Charles County Public Schools

School Counseling

Alicia Jones

Supervising School Counselor

American School Counselor Association

Comprehensive School Counseling Program

It is recommended that school counselors spend 80% or more of their time in direct and indirect student services and 20% for program management and school support services

Direct student services

• Are in person interactions between school counselors and students.

• Through core curriculum, individual student planning and responsive services.

Indirect student services

• Are services provided on behalf of students as a result of school counselor and student interactions with others.

Appropriate and inappropriate school counseling activities.pdf

Elementary School Counseling

Group Counseling-Direct Service

• Starts in October

• Run 6-8 weeks

• Types of groups- Anger Management, Social

Skills, Self Regulation, Organization

Individual Counseling-Direct Service

• Crisis response, Grief, Peer Interaction, Behavior,

Course failures each Quarter, etc.

Classroom Guidance-Direct Service

• Second Step Curriculum- Bully Prevention (Oct),

Child Protection( Nov)

• Monthly Themed lessons -School Safety Procedures

(Sept), College Awareness, (Jan), Career Awareness ( Feb)

• Social Emotional Lessons- Empathy (Dec), Problem

Solving (May)

• Career Counseling- Paws in Jobland( Jan), Career Day

Activities (Feb)

• Academic Counseling- Course Selection ( Feb)

Middle School Counseling

Classroom Guidance-Direct Service

• Second Step Curriculum• Monthly Themed lessons• Social Emotional Lessons- Empathy

and Communication( Sept), Problem Solving (May)

• Safer, Smarter Teens/ Personal Power Lessons- Grooming & Boundaries

Career Counseling - Career Cruising ( Jan),

Career Day Activities (Feb)

Group Counseling- Direct Service

• Starts in October• Run 6-8 weeks• Types of groups- Anger Management, Social

Skills, Self Regulation, Organization

Individual Counseling- Direct Service

• Disciplinary problems, Attendance, Course failures, Peer Interactions, Personal problems, Grief, etc.

High School Counseling

Grade Level Presentations – Direct Services

Quarterly Themed Presentations

• 1st Q- CCPS Safety Presentation

• 2nd Q- Safer, Smarter Teens/ Be the Change

Healthy & Unhealthy Relationships

• 3rd Q- Course Selection- Academic Program

Planning with each student

• 4th Q- Career/College Counseling- Career Cruising

Lessons, College Awareness Activities

Individual Counseling-Direct Services

• Meet individually with each graduating senior by 9/30

• Meet individually with each junior by 11/15

• Meet individually with each freshman by 12/15

• Meet individually with each sophomore by 1/15

Group Counseling- Direct Services

• High schools have built in activity periods for students

to meet in counseling groups with counselors

• Group needs determined by school need

( Attendance, Behavior, Time Management, etc.)

Charles County Public Schools

School Psychologists

Dr. Mike Blanchard

Supervising School Psychologist

Why Have we Expanded

School Psychology Services?

• Emphasis on direct service delivery and behavioral consultation

• School psychologists heavily involved in many school based teams and

initiatives

• Need for crisis response continues to increase, both risk for suicide and

threat based assessments

• Required to be multi-faceted, as serve an administrative and mental health

function in buildings

What have we done with expanded Staffing:

2010-2018 Statistics

• 65% growth in risk/threat assessments and 70% growth in individual/group counseling sessions completed

• 68% growth in staff consultations regarding student academic and/or behavioral concerns

• 55% growth in development of formal behavior plans for students

• Implementation of ASPIRE program

• Presentations to schools on suicide, parent communication, responding to student trauma, verbal de-escalation techniques, etc.

• 100% of regular education school psychologists are PBIS coaches for their buildings

State Initiatives Involving

School Psychologists

• Threat assessment teams established by SY2019-2020

• Coordination of school based mental health services for CCPS and Charles

County region

• Support for Pre-K – 2nd grade students prior to suspension

Charles County Community

Mediation Center

Offering Mediation and Community Conferencing to

Charles County High Schools and Middle Schools

Topics For Discussion

• What is the Charles County Community Mediation Center (CCCMC)?

• What is Community Conferencing?

• How might it work in CCPS?

• How do we partner with the Department of Juvenile Services?

• What does implementation look like?

About the Community Mediation Center…

• Established in Charles County March 2016.

• A few of our referral partners include: the Sheriff’s office, District and Circuit courts, Department of Social Services, and the Office on Aging.

• CCCMC has 28 active volunteers 1 fulltime and 3 part-time staff.

• CMCC provides free mediation, Conflict Resolution Workshops and Community Conferencing to our Charles County Community.

Why A Community Conference?

How Does A Community Conference Work?

Each Conference is assigned to a trained facilitator to manage the case.

Conferences are held at convenient places and times for the participants. School cases are generally held at the school where the incident has happened.

Participation is always voluntary. Each referral partner will reach out to the parents or guardians of the student for permission to refer the case.

Everyone comes together to hear how they have been impacted by the incident.

Those who have caused the harm learn about how others have been affected.

Everyone is part of the solution.

About the Process

The goals are for participants to:

• Understand what happened.

• Hear how everyone has been affected.

• If needed, create a written agreement to repair any harm and prevent the incident from happening again.

The process allows:

• For everyone to speak.

• For youth take accountability for their behavior.

• Those who have been harmed are directly involved in deciding the outcome.

Types of incidents

Assault

Destruction of Property

Neighborhood Disputes

School Suspension and/or Expulsion

Theft

Trespassing

Life Cycle of a Community

Conference Case

Referral Partner

An incident happens.

Referral Partner contacts parent(s) about CC process.

Parent(s) agree to a CC

Referral is sent to CCCMC

Facilitator is assigned the case.

Facilitator does conference Prep

with all participants.

Conference is convened. Matter is

resolved or agreement written.

If agreement written, CCCMC

follows up on agreement terms.

Report is given to referral partner as to

status.

What Are Our Next Steps for the Delivery of Services?