Welcome back to another episode of School Counseling Simplified. Today I am interviewing Colleen, a school counselor and IMPACT member, who shares her journey from nursing school to school counseling and her passion for teaching students the coping skills she did not learn growing up.

Colleen Mosley is a School Counselor in Long Island, New York. This is her fourth year at her current school. Previously, she worked as a School Counselor for four years in Northern Virginia. Before becoming a counselor, she served on the Leadership Team at a private school in Northern Virginia. Colleen is deeply passionate about equipping students with lifelong coping skills and believes that work is at the heart of why she became a School Counselor.

What does Colleen love about school counseling

Colleen shares that she loves being the person she did not have growing up. She finds it incredibly fulfilling to teach children skills they can use throughout their lifetime.

What does Colleen love about individual sessions

Because she sees all students weekly for classroom lessons, she is able to build strong rapport and positive relationships early on. When students come to her counseling room for individual support, there is already an established foundation of trust.

How does she manage the logistics of individual sessions

Colleen typically meets with students once a week for six weeks for approximately 20 minutes. She administers a pre-assessment during the first session and a post-assessment during the final session to measure growth and progress.

A day in the life Colleen works with students in grades K through 8 on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. She is available on Mondays primarily for crisis response.

She teaches Social Emotional Learning lessons in 40 minute blocks for each classroom and schedules individual sessions as needed.

When she is not teaching or counseling, she supervises lunch and recess or plans future lessons and school events.

Advice for new school counselors Find a mentor you trust. Prioritize self-care. Join a cohort or a community such as IMPACT so you have support and resources readily available to make your job feel more manageable.

As Colleen says, overdose on self-care so you can do your job most effectively!

Do not forget, today and tomorrow I am hosting a free live training on how to enhance your individual counseling sessions and begin collecting meaningful data so you can feel confident and valued in your role. You will walk away with practical engagement strategies and simple data tracking tools you can start using right away.

Resources Mentioned:

• Individual Counseling LIVE Training

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More About School Counseling Simplified:

School Counseling Simplified is a podcast offering easy to implement strategies for busy school counselors. The host, Rachel Davis from Bright Futures Counseling, shares tips and tricks she has learned from her years of experience as a school counselor both in the US and at an international school in Costa Rica.

You can listen to School Counseling Simplified on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and more!