Social Ambassadors Group by Stephanie Crane

Group Description

scrane35 — 2025-02-15 21:18:57 UTC

The Social Ambassadors is a group dedicated to increasing social awareness and healthy peer relationships through targeted skill development. This group will be made up of 6th grade students who struggle with bullying or have experienced being victimized by bullying.

ASCA Mindsets and Behaviors

scrane35 — 2025-02-15 21:31:13 UTC

Students will master the following mindsets and behaviors in this group:

M2. Sense of acceptance, respect, support, and inclusion for self and others in the school environment

B-SS2. Positive, respectful and supportive relationships with students who are similar to and different from them

B-SS4. Empathy

B-SS9. Social maturity and behaviors appropriate to the situation and environment

Publicity

scrane35 — 2025-02-15 21:34:54 UTC

I plan to advertise this group to students, parents, and teachers. I will do this by:

Sending home flyers to parents
Sending flyers out to parents in ParentSquare
Daily Announcements about the group in the school for students
Providing video presentation for students to view in Advisory class
Posting flyers in the hallways and bathrooms
Handing out flyers to classroom teachers
Presenting information about group to teachers during a staff meeting

Pre-Group Screening

scrane35 — 2025-02-15 21:39:45 UTC

Students will learn about the group from flyers and the video announcements during advisory class. The flyers and video will include a QR code for students to individually scan to express their interest in the group and fill out the screening form to assess their readiness, willingness, and interest in the group.

Informed Consent

scrane35 — 2025-02-15 21:55:08 UTC

Informed consent will be obtained for each participant in the group since they are all minors. The consent documents will be sent home with potential participants, as well as sent out via Parent Square to the parents/guardians for approval.

I could not locate a campus or district policy for informed consent as it pertains to counseling groups specifically, although there is a Senate Bill 9 policy that requires informed consent for curriculum regarding child abuse prevention, family violence, dating violence, and sex trafficking.

Participant Guidelines and Ground Rules

scrane35 — 2025-02-15 22:08:28 UTC

Participants will be required to agree to the following rules prior to the beginning of the group:

Treat yourself and others with respect at all times
What is said in the groups stays in the group

Other ground rules and guidelines will be discussed and agreed upon by the group members as needed in the first meeting.

Group Dynamics

scrane35 — 2025-02-15 22:34:24 UTC

This group of 6th graders will have unique needs in order to facilitate a trusting and productive group environment.

Stage 1: Group members will be asked to play the common ground game to help facilitate connections early on in the group. They will also have input on the group's norms and expectations so that they feel like they are truly a part of the process. I will explain that confidentiality among the members is expected, but I will also go over the exceptions to that confidentiality in cases of suspected abuse, wanting to harm themselves or others, drug or alcohol abuse, or court order.

Stage 2: Group members will work together in a variety of tasks each time they meet in order to build on cohesiveness and productivity. Role playing will be a vital part of the group experience and participation will be monitored to ensure group members are making progress on the group's goals along the way.

Stage 3: As the group concludes, we will take time to reflect on the learning that has happened and how the students can continue to apply their learning after the group has ended. We will discuss the feelings about the group coming to an end and I will let them know that I will follow up with them individually to check in within the next grading period, and I will also check in with their teachers to see how they are doing. I will remind them that the confidentiality of the group does not go away just because the group is ending.

Leadership Style

scrane35 — 2025-02-15 22:39:01 UTC

I plan to use a democratic leadership style with this group of 6th graders because that style of leadership allows for the most cooperative and safe learning environment. As the leader, I will still be in charge of facilitating the discussions and leading things where they need to go, but I will also value lots of input from the participants to make sure that they feel seen and heard. This will work best with the 6th graders because then they won't view me as just another person telling them what to do.

Therapeutic Factors

scrane35 — 2025-02-15 22:49:02 UTC

The Social Ambassadors group will ideally consist of several of Yalom's therapeutic factors. There will be instillation of hope when the 6th graders discuss their experiences with bullying and learning that this group will help them with those experiences. There will also be an inherent universality since all of the group members will have experiences with bullying. There will also be development of socializing techniques, direct advice for strategies to deal with bullying, and interpersonal learning through role playing experiences.

Legal Requirements

scrane35 — 2025-02-15 23:12:58 UTC

The Texas Education Code outlines the legal requirements of a professional school counseling program which include providing responsive services to intervene on behalf of students whose social development is at risk. Leading a group such as the Social Ambassadors would fall under the scope of responsive services by helping victims and perpetrators of bullying with their social skills.

Legal Requirements

scrane35 — 2025-02-15 23:16:53 UTC

In addition, the Texas Administrative Code outlines that the professional school counselor must know and understand counseling theories, research techniques and practices, legal and ethical standards and practices, as well as many other requirements. These requirements apply to the general duties of school counselors, which would include group work such as the Social Ambassadors group.

Ethical Requirements

scrane35 — 2025-02-15 23:21:59 UTC

The American Counseling Association Code of Ethics outlines how counselors should screen prospective groups members to ensure that prospective they will be compatible with the goals of the group, as well as take precautions to protect the members from physical, emotional, or psychological trauma. This will be accounted for in the group screening process for the Social Ambassadors group.

References

scrane35 — 2025-02-15 23:34:03 UTC

American Counseling Association. (2014). 2014 ACA code of ethics. https://www.counseling.org/knowledge-center

American School Counselor Association. (2021). ASCA mindsets and behaviors for student success: K-12 College-, career-, and life-readiness standards for every student. https://www.schoolcounselor.org/getmedia/7428a787-a452-4abb-afec-d78ec77870cd/Mindsets-Behaviors.pdf

Cherry, K. (2023). How to lead: 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.

School Counselors and Counseling Programs, 2 Tex. Edu. Code § 33.002-33.007

Student Assessment, 19. Tex. Admin. Code § 89.1

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