(October 2023 - May 2024) 3 optional graduate SMC credits

Instructors: Rachel Luks Petraska, M.S. Shelburne Community School, School Counselor, grades 6-8 (She/Her/Hers) and

Patti Tomashot, M.S., C.A.G.S., Stowe High School, School Counseling Director, grade 9 - 12 (She/Her/Hers)

Target Audience: Current school counselors, new school counselors, counseling directors, mentors and internship supervisors

Rachel Petraska and Patti Tomashot, experienced school counselor leaders, offer counselors a road map for navigating the crucial beginning years in the field. This course identifies the different phases every new and current counselor goes through, offering crucial strategies to navigate each. Participants return to schools equipped with proven instructional and self-care practices. Counselors will create a plan for implementation of the VT School Counseling Framework, and a monthly roadmap to follow that aligns with the VT Framework and ASCA. Counselors will have each other to connect and collaborate with throughout the year, getting to see multiple perspectives and participating in confidential case studies to help problem-solve whatever issues that come up. Each month, we’ll invite a partner/constituency that will provide knowledge and expertise in a variety of areas such as special education, administration, technology and education law and how they all intersect with the school counselor role.

Throughout the course you will:

• Explore the six phases of beginning school counselors: 1) anticipation, 2) survival, 3) disillusionment, 4) rejuvenation, 5) reflection, and 6) second anticipation.

• Understand the feelings and challenges associated with each phase.

• Discover practical strategies for small group work, classroom facilitation and individual student meetings

• Explore exemplar SEL curriculums to use at the universal level.

• Learn how to practice self-care to avoid career burnout that so often leads to counselors changing careers.

• Develop a plan for decreasing stress, increasing student achievement and enhancing students’ social and emotional well-being

The major work of the course will be the development of a continuous comprehensive school counseling program for your school/grade bans that you cover

Dates: October 19, 2023, November 7, 2023, January 25, 2024, March 11, 2024, May 2, 2024

Note: This course will be taught in either an in-person classroom or virtually, as needed. It is equipped with a Zoom Room Classroom Camera & Audio for remote access for participants.

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Hours: 9 -3:30 pm (includes lunch)

Location:

CVEDC Classroom

150 Kennedy Drive

S. Burlington, VT

Cost: $1180 – includes book $1600 – includes 3 gr. credits & book

Text: ASCA National Model: A Framework for School Counseling Programs (4th edition)

School Counselor Collaborative Cohort