PSSCA Conference

This year, I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the 2015 Palmetto State School Counselor Assocation's Conference in beautiful Myrtle Beach.  This is the first state conference I have attended since graduate school.  I was blessed to be able to go with one of my co-counselors.  We had a great time and learned A LOT!  The theme of the conference was Find Your OASIS:  Reflect, Refresh, Recharge.  This is exactly what we did.  We had a great time learning new information that can benefit our school counseling programs, got to network with other school counselors, and even got to meet Julia Cook! ....and bought wayyyy too many of her books--hey, they were autographed!

Since we teach the 7 Habits at both of my schools, we are constantly emphasizing the importance of sharpening the saw.  It's important for us counselors to remember to sharpen our saw as well.

Some of the sessions that I attended were:

Putting Out Fires to Preventing Fires:  Implementing Effective Tier II Behavior Supports (we learned some great ideas for supporting our programs with data and also some great ideas for groups)

School Counseling With HeART...Connecting With Elementary Students (Great ideas for using art in individual and small group counseling)

Be An Active Participant in Your Own Rescue (ideas for using self regulation and yoga)

The Tech Savvy School Counselor (One of our fellow Greenville County counselors presented on using various types of surveys to collect data)

Bullies Need Love Too (How to support not just the victim, but the child exhibiting bullying behavior as well)

Creative Counseling (Great ideas for using play and art therapies in school counseling)

And last but not least...Books That Make a Positive Difference by Julia Cook!

Not only did we get great ideas from these sessions, but we also were treated to a lunch with Julia Cook as our Keynote Speaker, speaking about motivating underachievers.

I hope that you all take time to sharpen your saws, both personally and professionally.  Sometimes we forget how important it is to network with other school counselors because we can't do it alone, whether that is by attending conferences or using the blogging community.  As one speaker said in our opening ceremony, "we're in good company with school counselors!"

I'm Back!

Whew!  I recently realized that it has been almost a year since I have written anything on this blog!  That's embarrassing!  I feel like I have so many new things to share that I don't know where to start.  First off, let me get myself off the hook a little by explaining what I've been up to this past year.

I have had many life changes that have happened this last year that have turned my world upside down (in a good way!).  In the past year I have gotten engaged, moved to a new state, and started a new job!  My fiance relocated to South Carolina for his career so I was put into a professional-personal tug of war.  I loved my school and felt like the school counseling program there was my baby--I had developed and molded it into a program that worked for me, my students, my staff, and my school overall.  Was it a stressful job?  YES!  Was it hard being the only school counselor there? YES!  Did I love being a Wildcat?  DEFINITELY!

Look at my awesome family!

On the other hand, I knew that I had to put my personal life and family first, and made the difficult decision to leave my position and move to South Carolina.  Changing my licensure over to a new state was harder than I thought it would be and I spent many hours on the phone and on the computer making that happen.

I finally accepted a position split between two schools (mornings at one school and afternoons at the other).  We moved to SC the first week of August and two weeks later I was starting my new career as a SC School Counselor.
Starting a new job in a new state (and just moving to a new state in general) was difficult, but I wouldn't change my decision for the world.  Of course I miss my Wildcat family and they will always have a special place in my heart (and I miss those kids so much!), but making a decision to benefit my family was a no brainer.

My new life as a split school counselor has been a great learning opportunity!  I am fortunate enough that I FINALLY get to work with other school counselors in my buildings, and I have learned a lot from both of them.  In the language of Stephen Covey, I have had a huge paradigm shift and am becoming a better school counselor every day because of it!

Thanks for being patient with me, and the best is yet to come...

PS:  Happy National School Counseling Week!

School Counselor Reincarnated

Long time no see!  I know it has been a long time since I have written anything.  Things have been very hectic, to say the least.  There were days where I was questioning what I was doing and whether school counseling was the right career for me.  I was stressed out nonstop, all day every day. I would go home and forget all about my job and just honestly wanted nothing to do with school counseling.  I didn't even want to look at anything on Pinterest related to school counseling or read my favorite school counseling blogs (a big deal for me).  Things have settled down and I have found my footing again.  Anyone who lives in, or works in North Carolina, knows about all of the legal happenings surrounding education.  I won't get in to all of that, nor voice my political opinions, but suffice to say, it's not a great time to be an educator in this state.  Needless to say, I wasn't taking care of myself.

On a happier note, I have finally been able to start my small groups, and I have been filling my day with counseling appointments, to help remind me why I'm doing what I'm doing.  It worked! I'm back and enjoying school counseling once again!  Soon I will be posting more about what I'm doing differently in individual and small group counseling, as well as a big change in my classroom counseling schedule!  Thanks for understanding and for continuing to read my ideas (and those stolen from others and shared with you!).

