The Top 3 Keys to Mental Health on Campus Someone recently asked me, “What are the top three keys to mental health?”  I didn’t even have to think twice about my answers.  #1 is taking ACTION There's a pattern I've seen in my therapy practice and in my work with TEEN...

Counsel like a Rockstar As counselors, we dream of spending our days in meaningful small group sessions with students, of preparing testing seasons without hiccups, and of building a happy and successful environment on campus for both staff and students. In other...

Want to Build Relationships With Your Students? Here's How. I led a relational needs training for teachers and staff at La Habra High School recently. The school admin team asked everyone on campus to “create meaningful relationships with all students.” It was music...

Four “5 Minute” Ways to Inspire School Culture: Invest in The New School Year In June I attended a conference and listened to an excellent keynote speech. As I enjoyed my latte, the topic of school culture stopped me mid sip. The speaker told a story of a teacher who...

It’s about that time… Time to start setting your alarm and remembering what day of the week it is. Time to break out the school clothes and put away the flip flops. Time to reflect on the previous school year and prepare to make this year the most successful one yet!...

Wrapping Up Your School Year and Setting Next Year’s Goals In this month’s post, I have lots of ideas on wrapping up your counseling or social-emotional learning (SEL) program and getting prepared for the next school year! This time of year brings lots of closure as...

Are Your Students Prepared for College or a Career? Working for Disney was my singular career goal throughout high school and college. Yes, my career interests were pretty much set once I realized that my baseball talents had topped out by 9th grade! But not every...

College and Career Readiness Get ready because College Week is coming! Do you celebrate it in your school? It occurs this year from April 30 to May 4 and its most exciting point occurs on May 2nd, which is College Signing Day. College Signing Day and College Week are...

These Worksheets Will Help You Develop Student Leaders Student leadership is part of a rock solid foundation for strong school culture, but steering students in that positive direction can be a challenge. That's why our leadership expert, Stephen Amundson, has put...

Crisis Prevention and Intervention Dealing with student crises is a sad, but very important part of our job as school-based counselors, educators, and administrators. With so much tragedy in the news these days over school violence, I thought it was time that I share...

We must take action to create peaceful and positive school culture. Here's how: The recent school shooting in Parkland, Florida has rocked educators and students across America to their core. Once again, schools are faced with terrifying concerns for safety. We cannot...

You Don't Have to Break The Bank to Make An Impact I just heard about a really cool event called "Hug Me!"   In this event, students and staff wrote their story - spoke their truth - on a poster board and held it out in front of themselves. At the bottom of these...

Daily Themes: Creating Culture in Class If you're looking for cultural direction within your school, a great place to start is with a MISSION. Your mission statement should be brief, precise, and direct. For example, if attendance is poor, your mission statement might...

Stress & Anxiety Management During Testing Season Unless you’ve been living under a rock or inhabiting another planet, you know very well that we are hurtling headfirst into testing season! In this post, I’d like to address stress management during...

School Shootings: What You & I Can Do! School shootings are one the hardest things to digest because they fly in the face of everything we believe. We love kids. We love our schools. We love the work we do. I’ve been in this fight since we first made the TEEN...

3 Ideas to Help Relieve Stress On Your Campus Stress! You feel it, your staff feels it, and your students feel it. As a marriage and family therapist, I help my clients and my schools work through this unrelenting issue.  After years of graduate school, over a...

Winning the Battle on Lunch Time Stress When I first heard about lunch time stress, I had to look it up and I thought to myself, “Is this even a thing?” After all, I was the teacher who either offered students the option to eat lunch in my classroom with...