From the Chair: Counselor CPR

Welcome to the 2022–23 school year, NvSCA members! I am honored to serve as the chair of the board this year. The past few years have hit us hard. We’ve been asked to do more with less, and we are struggling to manage it all. This year, we are focused on Counselor CPR: Community, Professionalism, Resilience.

Everything we do this year will be around these three themes. We will continue to build the community of school counselors across the state through opportunities to join together in social and professional settings. To help foster our community, we will be celebrating you all year round, and especially during National School Counseling Week. Please log in to your NvSCA account and make sure that we have your mailing address – school or home – on file.

We will continue to advocate for the profession. We will develop professionally through book clubs, webinars and conferences. Last year, the board voted to hold a fall professional development opportunity much like the conference, so please be on the lookout for information and registration this fall. Our spring conference will be in Sparks on March 3–4, so save that date now! We will continue to offer book clubs to members free of charge, but are also opening the opportunity for members to connect and lead book studies themselves. If you are interested in a specific title, complete this Book Club form, and we will see if other counselors in the state are interested in reading it with you. In the same vein, if you are looking to apply for RAMP, complete an ASCA-U course, work on your NCSC or ACSC, etc., and are looking for other counselors in the state who are doing the same, let us know and we will do our best to connect you.

We will continue to build resiliency – in ourselves, our students and our schools. Our jobs are important, but the need to protect ourselves from burnout cannot be overstated. Part of our resiliency comes from our community and ability to connect with each other through our successes, our failures and everything in between. This year, we will start a monthly “Coffee with Counselors,” an opportunity for Nevada school counselors (retired, professional or student members) to get together and share resources, celebrate successes, collaborate and ask questions. The first will be September 13th, you can sign up for these at our website.

Many hands make light work, and I hope that you will be willing to join us this year in any and all capacities – attend a book club; join us at a social; attend and/or present at our state conference; serve on a committee; interact with us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram; run for a board position next year and vote in the elections next spring.

You are the most important part of our association, and you are our future. On behalf of myself and the board, thank you for giving us the opportunity to serve and lead you this year.

Contact Carly Lott, chair, NvSCA Board of Directors, at carly.lott@nvsca.org.