Blog 4

I think the vignette at the beginning of chapter 5 of Dollarhide and Saginak’s (2012) text speaks volumes to the experiences people (including us) have had with their school counselors growing up. I was never tainted with a negative view of the profession because I idolized my elementary school counselor (I realize that story is old hat at this point, so I digress). If the negative adults in Cadence’s life viewed school counselors through the stigmatic lens of a disciplinary role, it would make sense that they would discourage her. Fortunately, many of us have had the opportunity to shadow or interview school counselors who, while they may not have the time or resources to know all about the ASCA National Model, continue to work toward touching each of their students’ lives in a positive way.

            The chapter goes on to describe the ASCA National Model which, in light of the group project we are working on, is helpful. I especially enjoyed reading the section about the delivery system of school counseling, specifically the school guidance curriculum (Dollarhide & Saginak, 2012, p. 80). It provides the scope for what our projects should be: in abiding by the template laid out by the National Model, it is our job to create a proactive curriculum which can be implemented in any school to work on common problems that might impede the mission of the school. Whew, typing that sentence alone already helped me to feel massively better about the project.

            Galassi, et al.’s (2008) article went on to alleviate some of my stress surrounding our CSCP. Our initial tasks are to identify the standards and competencies that will guide our intervention, but then we will go on to find research that will specify which interventions we are choosing to use and why. From there we can create an actual comprehensive program, featuring all of the different areas of evidence-based research we’ve done, which will assist a wide demographic of students. Eureka!

            I also enjoyed the summary of utilizing strengths in a counseling intervention (Galassi, et al., 2008). This speaks to the training in Solution-Focused counseling that we’ve had as well as goes along with the proactive approach to counseling because it shows that we are positive forces in a school that will empower students through our organized curriculum.

Dollarhide, C.T., & Saginak, K.A. (2012). Comprehensive school counseling programs (2nd Ed.). New York:   Pearson, Inc.

Galassi, J. P., Griffin, D., & Akos, P. (2008). Strengths-Based School Counseling and the ASCA National Model®. Professional School Counseling, 12(2), 176-181. doi:10.5330/PSC.n.2010-12.176