Leadership Letter: A Time to Reflect

At the end of every school year, I often pause and reflect on both the challenges and triumphs of the past 10 months. What worked well? On what do we need to improve? How can we better meet the needs of our new school counselors? How can we continue to engage our veteran school counselors? How can we better advocate for our school counseling profession so that new administrators will better understand the role of school counselors?

Just as I pause and reflect on what worked well and what areas need improvement, I encourage all school counselors to do the same in regard to their own school counseling programs. Use the summer months to not only recharge, refocus and renew your passion, but use this time to also participate in meaningful, intentional professional development. Just as we encourage our students to be lifelong learners, we, too, should understand that we are always learning and growing in an effort to stay informed of changes and innovations in the school counseling profession.

We can also use the summer months to prepare for the new school year. As the old adage says, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” In other words, it makes sense to plan ahead to avoid problems. Instead of waiting until the beginning of the new school year to organize your school counseling program, use the summer to begin planning for many of the initial back-to-school tasks that will need to be done in August and September. For example, many school counselors are responsible for conducting the faculty in-services that address suicide awareness and prevention (Jason Flatt Act), child abuse and mandatory reporting (Erin’s Law), bullying (Jamari Terrell Williams Act) and mental health awareness. Prepare your PowerPoint presentations and handouts during the summer months so this will be one less task at the beginning of the school year.
 
Work on your yearly calendar of activities and your school counseling goal. Update your school counseling brochure and your Counseling and Guidance Plan. You may even want to begin thinking about those persons you would like to invite to be on your school counseling advisory team. Prepare a draft of your administrative conference form. By so doing, you will be more prepared for the new school year, and you will be able to better concentrate on the needs of your students.

I also encourage our school counselors in the state of Alabama to become active members of the Alabama School Counselor Association. Seek to be empowered, and supported, by the thousands of school counselor members. Together, we can accomplish great things to help advance our profession and to leave an indelible mark upon the school counseling profession. Won’t you join us in celebrating these future milestones and achievements?

Patrice Davis is prevention and support services coordinator with the Baldwin County Public School System and president-elect of ALSCA.