Author: Counsellor Talk

I have been in education since 1980 and am a psychologist who works part- time with the Calgary Stampede foundation. In 2024 , I co-authored Counsellor Talk: Connecting Through Creative Counselling Techniques I am an advocate who wants to help and support other counsellors across the world. All my resources are free for you to use and change as you wish. If you do alter anything I have created , I would appreciate you acknowledging where you got the original idea. Collaboration and sharing make us better at what we do … helping others. I look forward to connecting with you. Keep making a difference.

School Counselling Tools Help … Lesson # 13

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Lesson #13 School Counselling Tools Help

Resources help and these new videos by Dr. Erin Mason will be invalueable to those new to technology. Take a look. It will undoubtedly get you started on a journey that will be extremely helpful for you and your students. School Counsellors, these are for you :

DAY 1: TWITTER

DAY 2: LIVEBINDERS

DAY 3: GOOGLE DOCS and FORMS

Take a look here to find more from Smore .

Lessons  1-12 can be found here .

School Counsellors please join us in sharing resources. If you have and tips or lessons to share please do. We look forward to hearning from you.

I’m Getting To Know You…

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You want me to do what? Really?IMG_4429

Thanks to Jeremy Inscho  @jeremyinscho  for making me think about some random thoughts this Christmas . Feel free to join in PLN. HERE’S HOW IT WORKS:

  1. Acknowledge the nominating blogger.
  2. Share 11 random facts about yourself.
  3. Answer the 11 questions the nominating blogger has created for you.
  4. List 11 bloggers.
  5. Post 11 questions for the bloggers you nominate to answer, and let all the bloggers know they have been nominated. Don’t nominate a blogger who has nominated you.

11 Random Facts About Myself

  1. I love jazz.
  2. I’ve played lacrosse since I was about 12 years old. I still play lacrosse at 55. Here is a video I made:
  3. I started painting in my 50’s using oils, acrylics and watercolour.
  4. I want to learn how to play guitar, but I can’t seem to get past my music teachers comment “you are my most dedicated student who learned so little” Yes, I know better and it is my retirement gift to myself in a few years I WILL LEARN TO PLAY.
  5. I have a progressive eye disease called keratoconus ,but I don’t let that stop me in any way.
  6. I met and fell in love with my husband at a Halloween Maritime reunion party . I was a rainbow, he was a hunter carrying around a duck.
  7. I used to play hockey, ringette, basketball, volleyball, and baseball among others .
  8. Was athlete of the year in junior high… I love sports. Wanted to be a PE teacher at one time.
  9. I love the ocean, but I live inland.
  10. I went to China with the first delegation of Canadian Counsellors from across Canada.
  11. I knocked out my first set of front teeth and then again at nine years old I was skating in the dark in my backyard ( which my mom told me not to do) and I knocked my second set out. I have hardly ever had two real front teeth. Used to sing  “All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth”, a lot.

Questions for me

  1. What was your favourite class in university? I loved all my Psychology classes.
  2. If you could only read one blogger next year, who would it be? Seth Godin, I love how he says in so few words such meaningful things.
  3. If you could have your choice of career changes tomorrow, what would you choose? I’d stay doing what I am doing. I love what I do. If I could I’d also love to learn to be a photographer.
  4. What is your favourite way to relax? Read, play lacrosse and play with all things digital.
  5. How do you burn off energy when needed? Lacrosse or a long walk.
  6. Who is your favourite author and book/series? My favorite author is Leo Buscaglia. I read every one of his books. Wish he were still alive.
  7. Introvert or extrovert? Ambivert.
  8. Mac, PC, or other? Mac.
  9. Which is your favourite social media? Twitter and I love to GH.
  10. Who is the most influential member of your PLN? Alec Couros @courosa
  11. Do you have any quirky habits? I leave my wet towels on the bed for too long (usually my husbands side).

Here’s how it works:

  1. Acknowledge the nominating blogger.
  2. Share 11 random facts about yourself.
  3. Answer the 11 questions the nominating blogger has created for you.
  4. List 11 bloggers.
  5. Post 11 questions for the bloggers you nominate to answer, and let all the bloggers know they have been nominated. Don’t nominate a blogger who has nominated you.

Now it’s your Turn:

  1. Alec Couros
  2. Erin Mason
  3. Catherine Carr
  4. Tina Photakis 
  5. Kadri Auvaart
  6. Rhonda Jessen
  7. Verena Roberts
  8. Fenella Olynick
  9. Sheri Edwards
  10. Christina Hendricks
  11. Adam Tratt  ( maybe you can make a @haikudeck related to this )

Here are my Questions for you…

  1. When did you know what you wanted to do for a Career? How did you discover that?
  2. What are your top three favourite books of all time?
  3. What advice do you have on love?
  4. What is on your bucket list?
  5. What is the best advice you can give to your children?
  6. If you could go anywhere in the world where would you go?
  7. What are 3 things that matter to you?
  8. If you could sit with any 5 people dead or alive around your dinner table who would you choose and why?
  9. What is your favorite quote?
  10. How do you want to be remembered?

