Kids and Loss. How to Help.

Sad child

How to help kids cope loss A grandparent is sick and in hospice. A parent or sibling has terminal cancer. A close friend or relative is undergoing treatment for a chronic disease. Children are not protected from loss and grief any more than adults are, yet they often have fewer emotional resources or coping mechanisms…

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Picking the Topics for Elementary Small Groups

happy teacher

Small groups are a great way develop relationships with students and teach meaningful lessons, all while maximizing your time by serving several students at once. What’s the downside? For me it was developing an effective system that I could repeat over and over rather than re-creating the wheel every year. The first question to tackle…

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What to Do About a Student with Angry Outbursts

Angry upset boy, little man

Angry Outbursts: Prevention and Coping Skills On a School Counselor Facebook page, a school counselor asks for help with a 5th grader who regularly has angry outbursts over such things as forgetting his work at home or his Chromebook is missing from the class. During sessions focused on helping him calm down, he’s still very…

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New Counselor? The Secret to a Winning Job Interview

Seven Steps to Take Charge of a Job Interview Every new school counselor has to begin somewhere  and that means nailing a job interview. I can still remember finishing graduate school and the stress of looking for a job, getting called in for an interview and then ultimately learning that I didn’t get the position.…

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Where Negative Thoughts Come From and How to Change Them

stressed kid

Negative thoughts… we’ve all got them. But where do they come from? Kids and adults alike probably think that negative thoughts just happen but in actuality there are four places that they may come from. We fail at something or make a mistake: Instead of seeing failure as a necessary part of success, instead we…

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