt to reform school discipline and improve relationships among stakeholders. The purpose of the presentation is to provide an overview of restorative justice in schools, benefits of restoring relationships that have been damaged, and implementation of restorative approaches to transform student behavior and build healthy school communities.

 Learning Objectives:

• Understand the core principles of restorative justice and how they differ from traditional discipline approaches
• Identify strategies and resources of restorative justice
• Implement restorative practicies in individual counseling, small group, & classrooom guidance

Opportunities for Participation:

Throughout the session, presenters will provide traditional discipline and restorative justice scenarios allowing discussion and dialogue. Participants will also have opportunities to share strategies. Participants will be provided with resources for best practices of implementing and maintaining restorative justice.

Personal/Social
Social Emotional Learning

Diana Virgil, Ed.S.

Elementary
Middle
Secondary

Don't we all wish our students could have a "dose of reality" sometimes?  The reality fair is an interactive event that allows students to make a career choice, have a starting salary based upon their current cumulative GPA, establish a budget, and pay for basic monthly expenses/wants as if they were an adult.  Participants will learn how to establish their own fair to help boost career and academic development in their school.

 

Learning Objective/Outcomes:

The purpose of the reality fair is to encourage students to graduate by describing to them how education attainment can have a correlation to potential earnings.  Many students state various careers that they would like to partake in; however, many students do not understand what is needed to achieve those careers.  Therefore, the following has been established into understanding the objectives for the presentation:

• Participants will go through a step by step process in understanding how to conduct a reality fair at their school.
• Participants will learn how to collect pre/post data for the reality fair
• Participants will understand how GCIS can be combined with the reality fair to bring an interactive scenario to students.
• Participants will learn how academic and career development can have an effect on student’s personal/social life in post-secondary.   
• Participants will understand how to involve the community and volunteers for the reality fair.

 

Opportunities for Audience Participation:

• Participants will be able to go through a very brief mock reality fair in order to understand how the reality fair works.
• Participants will be able to interact throughout the presentation through an interactive poll.

 

Handouts/Resources Provided for Participants:

• Participants will be provided a link to materials that they can use at their school to get them started.
• Participants will be provided a handout that details more information about the reality fair and process.
• Participants will be provided a link to the presentation.

Academics
Career Development
College Readiness
Academic Achievement

Keli Carter

Elementary
Middle
Secondary
Counselor Educator, Supervisor

If you’re looking for more insight on how to identify and use data to improve academic achievement, this presentation is for you.  This session will look at the three types of data with emphasis on why outcome data is so important to our profession and Redesigning School Counseling, an online system that provides counselors with the tools they need to develop a locally appropriate, data-driven and accountable school counseling program that promotes student success.

This session will look at three things – identifying data, using data and tools to manage data.  Case studies will be examined to explore the root cause of issues versus the symptoms, along with ways to identify and analyze the data linked to the issues.  We will also discuss process, perception and outcome data.  Emphasis will be on discussing outcome data since that specific data is critical when it comes to creating results-oriented and data driven programs that promote student success.  The latter part of the session will be used to review Redesigning School Counseling, an online data management tool for school counselors.  Participants will be encouraged to use their laptops to log into the demo site and go through the pages as they are presented.   Participants will be given the opportunity to ask questions and discuss the information that is shared.  The objective of this session is to provide knowledge on how to identify specific challenges that hinder academic achievement and how to use data to target and combat those challenges in order to improve student success while using tools that will make the data collecting process more efficient.

Tools for working smarter, not harder
ASCA Model
Academics
Personal/Social
Issues in Counseling
Graduate Students
Career Development
Academic Achievement

Beth P. Mines, LPC
Dr. Stacy Carr

Elementary

Ready-Set-GOAL! is an original program to teach and promote goal-setting toward academic achievement, and has been integral to our school culture for eight years.  Recently, the program was at the center of a doctoral dissertation, and was specfically used to close a reading gap for third graders.  The session will combine information about the program with original research and data about its benefits.  Take aways include an outline of the program, lesson plans, and promotional suggestions.

Eight years ago, the School Counselor at Wells Elementary School began an original motivational program called Ready-Set-GOAL! (RSG!).   The program was designed  to introduce elementary students to goal-setting, and was based on research on motivation and behavior change.  Students in all grades began to set individualized goals which, when met, were rewarded with "book bag bling".

