I find SO many great resources from school counselors for my individual and group sessions.  SLP’s often have great pragmatic activities too.  However, although I’ve come across a few School Psychologists that share counseling resources, I don’t think there are nearly enough as counselors.  I figure this is for one of two reasons:  we all feel too stressed out to write down and share our ideas (hoping not ;)) or, our roles are so vastly different, that what makes sense for one of us, might not be the same for another.

 

As I explained in this post, one of my primary roles is counseling students with social emotional goals on their IEPs.  I also work with students with 504 plans, and regular education students, but the majority are special education.  This puts me in a place where I need to address certain specific goals and objectives every week, taking running data, and measure student progress throughout marking periods and annual reviews.  I also feel the need to use more evidence based practices.

I’ve found a system that has worked well for me, so I thought I would take you all along as I plan a week of counseling!

*All information here is fictional, nothing is based on any of my actual students*

How it works:

Beforehand

• My planning for one week actually starts the week before.  Often, when I’m working with a student or group, something will come up that I want to make sure to review next time, to introduce sooner, or something that we didn’t get to, and I want to start with that next.  I jot down notes in my counseling plans throughout the week as this happens.

The week before:

• I put planning time into my schedule and outlook calendar each week and stick to it.  I also make sure to plan & prep during this time.  If I don’t get to it, I make sure to get it done before heading out the door.
• I break out my planning sheet, data cards, and notes from the previous week.  I first look at our school calendar and make note of any assemblies, days off, etc., and then I start from Monday, and write down my plans for each session for individual students, groups of students, or students I need to evaluate.

• As I am writing down what I and planning for each session, I keep a big post it note next to me where I jot down the materials I need as I plan each session.  This helps me to remember exactly what I need.

• After I’m done planning every single session, then I prep.  This has been key for me.  I have tried planning each session while I try to gather materials and I always get off track.  I again start on Monday, and go through each session and gather what materials I need.  I put them in one of two bins:

 

• The pink bin is my daily “work for today” bin, and lives on the table (that I work with students at) in my office.  When I’m planning I put only Monday’s group supplies in there, and the rest goes into my green “this week” bin.  At the end of every day, I take out/file in students’ folders the work from the pink bin, and move the next day’s work from green to pink.
• This system has worked well for me for several months now.  Taking the time to plan things out and prep is definfitely paying off.  What tips do you have for planning for counseling sessions?