This week I am experiencing a sweet ASCA hangover...thinking about the conference highlights, the friends I got to reconnect with at the conference, discovering the sites of LA, and learning copious amounts of information that was shared by school counselors. One highlight, for me, was meeting and having dinner with our PLN group from Twitter. In fact, one of the school counselors traveled all the way from Swaziland to be at the conference! I had the pleasure of eating supper with her and learning about her international school. Since the conference, I have been processing all that information and I wanted to share some highlights with those of you who could not attend the conference.
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| PLN Meet Up Dinner! |
Although I can't share every moment from ASCA18, I wanted to share the top five things that I learned at ASCA.
Anxiety
Anxiety, as a mental illness, is truly on the rise and helping students cope with their anxious moments can be stressful for school counselors. There were many workshops either about anxiety or that included resources about anxiety. Here are some resources that may be helpful to share with your students.
Check out some Helpful Anxiety Activities shared from ASCA 18.
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| Sample Anxiety Activity |
The card below was shared by a counseling colleague from California at our PLN Meet Up. This is a great idea to use with students with anxiety. She designed the card and made a 1000 copies to give out to staff and students. Here are the instructions she shared with me:
1. Tell the student to smell the flower, hold it, and then blow out the candle.
2. On the back, tell them to notice the 10 circles. This is the number of times they need to do the activity.
In addition, check out the great activities presented by Dr. Jennifer Geddes-Hall in her presentation about creative ways school counselors can address mental health.
Want additional ideas? Check out the 15 Mindfulness and Apps for Kids With Anxiety from ParentingChaos.com.
College Signing Day
Ever thought about setting up a college signing day for your seniors? Want to do it this upcoming school year? Check out the resources provided by Franciene Sabens and Krystin Baker.
International School Counselor
First, choose what type of school you are interested in working:
1. International school-usually private, attracts the elite or wealthy of the country/expats, usually teach international curricula (i.e. AP, IB, A-levels)
2. National school-local school, perhaps private, more local hires, varying packages, etc.
3. Department of Defense school-managed by the department of defense (my addition).
Second Apply
Hiring Season runs prior to the next school year from September to March.
Do your research by connecting to other counselors who work internationally. For instance, join the international educators groups on Face Book and check out International School Review.
Third Sign Up for Assistance
International School Services (ISS)-cost is $199 for two years or until you find a position.
Includes:
Application
Access to job database
Search Associates-cost is $225 for three years or until you find a position via Search.
Department of Defense Education Activity
Marketing Your Program
Want to find ways to make your school counseling program pop? Often it is difficult to find the time to promote yourself our your counseling department. Fortunately, the hard work has been done for you. View the presentation from Jeff Ream and Franciene Sabens!
Marijuana Use by Teens
Marijuana use is definitely on the rise and I wanted to have information that would empower youth in self efficacy when making a choice about their marijuana use. In addition, I wanted to find information about youth's perceptions of harm and the need for
post-legalized marijuana specific education. This workshop covered my needs and much more. In this workshop, Molly Lotz covered the five major myths about marijuana use and how school counselors can effectively address that misinformation.
Sharing Notes
Want to see more presentations? Check out the shared notes page collected by Jeff Ream, The Counseling Geek.
Did you attend ASCA18 and have notes to share? Please sure them with other school counselors by downloading them to http://www.thecounselinggeek.com/2018/07/shared-resources-asca18-shared-session-notes-folder.html or email Jeff at thegeek@thecounselinggeek.com.
Didn't make it to ASCA this year! No worries! Join counselors from all over the world at ASCA19 in Boston, MA!!
Contribute So Others Can Attend ASCA19!
Do you want to sponsor other school counselors who may never have an opportunity to go to ASCA? Carol Miller, The Middle School Counselor, and Jeff Ream, The Counseling Geek, are sponsoring the School Counseling Community Scholarship. See how this scholarship has made a difference for a school counselor!!
Hope to see you in Boston!!!
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