Breakfast with the Counselors: Understanding our Sophomores.

Breakfast with the Counselors: Understanding our Sophomores.

Nipmuc School Counseling Center welcomed sophomore parents to “ Breakfast with the Counselors-Supporting Healthy Decisions.”  The School Counselors were joined by Kristen Birch, Clinical Coordinator of You Inc’s Day Treatment services as a guest speaker. We would like to thank Kristen and all the parents who participated in this event. Here are some highlights from our workshop.

Sophomore year poses many academic and social challenges for students of this age.  Parents and counselors highlighted numerous changes that occur as students transition between freshmen and sophomore year. Parents expressed feeling challenged as their students experienced more stress, faced more academic challenges, and on the home front, pushed boundaries, expressed more defiance, or exhibited more solitary or isolated behavior. Counselors noted that some of these challenges occur because of age appropriate drives towards autonomy and independence, but agreed that parent-child dynamics saw considerable changes.     

Sophomore year is an “in-between” year. Sophomores gain less attention than the freshmen, juniors and seniors who are experiencing major milestones and transitions, and yet so much growth and development happens during sophomore year.  Sophomores are just beginning to discover themselves as they start to drive, work outside the home and experience an expanded social world beyond their neighborhood or school. There is also a leap in intensity within the academic realm for sophomores and it is a high stakes testing year, which may add more stress and anxiety.  For parents,  counselors, and teachers, it is a major goal to support positive and healthy choices during this time.

Kristen Birch, our guest speaker, who works with substance abusing youth and their families at You Inc., discussed some of the changes that occur in teenagers at this time in their life, and provided some insights on how to foster positive choices for our students. One important factor to remember during this time is teenage brain development. Teenagers are largely driven by their amygdala, the emotional center of their brain, whereas their pre- frontal cortex, the “executive” branch of the brain,  is not yet fully developed. Teenagers experience intense emotions, but the part of their brain that helps them to manage impulses and problem solve is not yet working effectively. Of course, this is all happening at a  time that teenagers are looking more towards their peer group for affirmation and validation, and are distancing more from parents and caregivers.  

Keeping this in mind, counselors and parents discussed changes in parenting styles. Many parents talked about reflecting more on their parenting style and interactions with their teens to help cope with the changing dynamics within their household. Parents recognized the need to problem-solve less for their teens and listen more, as their teens pushed for more independence and  autonomy.  Parents and counselors discussed having  open conversations with teens in regards to the decisions they make, and allowing them to make their own choices based on these discussions. Parents were encouraged to embrace the idea of “planting the seed” with their teens and giving their teens time to process advice or ideas and make it their own. Parents and counselors acknowledged this was not always easy to do, but that fostering communication and connection was essential.  Effective communication between parents and kids, while not always easy, creates a bridge between adults and children and can open the door to successful choices.

Our guest presenter offered a final analogy, that parenting teens is like bowling with the bumpers up. You launch the ball, and the bumpers keep it heading down the line, it might go off course a bit, and the line is not always straight, but the bumpers are there to help that ball get to the end goal.

Follow the link to find the documents provided at the breakfast:
https://docs.google.com/a/mursd.org/file/d/0B16edQSQ2ZefYkc4NTM1R09RbG8/edit

If you could not make our breakfast feel free to contact the Nipmuc School Counseling Center with any questions or concerns. We also invite parents to send us ideas for future workshops.

Keeping Up with the Changing Times

Over the past couple of years, Nipmuc Regional High School has seen many changes.  We have a new 7-block schedule, a new 1:1 iPad program, and new courses to prepare students for their futures.  All of these changes took effect in order to meet the dynamic demands of a 21st century world.  

Well, the Nipmuc counselors also want to keep up with the changing times!  In the field of school counseling, one big step is changing our name from the Guidance Office to the School Counseling Center. This name change is also more reflective of the work of our school adjustment counselor, who focuses primarily on the social-emotional needs of students.  Although the School Adjustment Counselor will keep that job title, the Guidance Counselors will now be School Counselors.  We know it’s going to take some time for everyone (us included!) to get used to the change, but it’s an important change to make.

  

Here’s a little history to help you understand…

Counselors started appearing in school settings in the early 1900s and when they did, their main role was to assist students with occupational/vocational decisions and applying to college.  Very often counselors were teachers who had taken a couple of extra courses to earn the title “Guidance Counselor.”  In the 1920s and 1930s, school counseling and guidance saw a decline due to the Great Depression and concerns that only the fundamentals of education should be taught in schools.  In the 1940s, counselors in schools were mostly focused on testing to select, recruit, and train students for the military.  It wasn’t until the 1950s and 1960s, in the face of social justice and civil rights movements in the U.S., that counselors in schools focused on more than vocational guidance, but the name really stuck.  Counselor education programs began to grow and in 1990s, the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) published its National Standards for Students and School Counselor Competencies.

Today, school counselors have local and national organizations that provide professional and legislative support.  School counselors are required to have master’s degrees in counseling and must be licensed in their states.  At Nipmuc, we use the ASCA model in our practice as we focus on academic, social/emotional, and college/career development.  Yes, career guidance is part of what school counselors do, but it’s not all we do.  We work individually with students to help them navigate through their four years of high school, which encompasses development in every area of their lives.  By promoting collaborative relationships between students, staff, families, and the community, we work to empower students and foster their emotional health and well-being.  School counseling, as opposed to guidance counseling, gives a much better description of this role and incorporates all that goes on in our office.

Please help us to spread the word about our new name and visit our School Counseling Blog!