The little things

We've all had those days where nothing seems to go right and we feel like a failure.  There's always that time that you think "i'm the worst counselor ever!"  There are so many things that happen in the day to day that we were never prepared for in graduate school.  We are looked upon to make in-the-minute decisions and sometimes we make the wrong one.  Students confide in us and tell us secrets that we must tuck aways inside ourselves.  Parents take out their anger on us or don't understand.  Many school counselors (especially in elementary schools) are lone rangers.  We develop our programs, we implement our school wide programs, we make our own schedules (only to have a crisis come up and throw it out the window), we plan and conduct our own small groups and classroom guidance lessons, and then we alone go home and keep it bottled up.  I've already written a blog post on the importance of self care, but I forgot to mention one of the most important things:  the reason we do this job--for the kids.  One afternoon, I was walking down the hallway when another teacher stopped me.  She said "I have to put a copy of something in your mailbox.  We did a lesson in 2nd grade where we read a story about a bully and then had to write about it.  One student wrote about you."  My heart jumped for joy!  Here's a time when a student was able to identify the role of the counselor, when I wasn't even involved in the lesson!  I hadn't even seen that kid that day!  I knew in that moment that I am making an impact, and kids DO KNOW what I do and who I am and that I am here to help.  Sometimes we don't need a big recognition (although I felt so loved during National School Counseling Week), it's the little things that matter the most. 

Kid President Pep Talk

This kid is inspiring!  Thanks to Danielle at School Counselor Blog for sharing on Facebook!

Self Care

In our classroom guidance lessons, small groups, and individual counseling sessions, we so often teach about coping strategies.  In my school, we teach about Habit 7: Sharpening the Saw--we even have a class about it in our "specials" rotation.  It's so funny that we spend all of this time teaching our kids this important habit, but often forget to do it ourselves.  So often, I find myself feeling like i'm right below the surface of the water--just paddling and paddling trying to get my head up, but not quite there.  It's easy for us counselors to feel this way--we take on everyone's issues while trying to balance our daily schedules and comprehensive counseling programs at the same time.  When I get like this, I know that I'm not dedicating enough time to self care.  I decided to put together a list of some ways that help me sharpen the saw, that I think could be helpful for any counselor.

• Schedule a lunch!  I learned this lesson pretty quickly.  My first year or so was definitely a learning experience, and I figured out that stuff was going to come up!  Issues would come up, and before I knew it, the bell was ringing at the end of the day and I didn't eat a thing.  Every day, I have my schedule written out in my daily planner.  When i'm making my schedule-making time for students, classroom guidance lessons, and groups-I also schedule my lunch.  I dedicate 30 minutes to it.  It's written in my schedule and when something else comes up that I need to schedule, it has to be at a different time, or the next day.  My lunch is at a different time each day due to scheduling, but every day--it's in there.
• Leave some openings.  On the same note, I also try to keep a couple of openings in my day.  I schedule the most important things first and then fill in with other things.  This year, I have been giving myself 15-30 minutes at the end of the day to catch up on writing my notes, finish up phone calls, or take care of emergencies that come up.  My school is on a block schedule, so I pretty much know the times that I can meet with kids, which makes scheduling this a little easier.
• Leave on time on Friday.  I got this idea from another blogger, and it's something that I try to do as well.  We stay late so many days, so Friday is my day that I can leave right on time.  Every now and then a meeting comes up, but if not, I'm out the door!
• Keep it at school.  There are 2 parts to this. 
•  When you leave school, allow yourself to process the day on the ride home, and then leave it there.  Whatever chaos happened that day, whatever sad story you heard, leave it at school.  This is so hard to do, but it is important too.  While you're at school--work your hardest at helping the situation, but once you leave, it is no longer in your circle of influence.  Focus your time on things you enjoy, your family, your pets, and your friends.
• If at all possible, try not to take schoolwork home with you.  I really strive to do this.  I am more likely to stay late after school, or taking time during the day to finish things up so that I don't have to take them home with me.  My time at home is dedicated to my family, myself, and my dog! 
• Find a hobby.  This is something that I'm trying to dedicate more time to.  Go out and learn to do something new--crafting, hiking, bike riding, etc. 
• Get outside.  There really is nothing quite like a breath of fresh air!  Make sure that you spend some time outside, doing something active.  What a great way to refresh yourself physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
• Network.  Blogging has changed my life!  Reading experiences from other bloggers, and writing my own blog has reinspired me.  I feel refreshed, and I know that anytime that I'm feeling down or helpless, I can read school counseling blogs to get back on track.

Here's a picture with me and my #1 self care helper!