What is Depression ?

Dr. Gary Kohls has an interesting perspective.  Perhaps depression is simply sadness.  It may be deep and prolonged or it may be passing.  If so, why are we medicating people who are sad?  What good does it do?  Is it harmful more than helpful?  Here is another interesting perspective.  What do some psychiatrists say when asked ?  It is worth pointing out, respectfully, that counsellors are not psychiatrists and normally do not rely on drugs or labels when working with people.  I don't endorse everthing said by the various psychiatrists I've highlighted on this Blog but their views are worthy of consideration when deciding the best course of action to take with any mental health concern.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Is it real?

Dr. Thomaz Szasz is a pioneer in the field of psychiatry.  He is also one of its foremost critics.
In this revealing  talk he questions why anyone would put a child on mind altering medication for ADHD.

A Good Day.

One of my 15 year old students arrived back at school today, cancer free, after months of surgery and chemotherapy at Children's Hospital.  Her long black hair is all gone, replaced by a soft pink toque ... her radiant smile is still there though, perhaps even more radiant than before. (Picture by permission.)

 

Silence is Golden

Schools often fail 1/3 of the population.  I found this TED talk about introverts to be highly eye opening.

Are Letter Grades Hurting or Helping ?

I found this article provocative.

Affirmation

Recently, two things happened that warmed my heart.  The first involved a 13 year old student who has spent the last four years richocheting from one foster home to another.  She still has her radiant smile and would not stand out from the crowds of students bustling through our hallways.  She is, in fact, different; she is a warrior.  Her mother asked me to speak to her after sharing the story of their family struggles and pain.  I did call her daughter in for a brief chat after her mother left.  She listened politely (as we sat there in our Halloween costumes) as I told her about her mother's request.  At first, she declined saying that she had learned not to trust counsellors, that they had betrayed her in the past.  Then, she paused as she considered me.  "I'll trust you" she said.  We agreed to meet again to begin the mutual adventure that is counselling.  Trust, particularly when given as a gift by a wounded child is something to be cherished and respected.  It involves a great responsibility to make the most of the opportunity; to get it right. 

On another occasion, at the end of a hectic and stressful day, I noticed a brightly coloured envelope in my mailbox outside my office door.  My name had been carefully hand lettered and neatly coloured on the front.  Inside, I found a full page of neatly printed text that expressed the heartfelt appreciation of one of our senior students.  She had come to see me last school year during a particularly difficult time in her life.  We had spent time together in my counselling office working through her feelings, options and perspectives.  We discussed the direction her life seemed to be heading.  We talked about choices people make.  We talked about changing direction.  I gave her as much encouragement as I could.  We did not see each other again.  I had wondered how she was doing but she did not return for counselling.  I did not hear from her at all, until I found her letter to me outside my office door.
It contains phrases like " genuine person", "heart of gold", "made all my problems vanish", "how much you care for kids", "Adults like you are ones I look up to.", "well deserved thank-you".  Receiving a letter like this reminds me of why I am a counsellor.  It reminds me, and affirms the fact that, we counsellors often have a tremendous impact on the hearts and lives of our students.  We don't often see or hear about the depth of meaning our work has for our clients but through this letter, I was given a glimpse.

Grief

Nothing brings our school community together more quickly than the death of one of our own.  Recently, we were informed a recently graduated and well loved student had passed away suddenly.  The immediate outpouring of grief from staff and students alike was a reminder of the value of each individual and the strength of the bond that our learning community has forged together.  In the end, education is much more than an academic exercise within "bricks and mortar" schools.   It is still an intensely personal human journey.  Will something important be lost if we exchange our one to one, face to face community with virtual communities of online learners ? 

Making Your Group More Effective Through Dissent.

I found this article interesting and potentially helpful for anyone working within a group.

Start-Up. After the Siege.

The last week of August and the first two weeks of September are very intense times for high school counsellors.  We are bombarded with current students' requests for timetable changes and changes of plans due to summer school and online courses that were (unexpectedly) completed.  There are usually 30 or 40 new students to fit into appropriate timetables (in an already full school).  Many of the new students do not speak English fluently and have just arrived in Canada.   In a multi-cultural school like ours, all this intense activity requires highly developed diplomacy and first rate communication skills to make things flow smoothly.  Of course, everything is emotionally heightened by the fact we are dealing with adolescents who are on edge and under a great deal of pressure themselves.  Parents, naturally, become emotionally involved whenever their child is not able to get the courses he or she needs (or wishes for).  The front office is a beehive of activity and teamwork as new students are processed and current students' phone calls and requests are dealt with.  All in all, it is a very intense, exciting and physically/mentally demanding three weeks.   The important themes during this time include: teamwork, compassion, firmness, fairness, speed, efficiency and perseverance.

