Chapter 13 and article

Chapter 13 covers a wide range of topics that are important for us to know and understand as school counselors.  While the chapter did not go into much depth with the different parts of the chapter, I still feel it was important to touch on the different aspects of mental health and what we are going to be facing as school counselors.  As Nate said in his blog, I was also amazed at the number that was given of one in five children show symptoms of a mental health disorder (Dollarhide and Saginak, 2012).  While I knew that the numbers were rising in recent years it is still a little alarming to see that statistic in print and realize how many kids and adolescents are affected by some type of a mental health disorder.  It was also helpful to read about the school counselors role in working with these students with a mental health disorder and how we can be of use in the situation.

This chapter was reminiscent of a lot of the research that I had done for my research paper and project presentation.  Dollarhide and Saginak (2012) present 4 questions for us to consider in being prepared in crisis situations and I think that having the answers to these questions already in place before a crisis happens is key (p. 233).  Throughout my research for my paper the most important thing that I found was to have some sort of a plan in place for when a situation arises.  As school counselors we become the leaders in crisis situations a many of the teachers and other school personnel will be looking at us for what to do in certain situations and with a plan already in place and having everybody knowing the protocol to follow it takes away some of the confusion that generally takes place.

The presentations from last week were all well presented and I feel like I was able to take away a lot of good information that will be valuable as I become a school counselor. Many of the programs that were presented I either had not heard about or had much interaction with prior to class, but I feel as though I have a good base of understanding now of these different programs. I am especially glad that I have a better understanding of the Olweus program because it seems like it is a very applicable program to have in a school.

Dollarhide, C. T. & Saginak, K. A. (2012). Comprehensive school counseling programs: K-12 delivery systems in action (2^nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.