Ashley Korman

Individual Academic Counseling

            This past year I have individually counseled 100 8th and 9th grade students regarding academic concerns. When working with these students to improve their grades I have regularly checked their grades with them and discussed how they could improve their grades, implemented assignment books to keep track of homework, set up additional services for the students to receive extra help, adjust level of classes, and contacted parents, guardians and others for collaboration.

 

Individual and Group Personal/ Social Counseling

            Regarding personal and social concerns, I have individually counseled 41 8th and 36 9th graders. The topics of these counseling sessions vary but have included; bullying, home life, relationships (family, friends, peers, teachers), grief and loss, perfectionism, anxiety, truancy, home transitions (foster care, homelessness), anger management, and discipline issues in school. Aside from talk therapy, various interventions have also been used including relaxation techniques, conflict resolution, art therapy, role playing, thought stopping, catastrophizing and journaling. I have also met with small groups of students to mediate conflicts.

 

Individual Career Counseling

            I have met with at least 25 students regarding career concerns. However, the majority of the students I have met with regarding their academics, we also discussed their future and possible careers. Within meeting with students about career related topics, I have discussed with students; how to apply and get jobs outside of school, setting up for their future in school and outside of school, and I have discussed with many students the academy program which is a technical school they are able to attend once they reach 10th grade.

 

Guidance Lessons

            I have provided 7 guidance lessons on Career Development to 8th graders in History classes, and 24 guidance lessons in 9th grade Health classes on decreasing stress using wellness techniques. I will also be providing guidance lessons to both 8th and 9th graders in the near future regarding course registration.

 

IEP and 504 Meetings

I have participated in and contributed to 12 different IEP and 504 meetings. The meeting that I contributed to the most was for a student whose guardian was requesting for him to be evaluated for an IEP or 504. Before the meeting, I had met with the student multiple times due to his multiple failing grades, and discipline problems. With this student I implemented an assignment book for him to keep track of his assignments, and I collaborated with his guardian to make sure she was aware of his progress. On behalf of this student I also got a release to talk to his outside counselor, therefore we could collaborate on how to best support this student. At the meeting the assignment book was agreed upon. This meeting also allowed all of his teachers and I to be on the same page of how we could best support this student towards his future. After this meeting the student and guardian felt even more comfortable for me to support them. This student’s grades majorly improved by the end of the first marking period and throughout the year.

 

Student Assistance Program Referrals

I have referred 15 different students to our Student Assistance Program. All of these students I had met with multiple times individually, however were in need of more consistent counseling services. Each student agreed to try the Student Assistance Program. I also spoke with a parent or guardian of each student, and explained the program to them, as well as explained the process of their child starting the program. Not all parents did agree to consenting for their child to participate in the program. I also presented each of the cases I referred to the SAP Team and consulted the team on the best sequence of care for each student. If the parent did not agree for their child to participate in SAP, then I continued seeing these students individually.

 

Parent Collaboration

            I have contacted and collaborated with 96 parent and guardians. These collaborations have been through both phone calls and parent meetings. Academic concerns are the majority of the reason for these collaborations, however they have also been in regard to personal and social challenges of the student. Some of these various challenges include bullying, medical accommodations, truancy, adjusting to being new at the school, the student’s future career path, crisis interventions and academic concerns.

 

Other Collaboration

            I have worked with many other professionals such as outside agencies and other faculty and staff within the school to meet the needs of my students. I have collaborated with several Child and Youth Services case managers as well as other agency case managers to ensure that the student is receiving complimentary support. I have also contacted and worked with other staff at Children in Youth Services to report a case of child abuse. In regards to truant students, I have referred and completed Children and Youth Truancy Reports on 8 students.

 

For the safety of some of my students, I have also been in contact and collaboration with Tri County Crisis who I have contacted 3 times to come and evaluate a student. I have also contacted 6 student’s parents concerning the safety of their children due to suicidal ideation. Within the school I have also worked with emotional support teachers, administration, general education teachers, special education staff, the school nurse, other counselors to support the students.

 

Other Activities and Meetings

            I have also participated in various other activities around the school to promote my role as a school counseling intern and to help me get to know the students of my school better. I have helped the students in the special education program who go around on Friday morning and collect teacher’s recyclables. I helped oversee “Career Day” for the 8th grade students, where a technical and professional speaker came in from different career areas to speak to students about their careers and how they got there. I have attended a meeting with outside agencies, the superintendent, district principals and other counselors to discuss future career activities to incorporate into the schools to promote student’s interest in various careers and their futures. I have also observed a student in his classroom setting to help the school psychologist determine his time on task to evaluate him.

 

            I have also been involved and attended two CASSP meetings. CASSP stands for Child and Adolescent Service System Program. These meetings are held for students that have multiple different support services in place in order to bring the services from the community, home, and school to be on the same page. These meetings are very productive in figuring out a plan for the student on how to better support them from the different aspects of their lives. At both CASSP meetings I attended, I was representing the school and provided information about the student’s behaviors and grades at school to the team. I also suggested different interventions that could be instituted at school to help the student.

 

            Reintegration meetings are also something that I have had the experience of taking part of at 3 different times. These meetings are held after a student returns from a mental health placement. These meetings allow the student, parents and different school faculty to come together to create and implement a plan for the student to be successful at school. These meetings are important for school counselors to attend because they are able to create a safety plan with the student for at school, as well as adjust their schedule or make any other accommodations that will help them to be successful in a school setting.

 

            Through the Mifflin County Guidance Department, I have also participated in a “Career Guidance Curriculum Development” Training. All of the school counselors in the district attended this training at the local Intermediate Unit. The training day was spent learning how to develop a school counseling curriculum around careers. At the training I also helped begin to develop the curriculum that will be used across the district for school counselors.

 

 

Mental Health Wellness Awareness Week

 

For Mental Health Wellness Awareness Week, I wanted to make a Mental Health Awareness Tree. I cut out leaves for the students to all write a pledge to improve their mental health wellness awareness, or a phrase or suggestion to improve their peer’s mental health wellness awareness. I went into all three lunch periods and handed out the leaves and collected them from the students. Most students were very eager to participate and a few students even asked to fill out more than one leaf. The tree was then hung in a main hallway for all the students to read and learn from. A lot of positive feedback was received from the staff as well as the students as something fun and impactful in the school.