 After three weeks of intense effort by the counselling department, administration, the office staff and the ELL staff, 1500 students are happily attending their classes.  Teachers can now begin handing out textbooks instead of watching the constant flow in and out of their classes as schedules are changed and changed again.  Parents can begin to relax.  Today is Friday.  It is the end of three intense weeks of effort by counsellors..  It is 3:20 p.m.  Most of the students have left the school.  The sun is shining outside my window.  The sky is bright blue.  We can look forward to a relaxing and well deserved rest over the weekend.  On Monday, counsellors will begin to focus on all the other tasks we are involved with over the course of a school year.   For counsellors, the siege is over !

Gratitude

We had an incident in the Counselling Department the other day.  A older gentleman was seen walking through the area without first going through the usual check in procedure at the front office.  In our security conscious school system, this is a cause for concern.  Our Department Head quickly made contact with the gentleman and as far as I knew the person had left the school.  Wrong.  On my way through the office later on, he appeared before me, seemingly anxious to talk to me.  I was a little concerned as his English was not fluent and I was not sure why  he would want to speak to me.   It turns out that his son and daughter had both been students of mine in years gone by.  His son had some difficulties with his credits as he had come to our school from the U.S.A.  I had worked with him to clear things up, gather all his credits and put him on a path toward earning a British Columbia Dogwood  high school diploma.  This had led to the son being eventually accepted into a prestigious university in Ontario.  He had also earned several scholarships.  The gentleman's daughter had done equally well.  The purpose of the impromptu visit to our Counselling office by the older gentleman was to express his gratitude to those of us on the counselling staff who had put in the time and effort to help his son and daughter at a time when their academic credentials were in need of clarification.  To us, it was all in a day's work.  To him and his family it meant everything and he simply had to come to see us personally to express his gratitude.  We ended our conversation by shaking hands.  He offered a deep bow to show his  respect as is the custom in Asia.  I offered my own somewhat awkward bow in return and with that we went our separate ways, both feeling a sense of accomplishment and gratitude.

Butterflies ...

No doubt most of our 1500 students are feeling a little nervous as thoughts turn away from summer activities and back to academic requirements and demands.  Counsellors are not immune to this nervous anticipation and are also feeling that familiar feeling in the pit of the stomach as we re-focus on the needs and wishes of our students.  Sometimes the biggest challenge right off the bat is remembering the bewildering array of passwords and computer commands that were so familiar just two months ago.  One more week before returning to work; another year is set to begin   After 29 years it still holds the same mixture of excitement and anticipation.

Last Day

It is always bitter-sweet to finally arrive at the last staff day of the school year ... a time to say goodbye... a time to celebrate another successful year ... tearful goodbyes .... expressions of undying friendship ... the last glimpses of those who are leaving the profession ....and of course, the mostly funny, sometimes awkward, shenanigans that go on at the year end staff meeting ..... are all proof  that many of us in the education profession enjoy an extended adolesence ....  this annual event is reassurance that "community" still exists and is valued .... it brings back memories of life as it was decades ago .... when communities were smaller ... aunts and uncles lived just down the street ... everyone knew everyone else ... and looked out for them.

End of Year Bottle Neck

The end of June is a dance of increasing complexity as the Counselling Department tries to meet the needs and wishes (rational and emotional) of many diverse groups including first and foremost students who are trying to coordinate their courses with highschool grad requirements, university entrance requirements, parents hopes, student hopes  and so forth.  Also included is the ELL department, the LST department, the math department, the English department and administrative needs and wishes.  All these needs and requests need to be coodinated with the "failure" lists, recommendation lists, summer school registration lists, online school registration lists. When dealing with 1500 students (and 3.0 FTE counsellors) this task of timetabling for the upcoming school year becomes in intense process requiring careful coordination and open communication well ahead of the end of June.

On Counsellors and Being Human

Why is it that counsellors sometimes forget to apply the skills and knowledge they encourage in others' lives - into their own?  A counselling department is similar to a family.  Other departments within the school are similar to families in the neighbourhood that we interact with and, with whom, to varying degrees, we are locked in mutual interdependence. Norms around decision making, communication and power sharing need to be clearly established (but often are not) in order for harmony to exist.   One to the most common difficulties that can arise is failing to apply basic concepts from group dynamics research.  We are all familiar with the stages groups go through: forming, norming, storming, performing and adjourning.  What is often overlooked is that whenever  a member leaves or a new member joins the department (especially an influential member), or outside forces impose change .... the group is forced to go through the initial stages of development again ... back to forming and norming and potentially quite dramatic -- storming.  The trick is to recognize that this is normal for all groups - counselling departments are not immune.  Indeed, counsellors more than anyone need to recognize what is happening and facilitate their own group process and take responsibility for a healthy new group to emerge complete with new (or at least tweaked) norms, new decision making methods, new leadership styles, well established communication protocols and so on.  The group's newcomers can assist by recognizing established group norms, while not being imprisoned by them, and working gently toward change, if needed.  Well educated and skillful counsellors can utilize their group dynamics training to facilitate a peaceful transition leading to order, productivity and harmony while allowing  individuals the maximum possible professional autonomy.   Otherwise, counsellors will experience the same intense disruption that a blended family may experience upon the arrival of a new parent.  Counsellors are human too.

