President’s Letter: The “Why” of Our Substance

Five years ago, after observing that our district school counseling program was led by an individual with no counseling background and was going in a different direction, I quietly stepped down as a work team leader and focused on how to deal with this situation kindly, gratefully and reflectively. Gathering a group of nine wonderful school counselors, we started a journey to create ways to awaken and strengthen our group. The Guam Association of School Counselors (GASC) was re-energized in November 2015. It was quite a challenging journey as we revisited and renewed our constitution and by-laws; honored our constitution’s election process; welcomed new and old members, re-started our general assemblies, National School Counseling Week celebrations and proclamations; and collaborated and advocated for conferences, professional development, and resources. The most challenging and affirming part of the journey was when the GASC board and officers officially applied for GASC’s affiliation status with ASCA in November 2017. We are grateful that after all the hard work and perseverance in sustaining the association and submitting requirements, GASC was approved to be the 52nd State Division of ASCA on July 12, 2018.

Why are we pursuing this journey to be part of GASC and ASCA? Why do we need to serve students using the ASCA framework? Why do we celebrate being an affiliate of the national organization? Why do we sacrifice our time, talents and treasures to share with our students and stakeholders? Why is it important to add value to our school counseling profession? Why do we even care for students in our building? Why do we continue to collaborate despite the drama or criticism? Let us reflect and be open to possibilities for school counselors.

A school counselor is a person of substance or essence, which means we will not fall prey to substance abuse nor abandon our mission and vision to serve all students. We will substantiate or live out our school counseling profession by practicing the values of a person of SUBSTANCE:

S - Support system for student success – no school counselor is an island. Although we live on the island of Guam, we need the support of our stakeholders, administrators, parents, teachers and staff to be able to help all students. That’s why we have to continue to be a member of GASC and ASCA.

U - Understanding the latest trends and research for school counseling – we need to be well informed of the research on innovative ways to do school counseling and learn the ASCA Mindsets and Behaviors standards to create lesson plans and teach or facilitate values well.

B - Build relationships – we build persons from K-12 or post-secondary students who are relational beings so we need to strengthen our bond with ASCA for support in systematic change and advocacy for the school counseling profession. ASCA as a framework for school counseling is comprehensive, developmental and research based, and we celebrate GASC’s affiliation with ASCA.

S - Self-care that promotes healing. Sharing the three Ts (time, talents and treasures) will heal the social/emotional issues of our students and stakeholders. When we are met with arguments and complaints, we have to step back, breathe and smile despite the headaches and heartaches we encounter in our daily practice or in planning a district-wide school counselor conference!

T - Temperance in one’s lifestyle and work style. We acknowledge that we are not flawless yet we try to work smarter to effect change in our programs and make our students the best versions of themselves. In this context, we need to add value to our school counseling profession. School counselors brings balance to our school community.

A - Affirmation of self and others. When we affirm someone, we add value to their life. As school counselors we have to choose our words carefully. We might break or make a person’s day. Words are powerful tools to bring affirmation and healing to someone contemplating suicidal thoughts or broken hearted because of family wounds. We affirm all who came before us and build the school counseling profession to what it is today. School counselors care for all students.

N - Nurturance of one’s skills, talents and gifts. We hope to nurture students’ talents, gifts and skills through classroom lessons, individual counseling or group sessions. When we meet, we hope to nurture fellow school counselors and build our talents and skills to be the best school counselor and maybe one day, School Counselor of the Year (SCOY).

C - Commitment to serve others. The core of happiness is rooted in one’s capacity to serve others without counting the cost. Yes, we do need to be compensated but when we go above and beyond what is required and do the job out of our inner core of commitment to serve, we feel inner peace and contentment. So despite criticism or lack of support and resources, we continue to serve our school community.

E - Empowerment to build success for all. We encourage our students to be successful in life. We empower our students and stakeholders to see the big picture and work in a simple and sustained way to build a successful future with college and career possibilities. We also hope to empower our colleagues as we build GASC one school counselor at a time. Happy 15th Founding Anniversary, GASC!

Contact Estela L. Calata, GASC president, at elcalata@yahoo.com.