President's Letter: Connection with Our Communities

Our issue this month relates to “Counselors in the Community.” Today, I ask you to consider the following questions: What are the ways in which you engage with your community and build connections with students and families? What community resources and referral sources do you currently utilize to enhance external responsive service options for your students?
 
Our professional training equips us to promote the academic, career, and social/emotional development of all P-12 students through data-informed school counseling programs. We strive to provide a developmentally appropriate, preventive school counseling curriculum that addresses the specific needs of our student populations. While we are often the first responders at the scene to diagnose a situation and intervene, we recognize the extent of our in-building resources and must also be prepared to enlist reinforcements for needs that our system is unable to address en masse.
 
When a student’s protective factors are outnumbered with risks, school counselors promote school-based collaboration and consultation with families, community leaders, postsecondary school personnel and other stakeholders. A common question is, “How do I build or strengthen those partnerships?”
 
Here are a few tips:

• Consider the ways you are currently engaging with families and gather input to determine whether the timing and frequency of those opportunities are conducive to their needs.
• Don’t wait for crisis or trauma to strike; reach out to your professional organizations, community agencies and local resource networks before a complex problem develops, if possible.
• Arrange to have a representative of a partner organization come and talk to your school counseling department, school mental health team or advisory council. Become familiar with the services offered and the preferred process for referrals. Designate a primary contact at the agency to streamline future questions. Take time to discuss the outcomes you hope for your students to gain from a partnership and plan educational and preventive measures that incorporate your new resource partner. If possible, arrange an on-site visit to the organization’s facility to gain first-hand knowledge of services.
• Use schoolwide data to prioritize your outreach efforts. It is important to make meaningful and sustainable connections that emphasize improvement of specific competencies or outcomes.

We hope that you find some of those suggestions helpful. Remember that the Kansas School Counselor Association is here for you, so if you need help with something, reach out to us! In the meantime, plan to attend the 68th Annual Counseling Conference at Emporia State University on November 9. Registration should be submitted on or before October 25.
 
Wherever you are in Kansas, let’s continue to make this a great year. I’m looking forward to seeing you all at our conference in November!
 
Contact Susana Ortiz Prochaska, KSCA president, at ksschoolcounselor@gmail.com.