Happy National School Counseling Week!

Celebrating National School Counseling Week

Would you like some ideas and suggestions to celebrate the 2011 National School Counseling Week, slated for February 7-11. This celebration offers school counselors the ideal opportunity to tout the important work we do. Please feel free to share these suggestions with other colleagues who may want to help celebrate the school counseling profession.

Public relations activities

 Present a Certificate of Appreciation to someone who's been especially beneficial to your school counseling program
 Make morning announcements to help start each day of the week off with a special message from the school counseling department
 Identify and contact your local Community Access Television Station and discuss how they might help you publicize NSCW as well as how they might be able to become a support for your Comprehensive School Counseling Program throughout the year
 Call your local newspaper or television station and ask to have a story run about your school counseling program sometime during the week
 Advertise to parents and teachers what you do for and with students relative to the academic, social/personal, and/or career/workplace domains
 Create a school counselor publication/brochure and mail/email to parents
 Create a daily newsletter for staff which educates them about a topic (i.e.: suicide, depression, substance abuse, internet safety) that they in turn can use with their students
 Host an open house with food to inform and educate students, staff and parents about what you do

Professional activities

 Host a study circle with your colleagues and review/discuss the NY Model for Comprehensive School Counseling Programs
 Focus on a school counseling issue each day of the week through announcements, closed circuit television, games/contests, handouts or classroom lessons
 Focus on the middle/average students that you never seem to get a chance to meet with
 Schedule a meeting with your principal/administrative supervisor and talk about how you are connecting your work with your school's mission and vision
 Have lunch with your colleagues (either in the building or across levels/buildings)
 Share a professional journal article relating to school counseling with your building colleagues and encourage conversation and discussion, perhaps at the next staff meeting


Fun/creative activities

 Create daily contests/games (with prizes) that engage students in learning more about the school counseling staff
 Create a display/bulletin board in a main area that highlights the school counseling staff and the types of things you do
 Give staff members a sharpened pencil with a note saying, “School Counselors Point You in the Right Direction.”
 Give staff members a glue stick with an attached card stating: “School Counselors Get You Out of Sticky Situations”
 Give staff members a pair of scissors with an attached card stating: “School Counselors Are A Cut Above the Rest”
 Give staff members a “Free Pass to Guidance” which invites them to stop by to chat about various issues
 Give each staff member a peppermint patty or lifesaver saying, “You are worth a mint to us” Compliments of the School Counseling Department
 Make tags with the following saying: Listeners, Informers, Friends, Encouragers, Scholars, Advocates, Visionaries, Educators, Reinforcers, attach to Lifesavers and distribute to staff
 Provide desserts for the staff in the faculty lounge. The sign will say STRESSED spelled backwards is DESSERTS.
 Provide each staff person a zip lock bag with pieces of bubble wrap in it. Attach the following prescription:
Pop several stress relieving capsules every 6-8 hours as needed. When you are stressed and full of troubles, just grab a sheet and smash some bubbles! Watch your problems go with a loud “pop pop.” Soon your spirits will be back on top. This is therapeutic and once in a while you’ll find yourself begin to smile! Warning: This may become addictive. In case of overdose, please seek professional counseling. From: Your School Counselor
 Hang posters around the school, highlighting school counseling services. Examples include:
- Mirror – “School counselors help us see the positive side.”
- Light Bulb – “Counselors light the way.”
- Several light bulbs – “Seeing your counselor for help is a bright idea.”
- CD – “Need someone to listen? See you school counselor.”
- Hand – “Counselors lend us a helping hand.”
- Umbrella – “Find shelter under the school counseling umbrella”
- Telephone – “Need someone to talk to? Call on your counselor today.”

Taken from the www.nyssca.org website.