LeLycia Henderson Exemplar #3: Ecosystemic Case Study Project CSP 622A: Ecosystemic Assessment & Intervention Fall

2012 Standards 18, 25 & 26

According to the Journal of Education, school counselors have the pivotal role of working with students from a holistic approach (White & Mullis, 2014). As school counselors, it is our responsibility to assist students with achievement within the school setting, at home, and in the community. During the Fall 2012 semester, I maintained weekly individual counseling sessions with a case referral student. During these sessions, I assisted the student with academic and social-emotional development through various interventions aimed at meeting his needs. Some of the interventions I implemented include individual and group counseling, in class behavior reinforcement tools, and behavior goal charts. Through teacher and parent interviews as well as record reviews and observations, I gained a holistic view of my case study student and developed interventions that I theorized would further his academic and social development. Throughout my time at my practicum site, I continued to monitor the students progress and adjust interventions as necessary. Lastly, I developed a comprehensive PowerPoint presentation that summarized my experience developing rapport with the student and gaining more knowledge of the student holistically. I chose to highlight this assignment because it exemplifies my foundational knowledge of individual and group counseling as well as my understanding of professionalism and ethics within the school counseling profession. Having the ability to effectively work with students individually with academic and social-emotional challenges is imperative within the school counseling field. As a future school counselor, these skills will contribute to my effectiveness within the profession. Standard 18: Professionalism, Ethics & Legal Mandates

LeLycia Henderson Throughout the individual counseling sessions I held with my case study student, I made sure to follow appropriate ethical and legal guidelines as a mandated reporter. For example, I introduced the student to the concept of confidentiality and checked for student understanding of the agreement at the start of each counseling session. I kept brief description documentation of each counseling session I held with the student. I maintained professionalism with teachers, parents and my supervisor while conducting interviews regarding the case study student. For example, I collaborated with the students teacher when developing interventions and always maintained open communication about any adjustments that needed to be made within the implementation process. Standard 25: Individual Counseling Throughout my counseling interactions with the case study student, I was aware of school counseling theories that have been developed throughout history and used counseling strategies that I found most appropriate. For example, during a situation where the student was expressed frustration with doing homework, I used Solution-Focused techniques to help him determine what homework schedule works best for him. During this session I used techniques such as scaling, miracle questions, and exception questions. This counseling strategy seemed to guide the student toward focusing on what has worked in the past and using it in the future. Through my interactions and gathering of information about the student, I developed interventions to assist with challenges that student was facing. For example, my case study student had an issue with always getting out of his seat and talking out of turn. Therefore, I implemented the intervention of taping a small Whole Body Listening poster on his desk as a reminder.

LeLycia Henderson Standard 26: Group Counseling After collaborating with my practicum supervisor and the students teacher, it was determined that the student could benefit from participating in group counseling. Since screening for group counseling was already occurring within the school site, implementation ran smoothly. While co-facilitating group, I learned a great deal about the intricacies of the group screening process. For example, I participated in collecting data to determine what students would most benefit from group counseling. During my co-facilitation within group sessions, I acquired knowledge of handling challenging group dynamics in an appropriate manner. For instance, during one of the sessions, my case study student started becoming disruptive while another group member was explaining the elements of a poster she drew for group. At that time, I quietly made eye contact with my case study student and pointed to the full body listening poster to remind him of the group rules. This technique worked well in quieting him while avoiding further disruption.

Conclusion Through my completion of this assignment, I have gained foundational knowledge and skills of individual counseling strategies. In addition, I have become more aware of how to effectively implement interventions for students facing academic and behavioral obstacles. During my career as a school counselor, I will continue to develop my skills in this area and stay updated on innovative counseling strategies. Furthermore, having weekly counseling sessions with my case study student gave me hands on experience with following ethical and legal counseling guidelines. I was also able to exercise these same principles while co-facilitating group counseling sessions throughout this process.

LeLycia Henderson

If given the opportunity to carry out this project again, I would organize my group curriculum a lot more in advanced. This would alleviate the pressure I felt when developing activities each week. Also, I would complete observations of my case study student within the playground setting so that I could gain more knowledge of his behavioral patterns within different settings.