Organize: Individual Counseling Sessions with Students

When I first started counseling, I wanted to keep notes on my students, but had been advised in grad school to be careful about what I kept. My professors cautioned me that if I were ever subpoenaed, I would need to hand over office notes. I am not a legal expert, but wanted to be able to refer back to a brief note on a student when I followed up with them.  In addition, I am a data fanatic and I wanted a way to document how many individual counseling sessions I conducted each school year.

So, based on my theoretical orientation of counseling (Solution Focused Counseling), I developed this handy individual meeting summary for us School Counselors.  It allows you to document the student's info, how they self-identified on the feeling rating scale, make notes, and notate when you will follow-up with them.  I keep this in my contact binder, along with my School Counselor's Phone Log.  I find it helps me stay organized, and also serve my students better.  I don't write down anything too personal in the notes section, just enough to jog my memory! I hope this helps you...please let me know if you have questions/suggestions.  Get the Individual Meeting Summary Form HERE.

Organize: Your School Counseling Phone Records to Protect Yourself

Problem:  You receive a voicemail message from an angry parent while you are out of your office teaching a classroom lesson. Of course you promptly call the parent back, but you get their voicemail. You leave a message and go about your day, which of course flies by. The next morning your principal calls you in and says she got a phone call from the angry parent saying that you didn't call her back!

Solution:  Document, document, document! Use a phone log to document each and every phone call you make.  I like to use a spreadsheet which I keep in a my Contact Binder. This has saved me so many times, as I often make ten or more calls a day. If ever questioned, I can go look up the date and time of each and every call made, plus the number I called and the outcome!  Not to mention, it is just handy to have this information in a binder for future reference. Do yourself a favor and document.

Get the Phone Log HERE.

My Two Favorite Books for School Counselors

Still in grad school?  Want to get a jumpstart on your School Counseling career?  Maybe you are a veteran counselor just looking for a new read. Winter is here, and the holiday break is fast approaching. Grab one of these books and cuddle up with a mug of hot chocolate. Here are the top two books that help me the most:

1.  Brief Counseling That Works: A Solution-Focused Therapy Approach for School Counselors and Other Mental Health Professionals

Thank you Dr. Sanders for introducing this book to my during my practicum. I have been referring to it ever since, as the format just makes sense to me. This book provides an outline for how I counsel students. Not only does it give me a format as to what guiding questions to ask a student, but it provides them with a goal to work on before we meet again. Plus, through the use of scaling, it gives you a way to measure progress. I love that they are working on solutions, instead of dwelling on the past. If you don't have any experience with Solution-Focused therapy/counseling, get this book. It is an invaluable resource!

Here is a little tool I developed to use with my students. I have kept this posted in my office, as a visual aid.  

Please visit my TPT store here to purchase.  


2.  Teaching with Love & Logic: Taking Control of the Classroom

I love anything from Love & Logic! I first learned of these techniques at a workshop in Atlanta when I was a teacher. Jim Fay and his son, Dr. Charles Fay were both presenting. I then went back to my school and conducted an inservice for our teachers. Since then, I have used the Love & Logic techniques when I teach classroom guidance lessons. I also teach the strategies to teachers when they are having difficulty with a particular student. It has been so helpful at the school level, but what I find most useful is sharing these strategies with parents. If you visit the website, Love & Logic, you will find numerous articles that you can print  for FREE and give to parents, or keep some copies in your parent resource section in your School Counseling office. It always makes me feel better when I can give the parent something to refer to after a meeting. If I am on the phone with them, I often just give them the website address. I can't say enough good stuff about these techniques! They have saved my sanity over the years, and probably those of some of my students too.

So those are two of my very favorite School Counseling books. Go get yourself one or both!

Note:  I do use links to products sometimes as a way to pay for the time I put into the blog.  I promise to only posts products that I have actually used and enjoyed, or products that I created on TPT.  Please use my link if you decide to buy a product, it helps me keep doing what I love.  Thanks!

Welcome to my blog! I am so excited to share ideas with you all...

Are you a new counselor looking for ideas on how to get organized?  Or maybe you are a veteran counselor who needs new ideas on how to free up more precious time....I am here to help!  

I began my career in education close to 15 years ago when I decided that my dream job was to become an educator. At the time I was working in a totally different profession as a Probation Officer, but was becoming burned out on all the negativity. I wanted to help prevent some of what I was seeing everyday. I had a Bachelor's in Psychology, and loved the idea of helping people (especially little ones), so my long term goal was to become a School Counselor. I needed to go back and get my Master's degree, but couldn't afford to not work. What's a girl to do? As it turned out, I was so fortunate that my state was looking for teachers through the alternative teaching certification program. I signed up to teach that fall, and would earn my teaching certification along the way. Crazy me also decided to start grad school at the same time! What could go wrong, after all I had taught a year at a preschool right out of college. Wow, was I in for a surprise....little did I know that teaching was going to be the hardest job I have ever had.

With a ton of handwork and a few tears, I made it through and obtained my M.Ed in School Counseling two years later. Luckily I immediately found a position as an elementary counselor and was so excited. Yay, an office and the chance to do what I loved! I vowed to not only help students, but help teachers too!  I knew how hard it was to be a classroom teacher, so I wanted to be a support to them as well as their students. I was fortunate to work as a counselor for many years, even through a few of our tours as a military family. Now we are in a spot where working is not feasible at the moment. I don't want to give up  my passion, and know that I can now help School Counselors be more productive and hopefully you will follow me on this adventure!