Week 4

I feel like I am finally starting to wrap my head around the ASCA National Model. I remember sitting in a session at the PSCA Conference last December where a number of school counselors were talking excitedly about the new edition and I was really quite clueless. I felt like they were speaking a different language at times. Now I feel like I have a rudimentary understanding of ASCA-ese if you will. I look forward to this year's conference and the sessions I will choose to go to. I hope to understand things on a new level and I am excited to implement programs/strategies I learn in my Practicum in spring.

I mentioned in class last night how much I appreciated the approach of "Strengths-Based School Counseling". The article we read just made sense to me. "In SBSC, the focus is on strengths promotion rather than the problem prevention and problem reduction..." (Galassi, Griffin, & Akos, p. 178). This to me is just a more positive way to operate and I think would help me personally not to burn out as quickly as I might just focusing on problems. The article says that even though school counselors have claimed to have an "orientation toward strengths and assets" (Galassi et al., p.180) they have not found research to back up that  a very high percentage of school counselors use this model. They are optimistic though.

The reflection piece on pg. 84 of our textbook made me think about my initial reactions to the model. I feel comforted by the comprehensive scope AND intimidated by the comprehensive scope. I am grateful that many people put so many hours of work into this 3rd edition model. I can't even imagine the time and energy that a project such as this would require. I am also overwhelmed at times when I read all of the expectations and competencies that a CSCP and counselor should embody. I have often thought that this person would be a "SUPER COUNSELOR" because it doesn't seem humanly possible to have all this going on at once. But as they say, "Rome wasn't built in a day" and neither will a comprehensive school counseling program. 




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 Model. Professional School Counseling, 12 (2), 176-181.