This is a guest blog post by: Christine Babinec, MA, LPC, NCC, author of Want A Hug? Consent and Boundaries for Kids. Read Christine’s bio and my review of her book, below. Consent and boundaries are the foundations of all healthy relationships. Everywhere we interact, consent and boundaries are being negotiated. When children invent or play a game, share snacks, or take turns, they are using consent and boundaries. When adults navigate decision-making, agree on shared activities, or work on group projects at work, they are using consent and boundaries. Consent and boundaries are being negot ..read more

As school counselors, we know the importance of taking a moment to recognize, celebrate, and advocate for our profession. National School Counseling Week is just around the corner, running from February 6-10th 2023 this year, so now is the time to start planning those celebratory activities. Whether it's spreading awareness in your community or hosting some fun events for students and staff at your school - there are plenty of ways that you can celebrate NSCW. Keep reading to learn more about creative ways to celebrate National School Counseling Week and advocate for your role and our profess ..read more

Implementing effective strategies to engage all students and increase learning is an ongoing concern for educators. This can be especially true for neurodiverse students, such as those with ADHD, sensory processing disorder, or Autism Spectrum Disorder. A parent survey conducted in 2016 by the CDC estimates ADHD affects 6.1 million children ages 2 to 17. And in 2020, the CDC reported 1 in 54 U.S. children were diagnosed with ASD, with males being four times as likely to be diagnosed than females. There are three different types of ADHD, but it's important to note that no two children are the ..read more

Raising kids who are confident in their own skin can be a challenge for any parent or educator. Fortunately, there are some things you can do to help children feel good about themselves, and boost their self-esteem. Read on for nine tips to get you started! Confidence, self-esteem and having a positive self-image are all important concepts for kids to embody. Confidence is about having faith in oneself and believing that one can achieve anything they set their mind to. Self-esteem is about feeling good about oneself and being proud of who they are. Self-worth is about valuing oneself and reco ..read more

In this blog post, I'll share 16 videos, research about theory of mind, and perspective taking skills, and then some activities that will help your children or students take someone else's point of view and help spark interesting discussions in your homes, classrooms, or counseling offices. If you want to learn more about why it is so important to teach perspective-taking skills to your children, check out this blog post. And if you want to check out some books to teach perspective taking skills, head on over to this blog post where I share 31 picture books on theory of mind! Early Perspectiv ..read more

Trust. It is the foundation of any relationship built between people. This is especially true for the children we serve in a therapeutic capacity. It is essential to build trust in our counseling relationships as mental health practitioners for children. The relationship you build with your students or clients impacts how they will grow and change over time. We want to affect that change as much as possible. We do, however, want to be careful in our approach to building healthy, trusting relationships with children. Let’s discuss the importance of relationships and how to make them effective ..read more

Our culture doesn’t give us many opportunities to say goodbye in healthy ways. Termination in counseling is a great time to practice this. Termination is a time to reflect on the journey and growth the clients have made, to say goodbye in a healthy way, and to make a plan for success after counseling. Let’s be honest, the termination phase of counseling can be difficult for not only the child, but also for the families, and the counselor! It’s important to have a plan for how to end the counseling relationship in a way that is respectful and beneficial for the child. This blog post will prov ..read more

Asking a child to talk about a problem, explain their behavior, or come up with solutions when they feel disconnected or upset is often ineffective. Art provides an accessible, nonverbal alternative when words don’t work. In this article, you will learn 5 art therapy-inspired activities for calming behaviors and building resilience. You will also gain important best-practice tips for using art for social-emotional growth. No artistic skill or special supplies are necessary. This is a guest blog post by Erica Curtis, author of the books ,Art Therapy Activities for Kids: 75 Evidence Based Art P ..read more

As a school counselor or school social worker, or counseling intern, what classroom activities or lessons do you do at the beginning of the year to start your year off great? In this blog post I’ll review four easy to implement, fun, and engaging meet the counselor, meet the school social worker, and meet the school psychologist lessons and activities to help you build rapport with new classes or groups at the beginning of the year! These lessons can also be used if you come into your role a bit later in the school year too. After each activity, I like to have the students take home some type ..read more

In this blog post, I'll share 16 videos, research about theory of mind, and perspective taking skills, and then some activities that will help your children or students take someone else's point of view and help spark interesting discussions in your homes, classrooms, or counseling offices. If you want to learn more about why it is so important to teach perspective-taking skills to your children, check out this blog post. And if you want to check out some books to teach perspective taking skills, head on over to this blog post where I share 31 picture books on theory of mind! Early Perspectiv ..read more