January 2023
Table of Contents
A Message from the WSCA Executive Director
Dear WSCA Members,
Last year WSCA offered a kindness challenge, and we were in awe of how counselors were present for their students every day while facing tremendous personal challenges. We are putting a spin on the kindness challenge by starting the new year with a self-care and boundary-setting challenge! We at WSCA wish you all a gentle and intentional start to the new year and hope this challenge can help bring some fun to what is a cold and stressful time of year.
The challenge is simple: use our prompts each week and share a photo using #WSCASelfCare23 on any of the platforms WSCA is active on (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn) to be entered into a chance to win a weekly prize.
Prizes will be picked weekly from posts shared using #WSCASelfCare23, so be sure to participate in all five weeks of challenges! Winners will receive a $50 Amazon gift card and a small self-care goodie. If you’d like to participate but don’t partake in social media, feel free to email your photos to admin@wscaweb.org.
- Week 1: Drink in the New Year!
- Week 2: Walking in a Winter Wonderland!
- Week 3: Settle Down for a Long Winter’s Nap!
- Week 4: Let it Show! Let it Show! Let it Show!
- Week 5: Read to Recharge!
We at WSCA wish you all a gentle and intentional start to the new year and hope this challenge can help bring some fun to what is a cold and stressful time of year. Full details can be found by visiting https://www.wscaweb.org/self-care-challenge-giveaway/
A Message from the WSCA Board of Directors
Hello WSCA members!
As we head into the second half of the school year, I hope everyone was able to take some time over the winter break to rejuvenate and spend time with family. I don’t know about all of you, but I’m looking forward to National School Counseling Week, which is coming up on February 6-10th. NSCW is a nice way to break up the long winter months by celebrating our profession! This is also a great opportunity for us to directly impact our WSCA ENDS, “Key Stakeholders (including but not limited to) school administrators, policymakers, and community members will understand the impact made by the school counselor implementing a comprehensive school counseling program.” Use NSCW to share information with stakeholders regarding the role of a school counselor and the amazing work that we do for all students – and don’t forget to connect with each other! This year’s theme is “School Counselors: Helping Students Dream Big.” Remember: both WSCA and ASCA have resources and materials available online for you to use throughout the week. We are looking forward to this opportunity for the Board to network and get member voice through NSCW activities.
On Friday, February 10, 2023, from 7:30 – 11:00 am, please join WSCA and your counselor colleagues for a morning of connection, collaboration, and celebration at our 3rd Annual National School Counseling Week Breakfast! No matter where you are in the state, we have an opportunity for you to join in this celebratory event. Choose to attend in person at one of seven regional events or join virtually. (Exact locations are subject to change as details are finalized.) The full schedule for the day can be found online at: https://www.wscaweb.org/conference-events/nscw-breakfast-2023/.
This event will include a WSCA-led presentation on “The Role of a School Counselor,” the announcement of our Scholarship & WSCPAR Awards, a Keynote presentation on Equity in School Counseling, socializing & networking time, and of course, DOOR PRIZES!
Regional Locations:
- Menomonie – UW-Stout
- Ashland – Northwood Technical College
- Stevens Point – UW-Stevens Point
- Sheboygan – UW-Green Bay Sheboygan Campus
- Racine – Gateway Technical College
- Platteville – UW-Platteville
- Waunakee – WSCA Office Building
- Virtual
I hope to see some of your NSCW activities through social media!
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WSCAweb/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/wscacounselor
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wscasocial/
Take care!
~Erika Spear, WSCA Board Member
2022-2023 Professional Recognition Highlight
Dr. Caroline Baker, University of Wisconsin – River Falls
WSCA 2023 Mary Gehrke-McAllister Leadership Award
Larry Palm, Capital High, Madison Metropolitan School District
2023 Secretarial Staff Award
Feature Article – Responding to Cyberbullying: Strategies for School Counselors
Responding to Cyberbullying: Strategies for School Counselors
Justin W. Patchin, Ph.D.