Since its beginning, the program has expanded to teach upper grade students about SMART goals, and to promote increases in math achievement through goal-setting.  Recently, the program caught the eye of doctoral candidate, Stacy Carr, who designed her dissertation reserach about how RSG! could be used to narrow a gap in reading performance for students going from third to fourth grade.  The dissertation also included research pertaining to Edwin Lock's goal setting theory and the phenomena of the "fourth-grade slump", which will also be highlighted in this presentation.

During the presentation, participants will see a review of the development and the growth of RSG! at Wells Elementary School.  They will also understand its impact on students attitudes, and reading and math achievement based on school data, and Dr. Carr's original research.  There will be opportunities for questions from the audience, and attendees will leave with a program outline, ASCA model lesson plans, and promotional ideas for students, parents, and faculty.

Program objectives include:

1) To understand motivational research and how it was used to design the RSG! program.

2) To review data and research collected to measure the outcome of the program on student attitudes and achievement.

 

New Research
Academic Achievement

Dr. Donna M. Jones, LPC

Elementary
Middle
Secondary

Calling all Elementary, Middle and High School Counselors! Does your plate appear full? Does it seem as though there's no room for another task? Of course it does! Creating a counseling advisory committee can assist your school counseling program in more ways than one. Having the ability to share ideas with professionals/stakeholders who possess a myriad of perspectives can be positively overwhelming and rewarding for your school to include teachers, students, parents and administrators alike.

As a result of this workshop, participants will be able to identify the significance of having a counseling advisory committee. We will explore logistics involved that may contribute to a successful counseling advisory. We will discuss the selection process for ideal candidates who possess qualities and characteristics that may be conducive to their school's population. We will analyze concepts/ideas that may contribute to establishing/sustaining meaningful partnerships.

In addition to the learning objectives, this workshop will be interactive and hands on. Participants will receive informative handouts that may be used for future reference.

 

Tools for working smarter, not harder
ASCA Model
Academics
Personal/Social
Rural Counselors
Career Development
CCRPI
College Readiness
Academic Achievement

Rebecca Burkhart

Elementary
Middle
Secondary
Independent

Could the culture at your school be improved? Do you want more teacher buy-in with your school counseling program? Have you ever thought “there’s got to be a better way to track behavior data?” Love Your People is way of implementing  PBIS in a whole-child fashion, allowing everyone to embrace each others’ uniqueness. It’s a mindset shift, encouraging feedback in a kind and loving manner, teaching model behaviors to students and fostering collaboration in a more effective manner, uniting everyone, no matter their role at school.

Attendees will learn about the Love Your People model, a whole-school culturally appropriate "way of life." Discussion is encouraged in this session as we brainstorm how to foster overall positive climate change. Knowledge of PBIS model is helpful but not necessary to get practical info from this session. 

Tools for working smarter, not harder
Personal/Social
Social Emotional Learning

Whitney Adams

Elementary
Middle
Secondary

This presentation will highlight how North Forsyth High School addresses academic, personal, social and emotional, as well as college and career needs of students through a comprehensive high school transition program. Information on transition activities, program structure, student leadership, and K-12 vertical alignment will be provided. This session is filled with strategies to increase community engagement, strengthen student leadership, and cultivate an environment that promotes positives connections amongst students, staff, parents, schools, and community stakeholders.

North Forsyth High School is a twice recognized RAMP school. This presentation will discuss the planning, implementation, and data outcomes of the North Forsyth High School comprehensive high school transition program. Each element of the comprehensive high school tranition program will be discussed and a timeline presented. This program will also include strategies to better support the academic as well as social and needs of tier three students from 9th-12th grade. Throughout this presentation, the audience will discover the value of cultivating a K-12 vertical village within a school community in order to promote a culture of academic excellence, social and emotional growth, as well as post-secondary achievement. Social and Emotional Learning will be a primary focus of this presentation as fostering positive connections among students, staff, and community stakeholders is a primary focus of the seven schools that encompass the North Synergy team.

Learning objectives include:

Strategies used by a twice recognized RAMP high school to address the academic, social/emotional, and postsecondary needs of 9th-12th grade students  

Ideas for academic, SEL, and post-scondary interventions

An understanding of the positive impact student leadership groups have on school culture

Strategies to support and connect with Tier 3 students

An understanding of the positive impact academic and SEL vertical alignment has on a school community

 

ASCA Model
Academics
Personal/Social
CCRPI
Academic Achievement
Social Emotional Learning

Katharine S. Adams, Ph.D. and Jennifer M. Branscome, Ph.D.

