Welcome back to another episode of School Counseling Simplified. Today I am interviewing Colleen, a school counselor and IMPACT member, who shares her journey from nursing school to school counseling and her passion for teaching students the coping skills she did not learn growing up.

Colleen Mosley is a School Counselor in Long Island, New York. This is her fourth year at her current school. Previously, she worked as a School Counselor for four years in Northern Virginia. Before becoming a counselor, she served on the Leadership Team at a private school in Northern Virginia. Colleen is deeply passionate about equipping students with lifelong coping skills and believes that work is at the heart of why she became a School Counselor.

What does Colleen love about school counseling

Colleen shares that she loves being the person she did not have growing up. She finds it incredibly fulfilling to teach children skills they can use throughout their lifetime.

What does Colleen love about individual sessions

Because she sees all students weekly for classroom lessons, she is able to build strong rapport and positive relationships early on. When students come to her counseling room for individual support, there is already an established foundation of trust.

How does she manage the logistics of individual sessions

Colleen typically meets with students once a week for six weeks for approximately 20 minutes. She administers a pre-assessment during the first session and a post-assessment during the final session to measure growth and progress.

A day in the life
Colleen works with students in grades K through 8 on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. She is available on Mondays primarily for crisis response.

She teaches Social Emotional Learning lessons in 40 minute blocks for each classroom and schedules individual sessions as needed.

When she is not teaching or counseling, she supervises lunch and recess or plans future lessons and school events.

Advice for new school counselors
Find a mentor you trust.
Prioritize self-care.
Join a cohort or a community such as IMPACT so you have support and resources readily available to make your job feel more manageable.

As Colleen says, overdose on self-care so you can do your job most effectively!

Do not forget, today and tomorrow I am hosting a free live training on how to enhance your individual counseling sessions and begin collecting meaningful data so you can feel confident and valued in your role. You will walk away with practical engagement strategies and simple data tracking tools you can start using right away.

Resources Mentioned:

• Individual Counseling LIVE Training

• TpT Store
  
  

• Blog
  
  

• Instagram
  
  

• Facebook Page
  
  

• Facebook Group
  
  

• Pinterest
  
  

• Youtube

More About School Counseling Simplified:

School Counseling Simplified is a podcast offering easy to implement strategies for busy school counselors. The host, Rachel Davis from Bright Futures Counseling, shares tips and tricks she has learned from her years of experience as a school counselor both in the US and at an international school in Costa Rica.

You can listen to School Counseling Simplified on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and more!

Welcome back to another episode of School Counseling Simplified. Today we are talking about how to create a parent newsletter, something I personally send out every month to my IMPACT members and one of the resources they love the most.

I want to pull back the curtain and share exactly how I structure my parent newsletters so you can try this in your own counseling program. For the next few months, I am running a themed series, and right now the focus is on screen time, a topic I am incredibly passionate about.

Parent newsletters are a powerful way to advocate for your role, communicate proactively with families, and support students beyond the school day. Here is how I structure mine.

School Counselor Services
This section highlights the services the school counselor provides and helps families understand how and when students can receive support. For February, I am breaking down the three tiers of support and explaining what each tier looks like in a school counseling program.

Monthly Topic Focus
Each newsletter includes a specific social emotional learning topic. This month, the focus is screen time and smartphone use. I share research based information related to screen time and brain development so parents understand why this topic matters.

Activities to Try at Home
I always include a simple, accessible activity families can do together. For example, tossing a ball back and forth while answering guided questions as the child catches the ball. These activities are designed to be low pressure and easy to implement.

Parenting Resources
The final section includes an additional resource such as a video, podcast episode, or printable guide. This month, I am sharing a technology agreement PDF that families can use at home to set clear expectations around screen use.

If you would like this month's parent newsletter for free, you can grab it directly in the show notes.

Resources Mentioned:

• Join IMPACT

• stressfreeschoolcounseling.com/individual

• freebie ---> https://brightfutures-counseling.com/pages/free-school-counseling-parent-newsletter

• https://www.waituntil8th.org/

• TpT Store
  
  

• Blog
  
  

• Instagram
  
  

• Facebook Page
  
  

• Facebook Group
  
  

• Pinterest
  
  

• Youtube

More About School Counseling Simplified:

School Counseling Simplified is a podcast offering easy to implement strategies for busy school counselors. The host, Rachel Davis from Bright Futures Counseling, shares tips and tricks she has learned from her years of experience as a school counselor both in the US and at an international school in Costa Rica.

You can listen to School Counseling Simplified on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and more!