How Can Guidance Counselors Stay Up On New Counseling Techniques
Guidance counselors, also known as school counselors are part of structuring a student's educational, social and personal development. Regardless of the levels they practice in, it is always the same goal and job description but with different approaches. They are licensed in their respective states and have undergone education and training in psychology, communication and social studies. Although a Bachelor's degree is the required level for this job, a Master's Degree is sometimes pre-requisite in some states.
Continuing Education
How can guidance counselors stay on new counseling techniques? Renewal of License in many states obliges a guidance counselor to attend continuing education. Some may need to complete certain hours in attending programs to further their knowledge. This serves as an assurance that counselors are up to date in new approaches to the students' changing needs. This also brings counselors together so they can share their experiences and techniques to one another.
ASCA
The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) is an organization of professionals from different levels of education. They have approximately 28, 000 members of school counseling professionals. They focus on imparting professional development to counselors in order to enhance their school counseling programs and practices. They also present timely and significant information and techniques to its members.
ASCA's periodicals are a way for guidance counselors to gain new techniques from other counselors. They help in imparting the best practices in the field through other counselors' researches and experiences. It also creates a sense of common vision of honing the youth into potential leaders.
Publications
Members have access to ASCA's award winning journal that is published 5 times in a year. The journal's articles help counselors be up to date with the latest innovations and theories in the field. It also has researches and techniques to further develop their expertise. It can be accessed online or requested for hard copy.
ASCA School Counselor magazine is published twice a month. It consists of articles addressing daily challenges for guidance counselors.
Online Professional Development
As we move forward to the future, technology is being utilized as a communication and research tool. ASCA conducts webinars and podcasts for its members' convenience and to broaden their comprehension on new strategies.
Webinars are online live presentations that can be seen on your computers. It is convenient and interactive. After the live webinar, it is archived for future access.
ASCAway is the official podcast of ASCA. It publishes interviews, issues and trends that can be listened to on their website. One example discusses bullying by speaker Jodee Blanco.
Conferences
ASCA also conducts an annual conference. The 2012 Annual Conference will be held in Minneapolis Convention Center on June 23 - 26, 2012. This will also be a celebration of the organization's Diamond Anniversary.
Aside from their Annual Conference, ASCA also have schedules for State Conferences for counselors who are unable to travel and allot schedule for the Annual Conference.
ASCA brings specialized training to districts as well. They have an array of different workshops available for reasonable prices. Some training programs include Technology Boot Camp, and Dealing with High-Risk Students and Families.
The ASCA National Model is an ideal program that is specific to individual school's needs. The school will identify their specific counseling needs and goals then ASCA will give a customized option for training.
The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) is a great way to broaden a counselor's skills. If you are wondering, how can guidance counselors stay up on new counseling techniques? Be a member of ASCA and be a part of an organization with a common goal and vision. It will open windows of added skills, techniques and information.