Planning for Student Success: Key Issues for Student Support Services...

April 6, 2011 8 am—2:30 pm

Massry Conference Center,

UAlbany East Campus, Rensselaer, NY

Registration Fee: $75

per participant

Student Rate: $50

Keynote speaker REBECCA GARDNER, B.S., M.S., SAS, SDA &
CREATING EFFECTIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS FOR STUDENTS

Effective Learning Environments are dependent on healthy school climates and cultures. School climate refers to the quality of school life as experienced by members of the school community including students, school personnel, parents and community members. School cultures are the beliefs, attitudes and behaviors that characterize a school. Rebecca’s keynote will focus on research and best practice that supports effective learning environments in
relation to Positive Youth Development; academic achievement and student learning; risk reduction and health promotion; higher graduation rates and increased teacher retention.
Rebecca Gardner retired from the NYS Education Department in 2006 as Bureau Chief for Student Support Services (SSS). In that capacity, she had Statewide responsibility for Pupil Services including Guidance and Counseling, Psychology, Social Work and Health Services; Health Education; Magnet Schools; Summer School and School Safety.

She led SED’s regional network for SSS. Since then and in her second career, she is a Visiting Professor, Internship Coordinator and College Supervisor in Education Leadership for The College of St. Rose and a CASDA faculty member. She has been a consultant for the International Center for Leadership in Education and SAANYS as well as school districts and BOCES promoting the improvement of school climate and culture.

This conference is targeted for: School Counselors, Social Workers, Psychologists,
School Nurses, School Administrators, Special Education staff, Health Education
Teachers, Alternative Education Teachers, Community Agency staff in Mental Health/

Please visit their website for more information regarding agenda and other upcoming seminars: http://capregboces.org/InstructionalServices/workshops.cfm
Student Support Services and Pupil Services teams

The East Coast Sandplay Therapy Association Annual Conference

Click on the image below to enlarge and find out more about this Conference!

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.

"Understanding Infant Adoption" Free Training

The College of St. Rose and Adoption STAR are pleased to announce an exciting, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services-approved, FREE training opportunity for current or future healthcare or helping professionals entitled "Understanding Infant Adoption." The training is designed to help attendees learn how to discuss adoption as an option when interacting with patients or clients who are in the midst of an unexpected or unintended pregnancy and are not sure they are able to parent the child. The goal of the training is to review current adoption practice, policy and law and to develop appropriate non-directive counseling tools.

Saturday, April 2nd, 2011

Time – 9:00am to 2:00pm – FREE LUNCH PROVIDED

Location – College of St. Rose, Albertus Hall: Room 206, 432 Western Avenue, Albany, NY 12203

Both nurses and social workers will qualify for contact hours as part of the training. Specified other health care professionals may also be eligible to receive contact hours for this training. All participants will receive a certificate of completion after completing the course.

If you'd like to attend the training, please click on the following link to register:

http://www.iaatp.com/Attendee/AttendeeSignUp.asp?intTrainingEventId=8008&boolAdd=TRUE&CallingPage=AttendeeTrainingEventSearch.asp&strTrainingAttendeesKey=

If you have any questions or concerns (or encounter any difficulty with the registration process), please contact Michael Hill at 716-639-3900 or michael@adoptionstar.com. Space is limited, so register soon!

New York State Mental Heath Counselor Association

NYMHCA 2011 Counselor Educator Meeting Schedule

Friday, April 8th, 2011 - Social/Networking Event

April 8-9th Counselor

Educator Meeting

Registration is open for our April Counselor

Educator Meeting to be held at the

Albany Marriott. We urge you to register

and reserve your hotel room ASAP since

April is “just around the corner!” The current

list of presenters includes: Dr. David

Hamilton of the Office of Professions, William

Murphy from the State Education Department

(who will speak about bridge programs),

Kathleen Caggiano-Siino from the

NYS Office of Alcohol and Substance

Abuse Services (OASAS) and Heather Evans,

our NYMHCA lobbyist. It is also expected

that a representative of the Office of

Mental Health (OMH) will also present. A

meeting of the NYS Association of Counselor

Educator and Supervisors (NYACES)

will also be held on the day of the meeting.

8 - 10 pm - Albany Marriott (room to be announced)
~ Wine and finger foods and lots of good conversation!
Saturday, April 9th, 2011 Meeting Schedule:
8:00 - 9 am ~ Registration and Continental Breakfast
9 am ~ Welcome and Introductions - NYMHCA President Bob Eschenauer,
NYMHCA Board of Directors, and Executive Director
9:30 am ~ Presentation by representatives of the NYS Education Department: Dr.
David Hamilton and William Murphy
11:30 ~ Presentation by a representative of the New York State Office of Mental
Health (OMH)
12:30 pm ~ Lunch/Networking - NYACES Meeting led by Karen Mackie (in separate
room)
1:30 pm ~ Presentation by Kathleen Caggiano-Siino, NYS Office of Alcohol
and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS)
2:30 pm ~ Presentation by Heather Evans from Hinman-Straub
Advisors,the NYMHCA lobbying firm
3:45 pm ~ Q & A
4:30 pm ~ Final Remarks
Meeting Fees: (Registration Deadline: April 1st, 2011!)
~ Friday, April 8th Social/Networking Event: $15
~ Saturday, April 9th Meeting: $30