University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire; Cyberbullying Research Center
Technology has created many opportunities for students to be hurtful to each other in a variety of ways and has made interpersonal peer conflict even more challenging for schools to deal with. This is complicated by the reality that youth are often hesitant to confide in adults when they face problems with peers. In addition, the ever-changing apps, platforms, or technology involved may overwhelm even the most well-meaning of adults. However, cyberbullying is less a technological issue than a relationship issue, and school counselors have a lot to offer to help, even if they don’t know much about the latest app.
The safety and well-being of students should always be the foremost priority. How can you help students feel supported, heard, and encouraged? It is essential to convey support because they likely are in a very vulnerable state. Demonstrate through words and actions that you both desire the same end result: stopping the cyberbullying and ensuring it does not happen again. This can be accomplished by working together to arrive at a mutually agreed-upon course of action. It is important not to be dismissive of their perspective but to validate their voice and perspective; this actually can help in the healing and recovery process. Targets of cyberbullying must know with certainty that the adults whom they confide in will intervene rationally and logically and not make the situation worse. Reassure them that you are on their side and will partner with them to make things better.
Collect as much information as you can about what happened and who was involved. In many cases, the student will know (or at least think they know) who is doing the bullying, even if it is in an anonymous environment or involving an unfamiliar screen name. Often the mistreatment is connected to something going on at school. If so, your school’s bullying policy will be utilized. Be sure to follow the procedures outlined. If you haven’t recently reviewed your school’s bullying policy, now might be a good time to take a look at it to ensure you understand your role and responsibilities.
Empower students to address cyberbullying by giving them tools to respond in the moment. Make sure they know how to report bullying and how to block users on the apps they are using. Encourage them to document what is happening by saving text messages or making screenshots. Remind them not to retaliate, as tempting as it might be, because the other student(s) involved might similarly report them for bullying. Here are two additional resources to help in working with students: Website: cyberbullying.org; Book: Bullying Beyond the Schoolyard: Preventing and Responding to Cyberbullying (3rd edition out in summer 2023). Students are reluctant to talk to adults about their experiences online, especially ones that are negative. The best thing a school counselor can do is create the kind of relationship with students where they feel comfortable coming forward. Remember, most of the time, students who are cyberbullied just want the bullying to stop. Sometimes that might require formal discipline, but not always. Think creatively about what needs to happen in this particular situation, involving these particular students, to get the behavior to stop. If you are able to accomplish this, then students will run to you with their problems, for better and worse.
You Spoke, We Listened
Resources to Help Students with Online Safety and Suicide Prevention
Research shows that LGBTQ+ students continue to report higher rates of bullying, depressive symptoms, suicidal ideation, AODA use, and engaging in risky sexual behaviors. It is important that schools provide universal resources to students to help mitigate the risk, especially for some of our most marginalized youth. Below are free resources to help students with online safety and suicide prevention.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC)
NetSmartz is NCMEC’s online safety education program. It provides age-appropriate videos and activities to help teach children how to be safer online with the goal of helping children to become more aware of potential online risks and empowering them to help prevent victimization by making safer choices on- and offline.
https://www.missingkids.org/netsmartz
WI Department of Public Instruction
New suicide prevention modules are available from DPI’s Student Services, Prevention and Wellness Team. Additional modules are being developed to provide comprehensive training and resources to our educators on suicide prevention.
School-based Suicide Prevention: Overview and Connections – Module 1 of 3 – for all school staff to accompany the Gatekeeper Training module.
Suicide Prevention Curriculum in Health Education: Overview – Module 1 of 3 – For health educators and pupil services professionals collaborating on suicide prevention curriculum implementation.
Cyberbullying Resources Available at No Charge to all Wisconsin Schools
Cyberbullying can be difficult to detect and manage, but it’s important for children, teens, and adults to become empowered to know and understand the actions they should take as both victims and as bystanders. Those who have been cyberbullied — as well as those who cyberbully others — are more likely to struggle academically, emotionally, psychologically, and behaviorally. To help combat cyberbullying while creating awareness, Children’s Wisconsin offers two engaging Cyberbullying online mini-courses, available free to all Wisconsin schools, and an exciting cyberbullying awareness campaign opportunity.
