The Clarity Crew: Unlock Your Potential, Stay on Track, and Thrive! by Stephanie White

The Group Focus

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The group focus is helping ADD/ADHD students discover how they learn (auditory, visual, kinesthetic, etc), develop study skills, effective time management, and organization ideas. The group will be for ninth-grade students to modify their study habits early. The learners will start by taking the VARK learning styles questionnaire based on scenarios to determine if they are visual, aural, read/write, or kinesthetic learners. The students will also learn study skills congruent with how someone with ADD/ADHD processes information. Study skills will be taught, such as note-taking, using Quizlet, teaching parents or siblings their lesson, setting timers for shorter time frames, frequent breaks, and eliminating distractions. The students will learn time management strategies such as creating a routine, breaking assignments into chunks, avoiding procrastination, utilizing the brain dump, ranking tasks from highest priority to lowest, developing a “can do” attitude, etc. The last section will be organization, discussing color-coding classes with folders, book covers, and binders, and setting up a color-coded calendar to recognize what is due quickly. Students will be introduced to block scheduling and other types of organization. The goal is to help the student understand how they learn and help them structure their studying, time management, and organization to succeed.

ASCA Mindsets and Behaviors

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In this ADD/ADHD group, students will gain confidence in their learning. They will master the folowing ACSA Mindsets and Behaviors of M3 positive attitude toward work and learning and M4 self-confidence in ability to succeed with increased study skills, time management, and organization (American School Counselor Association, 2021). They will achieve the learning skill of B-LS 3. time-management, organizational

and study skills, the self-management skill of B-SMS 6. ability to identify and overcome barriers, and the social skill B-SS 6. effective collaboration and

cooperation skills.

Publicity

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Teachers:

Email initial letter for referrals for students with ADD/ADHD and motivated to try new things. 504 not required.
Email with students selected for screening.
Email newsletter with group information, lessons, and students selected.
Email weekly newsletter with updates on the group.

Parents:

Email parents letter about the group telling them their child has been nominated for screening and date when group will be screened, selected, and group start date. Attach letter of informed consent.
Email newsletter with group information lesson layout, and students selected to the parents of studets selected.
Email weekly newsletter with updates on group.

Students:

Email initial letter that they have been selected for screening an ADD/ADHD skills group. Attach assent form to bring at screeening time.
Email newsletter about the group details: date, time, where, schedule, and an insprirational quote.
Email weekly newsletter.

Counselors/Administrators:

Email list of students selected for screening to verify any behavioral issues.
Email the newsletter with the selection of students and group information.
Email weekly newsletter.

Group Selection Screening Process

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Each potential member will be notified by email of screening appointment, and these interviews will be done individually. The school counselor will use the TAP-In process (Missouri Professional School Counselors and Counselor Educators, 2015).

Tell the Student About the Group: The school counselor will describe the group, tell the students what knowledge they will gain, what group expectations are including confidentiality, and the expectation to participate.

Ask the Student About His/Her Committment Level: Ask the student if they understand the group, do they want to participate, what is their interest level, what are your goals, on a scale of 1-10 what is your interest level?

Pick Members: Interview student's level of committment and desire to join the group. Do they think their goals align with the group goals and outcomes?

Inform group members of acceptance.

Informed Consent for Parent

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To participate in the group, parents will need to read and sign the attached informed consent document (Missouri Professional School Counselors and Counselor Educators, 2015).

Student Assent Document

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Student will be required to sign the student assent document before the group begins.

Group Leadership Style

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The group leadership style for this group will be participative or democratic (Cherry, 2023). The leader will give guidance and encouragement, but encourage group input. Peers learn best from each other so the hope of the leader is that they discuss ways that they each learn.