Year End Interviews

I've been spending my days having year end meetings with students I have identified as needing additional counselling support this year.  It is amazing how difficult some teens'  lives are and how well they (seem) to cope.

Yearbook Distribution Day

One of the time honoured traditions in any highschool, anywhere, is the annual distribution and signing of yearbooks in June.  Our 1492 students took part in this ritual with maximum energy and enthusiasm  today.
Each request to sign a yearbook ... a confirmation of undying friendship .... and then the intense reflection ... searching for just the right words to convey the importance of  the relationship ... how to summarize so much in a few sentences? .... and then, a moment of inspiration and the golden words are conveyed to the page, returned to the yearbook owner ... and the cycle repeats.... sometimes for hours until all yearbooks are full of glowing words of praise and encouragement ... all to be eagerly read and re-read later on ....

One of the Joys of Counselling

Today, after many months of worry and hard work and while overcoming a language barrier, one of my quieter Asian International students let me know she had been offered admission to the prestigious University of Toronto.  When I offered my congratulations on her becoming a "university" student ... she could not quite contain her shy but definite expression of joy.  I watched her face open up as if the clouds which had been present for months  suddenly parted and for a brief moment her self-conscious but radiant smile filled the room.... and then just as quickly the clouds returned ... it was an honour to share her moment of triumph.

Fix Then Fix Again ...

A great deal of today was spent fixing next year's student timetables .... some for the second time ... it is always a challenge factoring in which students will go to summer school or the online school in July as they say they will and which won't ... all of which impacts on the timetables that need to be fixed in the Aug/Sept startup ... with close to 1500 students all of whom have eight courses and a variety of needs and hopes ... timetabling can end up keeping a highschool counsellor busy for a large part of the day.

Personality Testing

Spent some time discussing the results of a fairly reliable personality/career inventory with a student.  It is always difficult to be 17 years old and feel the pressure to "choose a career".  Things have come a long way since I was in highschool many decades ago but this process remains a real challenge for senior students and those that seek to help them. 

Elementary Counsellor Collaboration

We spent the morning sharing muffins and coffee with our colleagues from our elementary associate schools.  It was a great opportunity to get to know one another better, discuss common concerns and plan ways to support students transitioning from elementary school to highschool. Research shows the transitions are key to either retaining or losing at risk students. 

Japanese Students

Today we had about 30 Japanese highschool students and their teachers drop by for an afternoon.  The students taught our students several games and visited classrooms.  I ended up with a folded paper swan to keep as souvenir.  It is amazing how similar adolescents are even though they are from opposite sides of the planet.  Working in the multi-cultural and international environment here for the past decade has been a pleasant education in human nature.

Big Night

The Grad Commencement ceremony went very well.  We are tired today as we had well over 300 students and it took several hours but it was a great time and a big moment in these students' lives. 

Busy Day

I spent the day helping students get their marks to various universities and colleges.  What an amazingly complex system.  Why can't there be one central place for all universities to deal with marks?   It has been a long year.  Commencement is tonight.  This is a very big and emotional event for students and parents.  I plan to attend to be part of this important moment.  We have a very large graduating class this year and I'm sure it has been exhausting for those organizing it.

Meeting With Elementary Counsellors

I completed the agenda for our upcoming collaboration/articulation meeting today.  I'm looking forward to spending time getting to know our colleagues in our associate schools and getting a good understanding of the grade 7 students who will need counselling next year. 

Trying to Decide

I'm in a bit of a quandry.  What shall be the focus of this blog?  I think I'll simply keep a "stream of consciousness" going with my thoughts on counselling and the day to day activities in the counselling department.  Hopefully, some useful or at least interesting tidbits will emerge .... one thing I've noticed lately is the intense activity surrounding "Grad" activities.....it never gets old...each year a new group of excited adults enters our general population, armed with the knowledge, skills and attitudes they have acquired over the past 17 or 18 years .... I wish our grads all the best as they begin the grand adventure known as life ...

Today is the day I begin to Blog.