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When taking this bias test I was very curious on where I would stand. I am more liberal arts and have always thrived in it, while on the other hand my husband always thrived in the sciences. Turns out that has reflected in me being slightely automatic associate male with science and woman with liberal arts. I think this mainly has to do with my own experience, even though I do love sciences too they are not my go to specialty. I am glad I took this test because I know that everyone thrives in something and it is not nessarsily one or the other and not by gender. In the future I plan on having this knowledge in the front when finding the passion for children and adolescents.

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lI was pleasently surprised by the results of this test. I am a huge ally of the LGBTQ+ community and believe everyone has a right to love who they love. One of my passions as a school counselor will be to advocate and help those with a silent voice to become louder. I sometimes am uncomfortable associated any bad words about anyone until they have proven otherwise. I have once attended a seminar for Mental Health organization and helping those in the LGBTQ+ community and learned so much.

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After completing the School Counselor Competency Assessment in the ASCA framework (2019) I am beginning to understand where I am now and where I will need to be at the end of my master’s career.  It was a little overwhelming doing this assessment because I of course just started on this journey and I can be a perfectionist and overachiever. In Mindset, I feel like it is on the higher scale of my understanding. The only area I see myself having difficulty is preparing students for postsecondary opportunities due to my passion for psychosocial development. I feel like so far my area I will need to improve on the most is Behaviors: Professional Foundations. Due to my background as a  Certified Child Life Specialist and being a Registered Behavior Therapist, the code of ethics are very, very similar and they align with each other in many different ways. However I scored myself on the lower end of understanding the educational system because of my lack in that area. I consider myself a very open person to new experiences. However, I recognize that I grew up in a predominantly non-diverse community, but I love understanding the impact of culture and how it influences the students’ successes. I feel like my strongest area would be Behaviors: Direct and Indirect student services. I am used to working in a small group or one-on-one settings. My weakness would probably be making referrals to appropriate school and community resources because of my passion to help as much as possible. I would predominantly love to actually work with students that need those resources and tools that would help them achieve success especially since I want to help more in Mental Health with children and adolescents. I think if I am in one or both of these roles I need to establish those boundaries of what these students need right now, what can I do to help. In the Planning and assessment section I feel like I will need to work more on those aspects especially assess and report program results to the school community and use time appropriately according to national recommendation. When interviewing the school counselor I found that most of the time she is not able to really do much individual counseling due to the population that she helps with. That is a little unnerving to me. Looking at the School Competency Assessment definitely gives me a framework and plan of what areas I need to work on. Taking it one step at a time and knowing what my goals are is going to be the most helpful in this journey. I think also keeping in mind my background as a Child Life Specialist will only benefit my students and my future as a counselor and also keeping the Whole Child philosophy at the heart. Another helpful resource is taking this assessment every so often will help me put ASCA into perspective and practice.

Reference:

American School Counselor Association. (2019). The ASCA national model: A framework for school counseling programs (4th ed.). Alexandria, VA: American School Counselor Association.

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My core beliefs are in supporting students where they are and giving them tools to become resilient and grow from their experiences. I also believe that because of the differences in all students are important and need to be encouraged to follow their passions in life. This follows A1a in having a primary obligation to the students, who are treated with dignity and respect as unique individuals (ASCA, 2022). I also believe that given the tools and skills I can, according to ASCA (2022) A1c “support all students and their development by actively working to eliminate systemic barriers or bias impending student development” (2022). Another core belief is ASCA (2022) “respecting students’ and families’ values, beliefs and cultural background, as well as students’ sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression, and exercise great care to avoid imposing personal biases, beliefs or values rooted in one’s religion, culture or ethnicity” (2022).

As a school counselor I am to support and advocate for students in their social-emotional development and in turn will enhance their experience in the students’ learning and developing throughout their school experience. Mental Health and Awareness is something that needs to be addressed and given tools and skills to those children who have ACES or Adverse Childhood Experiences. We as school counselors need to be aware of different aversive events that happen in a students life such as a change in the family, grief, fears about school, or conflicts with other students. These experiences can affect how a student reacts and engages in their learning and development.

The code of ethics keeps us school counselors to establish a guideline to follow when different issues arise and keeps us accountable to do the best for all students and for the community that we serve. It gives us a foundation to grow and to become what students need as support for their school experiences. A great code of ethics by ASCA (2022) is B2a “Design and deliver comprehensive school counseling programs that are integral to the school’s academic mission, informed by analysis of student data, based on the ASCA National Model” (2022). Following the ASCA code of ethics also lets others know what our role is and how we can help the students in academic, career and social emotional development.

As a school counselor my vision statement is to meet students where they are developing and to support the students to cope and experience resilience in difficult times to and excel in their full potential in teaching necessary skills. This will enhance that all students achieve academic, career, social/emotional development.

Resources:

American School Counselor Association. (2019). The ASCA national model: A framework for school counseling programs (4th ed.). Alexandria, VA: American School Counselor Association.