Yalom's Curative Factors

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There following Yalom's curative factors could happen during the The Clarity Crew (Yalom, 1995):

Instillation of Hope - faith that the treatment mode can and will beeffective.
Universality - demonstration that we are not alone in our misery or our "problems".
Altruism - opportunity to rise out of oneself and help somebody else; the feeling of usefulness.
Corrective recapitulation of primary family group - experiencing transference relationships growing out of primary family experiences providing the opportunity to relearn and clarify distortions.
Development of socializing techniques - social learning or development of interpersonal skills.
Imitative behavior - taking on the manner of group members who function more adequately.
Existential factors - recognition of the basic features of existence through sharing with others (e.g. ultimate aloneness, ultimate death, ultimateresponsibility for our own actions).
Direct Advice - receiving and giving suggestions for strategies for handlingproblems.
Interpersonal learning - receiving feedback from others and experimenting with new ways of relating.

Group Dynamics

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Stage 1: The group's first session is dedicated to building trust, group norms, guidelines, and discussing guidelines. I will introduce myself first with fun facts and my own study skills struggles. We will then play an icebreaker where they are assigned a partner, interview them, and then introduce them. The group will then discuss guidelines and ground rules which will include confidentiality. I will talk about some scenarios that happen when confidentiality is broken.

Stage 2: This stage is where they learn from each other. Many of the lessons have interactive activities. I will consistently change partners that work together. Every lesson starts with a discussion and ends with a discussion so I will encourage them to share.

Stage 3: I planned the last week to be a goodbye group. We will do a circle talk first to discuss what they learned, how they feel, having the students exchanging numbers to help each other. I will discuss the 3, 6, 9 month follow up and I will also be checking in with them. I will also reiterate that confidentiality is still very important. I will then do a completion ceremony where they get a certificate and have cupcakes.

Group Rules and Guidelines

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Setting group guidelines and group rules is essential for success. I will use the above document as a guide to discuss what each rule means to the students. I like this because it allows me to check for understanding. I will also ask the student if there are any other suggestions for rules that will be beneficial for the success of the group. The predetermined rules will be:

What is said in here, stays here. Confidentiality is a must!
Come on time and be prepared!
Share the air. Make sure everyone has time to speak.
Speak one at a time.
Use active listening, you might learn something.
Treat each other with respect.
Respect words and responses.
There are no bad questions. Everyone learns when you ask.

Legal and Ethical Requirements 1

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According to the American Counseling Association Code of Ethics Section A.9. Group Work, the counselor is ethically required to uphold the below stated standards (American Counseling Association, 2014):

A.9.a. Screening

Counselors screen prospective group

counseling/therapy participants. To

the extent possible, 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 jeop-

ardized by the group experience (ACA, 2014, p. 6).

A.9.b. Protecting Clients

In a group setting, counselors take rea-

sonable precautions to protect clients

from physical, emotional, or psychologi-

cal trauma (ACA, 2014, p. 6).

It is important to look not only what the person can learn if selected for the group but also what the possible harm could be to the student. Student's well being has to come above all else.

Legal and Ethical Requirements 2

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According to the American School Counselor Association, school counselors are required to uphold the professional foundation section B-PF 3 titled: Apply legal and ethical principles of the school counseling profession (the American School Counselor Association, 2019).

a. Practice within the ethical principles of the school counseling profession in accordance with the ASCA Ethical Standards for School Counselors

b. Adhere to the legal responsibilities of the role of the school counselor including the unique legal and ethical principles of working with minor students in a school setting

c. Adhere to the ethical and statutory limits of confidentiality

d. Fulfill legal and ethical obligations to families, teachers,

administrators and other school staff

e. Consult with school counselors and other education,

counseling and legal professionals when ethical and legal

questions arise

f. Resolve ethical dilemmas by employing an ethical decision-

making model in accordance with the ASCA Ethical

Standards for School Counselors

g. Model ethical behavior

h. Engage in continual professional development to inform and guide ethical and legal work (ASCA, 2019, p. 3).

This explains what I should be doing in every part of my role as a school counselor.

References

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American Counseling Association. (2014). 2014 ACA code of ethics.

American School Counselor Association (2019). ASCA School Counselor Professional Standards & Competencies. Alexandria, VA: Author.

American School Counselor Association (2021). ASCA Student Standards; Mindsets and Behaviors for Student Success. Alexandria, VA: Author.

Cherry, Kendra (2023). 6 leadership styles and Frameworks. Verywell Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/leadership-styles-2795312

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.
SmallGroupCounseling.pdf

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