Elementary
Middle
Secondary

Students who are unable to effectively regulate emotions associated with anxiety and stress may have difficulty making it through the regular school day. This program describes emotional dysregulation and offers practical strategies to help students recognize, monitor, and manage their emotions in a healthy way.  Easily implemented mindfulness and relaxation techniques are provided to help dysregulated students return to a calm state so that they can go back to class.

Learning Objectives and Associated Content:

1. Participants will demonstrate understanding of prevalence rates for anxiety among students in the United States.

Content will include:
• Prevalence rates for anxiety among children and adolescents in the US.
• Students also experience stress or anxiety but are not diagnosed.

2. Participants will demonstrate understanding of emotional dysregulation including physiological and cognitive symptoms.

Content will include:
• Distinction between fear and anxiety.
• Physiological and cognitive symptoms of anxiety.
• Different triggers or circumstances.
• Define emotional dysregulation and impact on students.

3. Participants will demonstrate understanding of the practice of mindfulness and relaxation training.

Content will include:
• Relaxation training in treating anxiety.
• Define mindfulness and describe uses with children in schools.
• Mindfulness techniques, facilitated by a counselor in session, may be used for helping distressed students calm down so that they may return to class.

4. Participants will be able to apply techniques to help students accurately identify and monitor their feelings.

Content will include:
• Strategies to help students understand and identify the emotions: Feeling stories and media, Color-Your-Life activity 
• Strategies to help students monitor or track their feelings: Thermometer graphic, Mood tracker apps

5. Participants will be able to apply relaxation and mindfulness techniques to help students return to a calm state.

Content will include:
• Belly Breathing Techniques: Stuffed animals, Bubbles, Star breathing, Apps
• Calming Mindfulness and Relaxation Techniques: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Grounding Technique; The Raisin Exercise; Body Scan; Progressive Muscle Relaxation

6. Participants will be able to determine what to do when an emotionally dysregulated student can not return to class.

Content will include:
• Notify the parents and/or the school administrators.
• Supply parents or guardians with counseling referrals.

Opportunities for Engagement / Participation:

1. Relevant videos will be used to provide illustrations and examples (e.g., demonstrate the use of mindfulness in the schools, use of media in identifying emotions, illustrate chest breathing versus belly breathing).

2. Participants will have opportunity to participate in progressive muscle relaxation exercise.

Handouts / Resources:

1. Participants will receive handouts of Power Point slides used in program.

2. Participants will receive scripts for mindfulness/relaxation techniques discussed in the program (e.g., Grounding Technique, The Raisin Exercise, Brief Body Scan, Body Scan Mindfulness Exercise, Progressive Muscle Relaxation for Children)

 

Personal/Social
Issues in Counseling
Social Emotional Learning

Teshia Dula, Ed.S.
Rosemary Aschoff, Ed.S.
Lisa Jackson
Marjorie Shans

Elementary
Middle

Do you find that students interact more with their phone or smart device than the lessons that you want to teach them?   Do you want to engage students in Small Groups, Advisement, and Classroom Lessons?  As Educators, we all know that hands on learning experiences are more likely to engage students and boost comprehension! Participants will leave Engage Me!  with tools that will help spark student’s critical thinking, encourage communication, develop collaboration, and ignite engagement!

 

Engage Me!

 At the end of the session participants will :

1. Understand the engagement gap and how it impacts achievement
2. Recognize the benefits of hand-on learning
3. Appreciate how school counselors can use engagement for use in small groups, advisement, and classroom lessons

 The session participants will communicate, collaborate, and engage in hands-on learning activities.  Participants will leave with a packet of easy and “ready to use” activities.

 

 

 

Academics
Personal/Social
Issues in Counseling
Academic Achievement
Social Emotional Learning

Daphene Blackmon

Secondary
Independent
Counselor Educator, Supervisor
Post-secondary/Admissions

How much time do you spend looking for the test scores a student needs to receive college credit for AP, IB, etc.?  Are your dual enrollment students preparing for the next step after high school, planning toward a college degree?  Do you want to be more effective and efficient in helping these students? GATRACS can help you provide the information needed to students helping them make the best decisions toward obtaining a college degree.

GATRACS (Georgia Transfer Articulation Cooperative Services) program has multiple tools that can help counselors in advising students who are looking to receive college credit for courses taken in high school and dual enrollment students.  This presentation will go over each of these tools (Exam to College Course Credit website, GATRACS Transfer Portal, GATRACS website) and the support we can offer to counselors in helping their students.