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ERIC - EJ1295017 - Utilizing Play Therapy within the ASCA National Model, Journal of School Counseling, 2021

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Why did you select the article?
Play therapy is a big concept and tool that I want to use in my practice. I have actually tried finding counselors for my own son that specialize in play therapy. Children process and learn through play. As a CCLS this concept also is a big part of my foundation and mission to give children those tools to express their feelings and thoughts. This article was excellent for expressing the importance of utilizing play therapy in the school system and assisting in mental health awareness.

Summarize the important concepts.
Some of the important concepts in this article is the focus on the importance in the the “elementary school setting is an important milieu for particular types of interventions such as play therapy, the successful delivery of which may improve the academic trajectories of students over time (Fye et al, 2021). The article also points out that many school counselors are unable due to time constraints. There is not much on integrating the ASCA National Model with play therapy, however the ASCA National Model does point out that school counselors are recommended to incorporate developmentally appropriate theories and techniques. Play therapy can assist with a variety of needs including; child abuse and/or neglect, trauma, aggressive and acting out behaviors, anxiety and/or withdraw behaviors, problem behaviors, chronic and terminal illness, depression, parental stress, substance abuse, divorce, grief, and social problems.

Compare the information in the article with your experience with school counselors.
I remember in elementary school that the counselor used a lot of sand tray therapy and played in it when I was in sessions with her. I recently went to a family game night for my oldest son. One of the stations was put on by his school counselor. There were a lot of activities about Mindfulness and having a growth mindset vs. a fixed mindset including coloring, and playdough. In the article it discussed that despite the importance of play therapy in elementary school settings it is not as much utilized as it needs to be.

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School counselors are uniquely qualified to meet the increasing mental health needs of students within the school setting. Play therapy is an evidence-based intervention used by school counselors to address the mental health needs of youth. Job demands require school counselors to provide goal-focused and time-sensitive interventions. Accordingly, this article describes how to utilize play therapy within the ASCA National Model and provides examples for elementary school counselors implementing play therapy interventions with students. A case example illustrates individual play therapy goal setting.

Journal of School Counseling. Montana State University, College of Education, Health and Human Development, P.O. Box 172940, Bozeman, MT 59717. Tel: 406-994-4133; Fax: 406-994-1854; e-mail: ehhddean@montana.edu; Web site: http://jsc.montana.edu

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ERIC - EJ1295017 - Utilizing Play Therapy within the ASCA National Model, Journal of School Counseling, 2021

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School counselors are uniquely qualified to meet the increasing mental health needs of students within the school setting. Play therapy is an evidence-based intervention used by school counselors to address the mental health needs of youth. Job demands require school counselors to provide goal-focused and time-sensitive interventions.

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I am back to school for the first time in 9 years for M.S. Duel in Clinical Mental Health Counseling and School Counseling. I am married to my high school sweetheart and we have two crazy and active boys.

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Certified Child Life Specialist
Registered Behavior Techncian
Child Passenger Safety Technician
Counselor in Trainning

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Why did you select the article?
I selected this article for many reasons. One of the biggest factors is my love for Social Emotional Learning and one of the certifications that I want to obtain. As a Certified Child Life Specialist Social Emotional aspects have always been an important factor. I want to help children and adolescents to learn and grow to become more resilient in life’s challenges.  I also selected this article because of the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic crisis has increased the challenges that children and adolescents are experiencing, especially when mental health issues are also at an increase.

Summarize the important concepts.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic more than 55 million U.S. school children and adolescents were confined to their homes, thus there was a significant learning loss. Even though a lot of emphasis is on academics in schools according to Mariani and Farmanara (2022) “children and adolescents must also be equipped to navigate social/emotional struggles that confront them not only during their K-12 experience, but beyond” (2022). In this article it discusses that during this time school counselors had to shift to be more creative to provide interventions not only in person but also online formats. Due to the pandemic staff and students were left feeling disconnected and stressed. This affected issues such as lack of resources, exposure to violence, neglect, isolation, substance abuse and mental health problems (Mariani & Farmanara, 2022). The authors of this article worked with 7th graders for five weeks on Fridays in a hybrid format to make it accessible to all of the students in one of the public middle schools. The school counselors used 2 different charts to assess how the format and SEL program affected the students including the SEL Super Five Goals Chart and ‘Let’s Make a PACT’ (Mariani & Farmanara, 2022). According to the results of this program it was relieved that the students made improvements in academic and social/emotional categories. In the article Mariani and Farmanara (2022) stated that “the students involved in the program became more comfortable in participating in class” (2022).

Compare the information in the article with your experience with school counselors.
I have seen an increase in SEL in schools in my district since the pandemic and the focus more on social/emotional learning. I also feel like since the pandemic there is more of a focus on the importance of recognizing Mental Health issues and awareness in children and adolescents. It is also reassuring that there is going to be more of an awareness of the importance of more social-emotional learning throughout K-12 and not just the younger children. I think that is why I want my focus to be in the elementary and middle schools rather than high school because of such a focus on college and career focus. However, I would love to see more in the older grades to help with the pressures of college, career and life after moving away from this timeframe in their lives.

Resource
Mariani, M., Bayani, J., & Farmanara Kneidel, L. (2022). Addressing the Social/Emotional Needs of Students During the Pandemic. Professional School Counseling, 26(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/2156759X221090529