Ten is enough I am sure 5 is enough. Whichever ones you want to answer is really up to you ALL or NONE, but I look forward to reading any you wish to post. Here’s how it works again:

  1. Acknowledge the nominating blogger.
  2. Share  11 random facts about yourself.
  3. Answer the 11 questions the nominating blogger has created for you.
  4. List 11 bloggers.
  5. Post 11 questions for the bloggers you nominate to answer, and let all the bloggers know they have been nominated. Don’t nominate a blogger who has nominated you.

Post back here with a link after you write this. Go on, you have thinking  and writing to do … Now it’s your Turn yes, I really do appreciate you and your efforts : Merry Christmas and maybe this could be your first post for the New Year or before !?!

An International Chat for School Counsellors #SCCrowd

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What is #SCCrowd?

SCCrowd is School Counsellors wanting to help each other and learn from those who are not school counsellors.  It is also for educators from around the world who want to collaborate with other school counsellors  to make a difference in the lives of students. That is what #SCCrowd is really all about. Ross Wolfson @rawolfson, a High School Counsellor  created the hashtag and idea for #SCCrowd. He wanted to find a way for school counsellors to learn from and with each other.

There were already several great chats on twitter for school counsellors , but Ross wanted one that was just a little different . Hence the idea for #SCCrowd

The inaugural chat was held for #SCCrowd on November the 19th.

We held the first Q&A Day on #SCCrowd and were very pleased with the great turnout! Check out the transcript  of the chat . After the first chat Ross and I were planning for the second chat so we collaborated to discuss ideas for a haiku deck and what we wanted people to know about #SCCrowd and this is the  SCCrowd Haiku Deck  that was created. Now on to Chat #2

Time for Q&A Day 2.0!

Here’s an explanation of how it works:      Are you a school counselor from around the world ? Then we want to share with you.

School counselors, school counseling interns, and aspiring school counselors…

Do you ever ask yourself, “What resources could help me with my initiative?” or, “How would someone else have handled that situation?” or even, “Is there anyone else dealing with the same challenge that I am?”

School counseling and other educational professionals…

Do you have knowledge that can help school counselors? Do you know of great resources or have inspirational experiences to share?

Then please Join us for Q&A Day on #SCCrowd on Tuesday, December 17th!

Using the hashtag #SCCrowd, ask a question that is inspired by something from your day (or anything else that might be on your mind). When you leave work for the day, check out #SCCrowd and see if you have an answer or follow-up to someone’s question.

Then from 6:30-7:30 MST and 8:30-9:30 PM EST Tuesday night, join for a live chat on #SCCrowd to help answer questions that haven’t been addressed yet.

Get answers to your questions and help others out there in the School Counselor Crowd! Ask a question, share and answer, join the chat. Anyway you participate can help you grow your PLN!

Q&A Day on #SCCrowd – All day on Tuesday, December 17th

Sponsored by School Counselor Crowdsourcing – @SCCrowd

Live Chat on #SCCrowd 8:30-9:30 PM EST, moderated by @rawolfson & @SSpellmanCann

Again we were pleased with the turnout for the second #SCCrowd  on December the 17th. Here is transcript 2 .

We really hope more school counsellors and educators from across the world will join us. This is a way we can collaborate with you and who knows what impact this will have on our professional development and most importantly the positive impact it will have on our students. Looking forward to seeing you in the CROWD #SCCrowd that is.

FYI:  If you notice we interchangeably use counsellor with 2 LL ’s and counselor with one L , here is why :

Canadian spelling 2 LL’s

American spelling 1L

 

 

Lessons for a New School Counsellor : Lesson 12 Take Time to Rejuvenate

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Lesson 12 Take Time to Rejuvenate

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Here is :  Lessons 1-11

School Counselling can be a very demanding career. Although I dearly love what I do, I know it can be extremely exhausting as well as invigorating. We often hear difficult stories and that can be energy draining. For many students Christmas can be a tough time. It is important for us to take time to heal as well. I am so grateful that I can assist students with their concerns at this time of year, but I also need to slow down and pay attention to how I think , feel and act.

My student counsellor has worked extremely hard from September until now assisting students and their families with concerns that are not always easy. He too needs a break so he can regroup and come back to school refreshed. The following article discusses  compassion fatigue and is such an important topic for any new school counsellor, but also seasoned counsellors to pay attention to as well.