Act Now! Cyberbullying 6th-8th Grade and Act Now! Cyberbullying 9th-12th Grade are designed to help students and adults understand the harmful effects of cyberbullying and learn what they can do to effectively deal with it and even prevent it. The new format mini-courses teach children, teens, and adults what cyberbullying is, what impact it has on all involved, important steps to take if they are being cyberbullied, and what they can do to stop it as a bystander. In the high school course, students will also learn what social media companies are doing to prevent and stop it, as well as some positive ways social media can be used. Both courses include pre- and post-tests, a fun online game that reinforces content, and a comprehensive teacher’s guide.
High school counselors: New cyberbullying awareness campaign available!
Implement a cyberbullying awareness campaign, and receive a $325 award for your school. Children’s Wisconsin, in partnership with State Farm, is offering an opportunity for Wisconsin high schools to participate in a powerful and informative cyberbullying campaign this school year, in conjunction with the online Cyberbullying mini-course for Grades 9-12. Children’s will provide a free kit filled with ideas and materials to high schools interested in implementing the campaign. Schools or student groups/organizations that successfully complete the campaign requirement by April 28, 2023, will receive a $325 award. Schools determine their own plan on how best to implement the campaign with student groups/organizations or school staff taking the lead. There are a total of 15 kits available on a first-come, first-served basis. Learn more and sign up today.
Children’s Wisconsin also offers valuable counselor and educator resources and a wide range of other health education e-learning courses available at no charge to all Wisconsin K-12 schools. In addition to cyberbullying, topics include: Bullying Prevention, Mental and Emotional Health, Alcohol, Tobacco & Other Drugs Prevention, Analyzing Influences, Nutrition, and Physical Activity, and Safety and Injury Prevention/Pedestrian Safety. For more information, visit HealthyKidsLearnMore.com.
Considerations When Navigating the World of Technology
As a society, we are still researching and learning about the long-term effects and impacts technology and social media have on our students. An initial research paper is being released in Science Direct on “Social media as an incubator of personality and behavioral psychopathology: Symptom and disorder authenticity or psychosomatic social contagion?” that calls for more research on the impact on mental health and social media.
UNC-Chapel Hill hosts the Winston National Center on Technology Use, Brain, and Psychological Development (Teens & Tech), which was developed to create and disseminate knowledge regarding the use of technology on the developing mind and brain. Teens & Tech studies both positive and deleterious uses of technology (including, but not limited to, smartphones/tablets, social media, gaming devices, and smart speakers) on neural, social, behavioral, and psychological outcomes. Their work primarily focuses on childhood and adolescence, emphasizing individual differences. Technology does not impact all youth in the same way, and their goal is to identify which child might thrive and which might be at risk in the face of digital technology. Teens & Tech created a free 5 lesson curriculum for students to learn adolescents’ brain development affects their technology use and well-being.
Common Sense Media also has a free digital citizenship curriculum available for schools as well as resources to help parents navigate monitoring their child’s technology and social media use.
Our students need to learn how to navigate the world of technology as they grow and mature into adulthood, especially as their schooling and post-secondary pathways require the use of it more and more.
Legislative Updates
Save the Date for WSCA’s Spring Afternoon on the Hill
WSCA’s Afternoon on the Hill continues to be a cornerstone of our association’s year.
Come learn how to effectively advocate for the profession you love and put it to practice under the virtual dome! Registration will open soon.
Find all the details on our Government Relations Webpage.
ASCA Position Statement Public Comment
The ASCA Position Statement Committee is revising eight position statements in 2023. Members are asked to review the current versions and provide feedback on any changes and updates they think are necessary. Review the statements and provide comments by January 19, 2023.
- The School Counselor and Academic Development
- The School Counselor and Career Development
- The School Counselor and Identification, Prevention and Intervention of Behaviors That Are Harmful and Place Students at Risk
- The School Counselor and Retention, Social Promotion and Age-Appropriate Placement
- The School Counselor and School Counseling Programs
- The School Counselor and Social/Emotional Development
- The School Counselor and Student Safety and the Use of Technology
- The School Counselor and Virtual School Counseling
Public comments can be submitted at this link: https://www.schoolcounselor.org/Standards-Positions/Position-Statements/Position-Statement-Public-Comment
2022-2023 Professional Development
Counselor Connections
Conference Information & Updates
Members Corner
