Finding school counselor professional development can be incredibly challenging. Often our districts are thinking about teachers primarily, and we are on our own to find good PD.
Vanessa from School Counseling Confessions wrote a great post about pursuing National Board Certification and pursuing other sources of school counselor professional development.
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State and National Conferences
My go-to for professional development is the state school counseling conferences! They are just the most invigorating and inspiring experiences, and I always come back to campus refreshed and super-excited to try out all best practice techniques I’ve learned! And just in time for all the post-Valentine’s Day heartbreak, here is a dating violence resource I created from a workshop I attended at a recent state conference.
I am so lucky to be in Texas, where we have 2 different organizations providing state conferences for school counselors. So, I attend both, as well as the national American School Counselor Association conference that is held every summer. With many conferences under my belt, I have some tips for getting the most out of your professional development opportunities. Happy Learning!
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ASCA U
I have really enjoyed all of the specialist training courses I have taken from ASCA U! The Trauma and Crisis Management Specialist training has been an incredible resource for refreshing and building skills. If you’re a “go at your own pace” kind of learner, these courses are great for school counselor professional development! I also love all of the ASCA webinar series because I get the chance to learn from other counselors around the country during the school year.
– Keri at Counselor Keri
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Specialized Training
A couple years back, I had the opportunity to go to a Social Thinking conference with Michelle Garcia-Winner. I had been a fan of her model and using her resources for quite some time, and seeing her in person really made so many things click.
For a number of years, I lived in Boston and had access to some incredible organizations. I did some trainings with Massachusetts General Hospital for cognitive behavioral therapy. They now have some training online that look amazing.
Finally, I went through the PREPaRE training for school crisis and safety teams that is offered by NASP. It is truly comprehensive and I would recommend it to any district.
– Laura from Social Emotional Workshop
What professional development training have you found useful? Comment below!