Click to access Self_Care_and_the_School_CounsellorArticle.pdf

Compassion … Be good to yourself …

So this Christmas season enjoy time with your loved ones, rest and rejuvenate , do something fun so that you can continue to make a difference in what you do.

Lessons For A New School Counsellor … Lesson 11

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Lesson 11:

Lessons 1-10 can be found  here.

Engaging the students and staff is critical when it comes to school counselling. There are many ways to engage the students whether it is one to one or in groups. At the end of every session I check in with the student to see how the session went. I will often ask something like how are you feeling about what we talked about and did in session today? What is the one thing you will use as a result of our time together? This allows me to gage if I have been helpful and if there is something I said that the student connected with.

It is also very important to develop relationships with your staff. If they feel you are helpful they will most likely refer a student to you. We are all working together to enhance the success of all students so if students see us collaborating in their best interest while always maintaining confidentiality we will best be able to help them.

Engaging Staff. Get to know your staff. Take time to have lunch with them. It is good for you to take a break and get out of your office. Assisting students can be very draining at times especially if you are addressing more serious issues, so get out of your office and make time to recharge. Self- Care is important.

What are your ideas for student and staff  engagement ? Please share below.

Haiku Deck A Fantastic App for School Counsellors

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Counsellor Talk's avatarCounsellor Talk : Connecting with those who want to make a difference.

HAIKU DECK is a fantastic app to use for School Counsellors. It is no secret that I love this app. I love this app because it is easy to use and creates professional looking beautiful presentations that I can easily use in my counselling office or as a professional development tool that I can use in presentations with other school counsellors. Stunning visuals have the ability to evoke emotion, a powerful tool for school counsellors to utilize. By being an active champion of both learning and technology school counsellors can use Haiku Deck to create amazing visuals that not only assist students in learning , but they can actually help students.

If you would like to try the web app please click  here: You are invited to try the Haiku Deck web app.

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Click here to see this…

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I Will Remember … Will you?

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cc Image by Bill Barber

Remembrance Day is always a day of reflection. Our Remembrance Day Celebration at school this year was exceptionally well done. I had to choke back the tears several times during our ceremony. One of those remembered was Cpl Nathan Hornburg , a Bishop Carroll alumni who was struck by shrapnel during a mortar attack in Afghanistan while trying to repair his tank at the age of twenty- four ( the age of my own daughter) . I cannot imagine the grief and loss that his and other parents have had to endure. On this day Nathan’s dad joined us at Bishop Carroll in our Remembrance Day celebration. I could hear a pin drop. Our football team wore their jerseys in remembrance. As I looked across the gym floor I noticed one of our students with special needs was holding her hand over her heart as she sang O’ Canada. Another of the many touching moments. I must say I am so proud to be in a school where students , staff and many parents come together to pay tribute and remember.

Growing up on a military base I was surrounded by men and women who had a history of serving. My grandfather served in World War 2. This Haiku Deck is in tribute to him and the men and women like him who have served their country so that we may have the freedom that we do today. I am grateful.

Click here for : In Remembrance Haiku Deck

Below is one of my all time favorite Remembrance Day videos. It makes me stop and think every year. It is only a pittance of time.

 

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I Will Remember This and Every Year Will You?
I Will Remember … Will You?

Canadian Coalition of Self-Directed Learning 2013

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Click here for my @haikudeck   :   CCSDL Haiku Deck

Self- Directed Learning

“The basic assumption of SDL is that from birth to death, we live lives of learning: we first learn to function, then to live well, and finally to make a difference. Maurice Gibbons

What’s going on inside the building of Bishop Carroll is not only exciting, but innovative, educational and engaging. Not only are the halls of Bishop Carroll High School buzzing, but inside the offices of several educators learning is taking place.

Bishop Carroll High School , the oldest SDL school ( over forty years)  is a part of the Canadian Coalition of Self- Directed Learning.

Bishop Carroll works together with other members of the coalition to improve the self-directed experience of all the learners. These schools meet together on an ongoing basis as well as convene at a yearly conference to look at ways of improving the model for students.

As a staff member in a self-directed school I have never been in a school where so much focus and dialogue on instruction takes place on a regular basis. In fact, our staff has biweekly professional development meetings to ensure that we are able to collaborate on best practices and share new ideas. Teachers are continually focusing on how they can make things better for students in a self-directed learning environment.

This past week I attended the Canadian Coalition of Self- Directed Learning Conference in Edmonton. While I love learning about ways to improve what we do, I so love connecting with other educators face to face.