In an ever increasing push to have college credit before high school graduation, counselors need tools and support to help students make informed, purposeful decisions while in high school toward degree completion. After this presentation, counselors will have additional tools in their belt to save time while giving students more information and advice on college credit opportunities.  The counselors will be able to empower students to take their college career in their own hands and plan their path toward degree completion.

This will be an interactive presentation with audience participation.  Handouts will be given and resources distributed to participants.

 

Tools for working smarter, not harder
Issues in Counseling
College Readiness
Academic Achievement
Information Technology

Jessica Evans
Dr. Valerie Jackson
Melissa Smith
Ashley Allen
Traci Bennett
Holly Hamlin

Elementary
Middle
Secondary

This session will show how counselors can use Google products to make all aspects of a comprehensive school counseling program easier to manage. Counselors from all grade spans will explain what products work best in their setting and how technology can aid in improving the student/counselor relationship. 

Counselors will learn how to use the products below and given time to explore unfamiliar products. A copy of the presentation will be given to attendants via the Google Classroom. 

• GMail
• Sheets
• Slides
• Docs
• Classroom
• Drive
• YouTube
• Play
• Hangouts
• Voice
• Interland
• Translate
• Sites 

 

Tools for working smarter, not harder
Information Technology

Gail Smith
Jennifer Diaz
Matthew Gambill

Elementary
Middle
Secondary
Independent
Counselor Educator, Supervisor
Post-secondary/Admissions

Advocating for our profession means actively and consistently promoting school counseling to all stakeholders in order to increase access to comprehensive school counseling programs for all students. This can sometimes seem to be an insurmountable task above and beyond our job descriptions. Come join us to learn what advocacy actually looks like and how to contribute at the local, community, state and national level. Legislative initiatives from the previous and the upcoming session will be discussed so that you can be informed about issues affecting our students. You will walk away from this session armed with the knowledge and confidence to be more involved and make a greater impact as a school counselor.

Tools for working smarter, not harder
ASCA Model
Issues in Counseling

TeShaunda Hannor-Walker

Elementary
Middle
Secondary
Independent
Counselor Educator, Supervisor

Supervisors building a trusting relationship with supervisees is an important role of supervision. The Supervisor-supervisee relationship should be developmental, safe for self-exploration, and transformational (Johnson, Skinner, & Kaskow, 2014). Often supervisees participate in practicum and internship with personal and professional issues that can make supervising them a little more challenging. This workshop is designed to help supervisors better identify and work through supervisee confidence and competence issues without jeopardizing the supervisor-supervisee relationship. 

 

Supervision can be an overwhelming and rewarding experience. Whether one is supervising trainees for school counseling, clinical practice, or the corporate sector, the fundamental aspects of the role remain unscathed. Each supervisor-whether veteran or a novice- aspires to bring out the best qualities of a trainee for the benefit of the client. Supervision is the venue where trainees enhance their skills, improve self-efficacy, and demonstrate autonomy and leadership, which makes the supervisor's role so critical. While trainees come with a level of skills and knowledge, they also present with other challenges that can make the supervisor-supervisee relationship more complex. Effective supervisors seek ways to weave through these delicate hurdles by providing professional development, developing the trainee’s knowledge, skills, and attitude while also safeguarding client welfare and promoting ethical practice (Johnson, Skinner, & Kaslow, 2014). Managing all these dynamics can seem problematic. However with the right framework and structure, supervisors can provide an excellent and transformational supervision experience. This workshop is designed to discuss the most prevalent needs, concerns, and stressors that occur within the supervisor-supervisee relationship and to provide interventions, strategies, and practical ways to build confidence in supervisee as they work through personal and professional curves in counseling. This presentation will be fun and interactive. Participants will receive didactic instruction and discuss case studies in small groups. Handouts will include strategies for school counseling, clinical, or corporate supervisors.

Learning Objectives:

1. Participants will learn the key factors to effective supervision and avoid the pitfalls that can impact the supervisory relationship.
2. Participants will learn best-practice supervision models, interventions and strategies for working with supervisees who face personal and professional obstacles while promoting ethical practice.
3. Participants will learn the framework and structure that leads to a more transformational supervision approach as oppose to a transactional one.  

Johnson, W. B., Skinner, C. J. and Kaslow, N. J. (2014), Relational Mentoring in Clinical Supervision: The Transformational Supervisor. J. Clin. Psychol., 70: 1073-1081. doi:10.1002/jclp.22128

Tools for working smarter, not harder
Issues in Counseling
Career Development