Category Archives for "Group Counseling"
Resilience is one of my favorite topics to teach and one of my favorite small groups to run. I always include goal setting, identifying problems, coping skills, healthy habits, and positive relationships as components to being resilient. Here are 6 tools for teaching resilience that help bring those components and your resiliency lessons to life.1. […]
Continue readingPositive thinking can be the difference between a student persisting with a challenging activity and stopping too soon. As counselors, we can directly work on building a student’s positive thinking, and give them the skills to be resilient when faced with challenges.Identify & Replace Negative ThinkingI focus on two things when building a student’s positive […]
Continue readingSchool counseling book clubs in elementary school are some of my favorite twists on a classic small group counseling. I love sharing a good book, watching students make connections to the characters, seeing first hand my students reading and comprehension levels, and helping them improve their reading. Books clubs provide wonderful opportunities for you to […]
Continue readingDo you ever find yourself in need of quick and easy group counseling activities? Of course, you do. It’s easy to picture: it’s Monday morning and you have a list of group counseling activities and plans to print, but there’s a long line at the copier. A student makes a disclosure and Child Protective Services […]
Continue readingHalloween is coming! Which at my house means there is a lot of excess candy lying around that I can’t (shouldn’t) eat all by myself. If only I had access to a school full of kids who would love to help me eat it … Oh, wait. I do. While I don’t usually love pumping […]
Continue readingHave you had students who do not want to come to small group counseling? They seem resistant immediately. Sometimes it takes some flexibility, creativity, and perspective taking on our parts. Check out tips from these five Confident Counselors.Make AdjustmentsSometimes group members are resistant to participating in the group sessions. It is important to address this […]
Continue readingFacilitating fantastic small groups is one of my favorite parts of being a school counselor. Small groups offer opportunities for social growth that working one on one with a student does not afford. Often, small groups are the first time students have a safe place to heal. This is their chance to process their emotions, […]
Continue readingAre you frustrated with anger management? Teaching anger management strategies to kids used to leave me frustrated. Ironic, isn’t it? For years, I felt like I taught coping skills to my students until I was blue in the face, only for them to leave my office and have an outburst minutes later. I didn’t know what […]
Continue readingI don’t know about you, but my counseling grad program didn’t spend a lot of time focusing on whole classroom instruction. I was ready for individual counseling. I was sooo ready for group counseling. But I was totally not ready to be standing in front of a group of 30 (a whole other issue…) students […]
Continue readingStruggling with ways to get students engaged and participating in group counseling? Discussion starters are a great way to hook students in, reinforce group norms, and introduce new topics. They are also flexible so you can use them at any grade level. Working in a middle school, I find that kids become much more focused […]
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