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The attached document is a small group action plan is created after a needs assessment at the Young Women’s STEAM Research & Preparatory Academy demonstrated a need for eighth-grade students that want to learn how to handle stress (Lerner, n.d.).

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The learner will meet the following standards of the ASCA Mindsets and behaviors.
B-SMS 7. Effective coping skills
B-SMS 2. Self-discipline and self-control (ASCA, 2021).

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A counselor created needs assessment resulted in the majority of 8th graders asking for help to handle stress (Lerner, n.d.).
The Peace of Meet (POM) group is open to all eighth-graders who respond to email invitation. The POM sessions will be able to have a total of 64 eighth-graders to participate in the six small counseling group sessions.
An information email will be sent out to all eighth grade students, teachers. Email will be sent out to the parents of those students selected to participate. There will also be physical flyers around campus visible in the hallways and in the cafeteria. The information will be posted on the professional counselor website for complete details and information.

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The school counselor will interview students in groups of ten who respond affirmatively to invitation email. The interview will be short and direct. The interview will consist of telling the students about the group, and asking the student about their interest and commitment to the group. (Missouri Professional School Counselors and Counselor Educators, 2015). The students will be asked to write their motivation on a scale of 1-10 to participate in group. The counselors will select students who will fully commit to try out various stress-reduction techniques with high-interest and motivation (Missouri Professional School Counselors and Counselor Educators, 2015).

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POM students will be given a consent form to sign and return. Parents or Guardians of participating students will be given an informed consent form to sign and return before commencement of sessions.

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The ASCA School Counselor Professional Standards & Competencies address the legal requirements evident in these small group counseling sessions. B-SS 3 Provide short-term counseling in small-group and individual settings states that counselor must provide support for students that are experiencing heightened stress (ASCA, 2018). The students selected to participate in POM rated locations and situations in which they experience heightened stress. The counselor developed five individual sessions to help students handle stress by learning techniques to lower stress levels.

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1. Have an open mind to fully participate and perform stress-reduction techniques.
2. Practice techniques outside of POM sessions.
3. What is said in POM, stays in POM. The small group participants will respect the confidentiality agreements that are signed prior to stress-reduction techniques being practiced.

Additional guidelines will be discussed during initial meeting with explicit rules covered so that students can buy-in or opt out.

The attached participant guidelines are to be signed, dated and returned by students. The looks like and sounds like portions will be completed. Students will consider different stress-reduction activities with emphasis on the talking activity to complete columns.

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Irvin Yalom was an advocate for group therapy. He developed eleven specific factors that lead to significant changes and shifts for group therapy (Good Therapy, 2015).
There are a few of Yalom's Curative Factors of Group Treatment present in the POM small counseling group sessions.

Instillation of Hope is present as participants must have faith that treatment mode can and will be effective to reduce stress (Yalom ID, 1995).

Universality helps group members realize that they are not alone in their issues (Yalom, 1995). All participants in this group want to learn how to handle stress (Lerner, n.d.).

Imparting of information may be a factor in this small group as students are learning knowledge from their instructor pertaining to their focal problem (Yalom, 1995).

Another factor that may occur throughout these sessions is Direct Advice. Students may give or receive feedback for how to handle stress at the start and end of sessions (Yalom, 1995).

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The American Counseling Association Code of Ethics code A.9a states that school counselors select "members whose needs and goals are compatible with the goals of the group, who will not impede the group process, and whose well-being will not be jeopardized by the group experience" (ACA, 2014, p. 6). This standard aligns with the selection of participants in the small group counseling sessions as students are selected according to their commitment and motivation to participate and learn in small group counseling sessions.

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American School Counselor Association (2021). ASCA Student Standards; Mindsets and Behaviors for Student Success. Alexandria, VA: Author. https://www.schoolcounselor.org/getmedia/7428a787-a452-4abb-afec-d78ec77870cd/Mindsets-Behaviors.pdf
ASCA SCHOOL COUNSELOR PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS & COMPETENCIES.

Good Therapy. (2015, July 8). Irvin Yalom. https://www.goodtherapy.org/famous-psychologists/irvin-yalom.html

Lerner, S. (n.d.) Needs assessment results!! Staff. Student. Stephanie Lerner. http://schoolcounselorstephanie.com/

Missouri Professional School Counselors and Counselor Educators. (2015). Professional school counselor small group counseling guide: A professional school counselor’s guide to planning, implementing, and evaluating school-based counseling groups. http://www.missouricareereducation.org/doc/smallgroup/SmallGroupCounseling.pdf

Yalom ID. (1995). The theory and practice of group psychotherapy (4th ed.). Basic Books.

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Stage 1 Getting acquainted/setting norms/building trust:  Counselor and group members will get acquainted as each session progresses. Students are selected to participate in POM because they are fully committed and motivated to learn stress-reduction techniques so there in universality in common issues shared amongst group members. Group norms are established at the first session and revisited briefly at start of each session.
Confidentiality will be addressed by the counselor at the beginning of the beginning of the talk session. The ASCA states that the counselors role is to "explain the meaning and limits of confidentiality to students in developmentally appropriate terms", and "to provide appropriate disclosure and informed consent regarding the counseling relationship and confidentiality" (ASCA, 2018). The counselor will explain how confidentiality works and the limits of confidentiality.

Stage 2 Working together to accomplish individual and group goals: Students will progress through each session and learn stress-reduction techniques. Students will have five minutes group discussion to talk about how they applied the stress-reduction technique learned in a previous session. The students have a five minute group discussion as a group to discuss how the new stress-reduction technique can be applied in high-stress locations and situations.

Stage 3 Ending the Group: The last session will have students revisit the assessment that is taken at the beginning of the small group stress-reduction sessions. Students will rate each location and situation with stress-reduction techniques and how they can apply to high-stress level locations/situations. The penultimate POM session involves a 45 minute talking discussion where students talk about the locations and situations that cause stress and what techniques may be applicable to high-stress locations and situations. Confidentiality protocol will be stated at the beginning of this session to ensure participants know the limits of the confidentiality.

A follow-up session will be scheduled for the next semester which will involve participants to talk to new participants about how the stress-reduction techniques have helped them in high-stress locations and situations. This will take place four to six weeks later to allow the opportunity to share success stories (Missouri Professional School Counselors and Counselor Educators, 2015).

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The leadership style will be explicit where the counselor leads the group with specific guidelines to be followed (Missouri Professional School Counselors and Counselor Educators, 2015). The purpose and goal of the small group sessions will be identified to ensure students have a sense of belonging in the group. The counselor will remind students that they must complete homework outside the classroom by practicing stress-reduction techniques to fully commit to purpose and learning outcome (Missouri Professional School Counselors and Counselor Educators, 2015).
The middle sessions will begin with the counselor introducing each session's purpose. The discussion activity at the start and end of the sessions will allow for students to identify improvement group members are experiencing (Missouri Professional School Counselors and Counselor Educators, 2015).