What are conferences about for me?

Celebrating: For me the best part of CCSDL conference is the students and what they gain from attending a SDL school. I loved the opening ceremony which celebrated students. It was very moving and reminded me of why I do what I do.


Here are some great videos from some SDL schools :

No Glory without effort:

Dancing Like A Model

Re Imagine High School

Check out the great video from Thomas Haney

Bishop Carroll Over 40 years of SDL

 

Connecting with our staff as well as others: Often times I am so busy with my day I get very little time to connect with other staff members. Conferences can be a time to do just that wind down and connect. I had so much fun with the thirteen people who attended the whole conference from my school. We laughed, had fun, shared and connected. I know this experience will assist us in being better at what we do in our school. We now have some great shared experiences that we would not have otherwise.

Twitter also allows me to connect with other great educators who work in SDL schools. A special thanks to @EricDemore for tracking me down . We had a great conversation and I look forward to staying connected. Also thanks to my new SDL twitter pals @CarmenGartner and @mrs_haddad

Collaborating: I was able to share ideas with staff from other schools as well as my own. I am sending this out on a google doc so that as many as want to can contribute at a later date.

Continually Learning: I have yet to attend a conference where I am not able to take back some ideas and use them. This conference was no exception. I loved some of the ideas that came from attending Garfield_Gini-Newman.



 

Collecting Resources: one of the absolute benefits of attending a conference is the resources you get and I love this resource from twitter:

 

A gigantic thanks to St. Joe’s for their books and treats and so much fun! I know how hard it is to organize a conference and you were all amazing. Kudos to you all for the hard work and allowing us to have such a great time.

Being A Connected Educator Has Changed The Way I Think

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Being a Connected Educator has changed the way I think about education and has helped me understand the lives of our students in a completely different way.

Nine months ago I was not a Connected Educator, but I wanted to grow professionally so I took the plunge and took a Massive Open Online Course called ETMOOC.  That changed everything.

 

I felt if I wanted to understand the world that our students live in then I too must learn what it is like. So for the last nine months I have entered into the connected online world and opened up a whole new world of learning for myself and the students I serve. Every time I am connected with others online I come away with new ideas and resources to share.

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cc by Catherine Cronin

For anyone who feels they are too old to do this, I hope I serve as an example. I started teaching in 1980 and I can still say that I LOVE what I do. Being a Connected Educator has helped me stay passionate about teaching and learning .

I believe it has helped me be a better school counsellor as now I can connect with other school counsellors #scchat #cscchat from around the world and we can learn together. As a result of being a Connected Educator I am more open and want to serve as one model for positive Digital Citizenship for our students.

Thanks to all of you who have shared your experiences, resources and optimistic attitude with me. This thanksgiving I am very grateful for you.

Mental Health Literacy Training

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This week I was extremely fortunate to be Certified as a Trainer for the Mental Health Literacy Program facilitated by renowned psychiatrist Dr. Stan Kutcher

I was excited to be able to participate, as I have known about Dr. Kutcher’s work for a while. I am happy to say all four days were absolutely worth it. I left feeling I had learned many things that will assist me in my professional work and as a result impact the lives of the students we serve in our school community. I also loved his dry wit which absolutely kept me engaged during the process.

The training has fabulous resources for school counsellors, educators and mental health workers to utilize. This program is one of the best I have seen in a long time. It is rich in content, research, and resources.

When it comes to mental health we want students to:

CONNECT

  • With someone they trust like their teacher advisor , teacher, coach or other significant adult in the school who can then assist them in connecting …

CONNECTING

  • With their school counsellor who can assist them in connecting with their doctor, health care provider and or parents to assist them with their mental health concerns

One of important things that  Dr. Stan Kutcher discussed during the four days is the difference between:

  • Mental Health Distress (one example lose your keys)
  • Mental Health Problem (one example a parent dies)
  • Mental Health Disorder/Illness (one example clinical depression)

Too often we do not normalize what young people are feeling. It is normal to feel sad after a break up, but that does not mean the student is in a clinical depression. We need to teach our young people the difference between distress, problem and disorder and the Mental Health Curriculum Guide  does just that. It teaches students and educators the Mental Health Literacy that they need in today’s world based on present day research on the brain.

If you want to learn more you can take a quiz here to get you started…

Below I will share a few of the fantastic resources available. You may want to book a training in your area if you do contact @TMentalHealth

Digital storytelling:

Panic Disorder:

Coping with suicidal thoughts:

http://teenmentalhealth.org/resources/entries/coping-with-suicidal-thoughts/

Depression:

I really hope educators from around the globe will consider this fantastic program as part of any initiative that will benefit every student and family in their school and community.