Counseling Groups

As the Kg1 and Kg2 counselor I will be offering guidance groups throughout the year. These groups are completely optional. You do not have to include your child in one. If you are interested in having your child participate in a guidance group, please print out and sign the permission slip. These groups are completely optional. If you do not see a need for your child to be involved in a group at the time being, please keep the form on hand until such a need arises. If you do not wish your child to be involved in a counseling group at all this year, please e-mail me. Groups typically run for eight weeks and last 20 minutes per session. They will be scheduled for two of the ten rotation days. These groups are run during the school day at a time that the teacher feels will incur minimal disruption to your child’s school day and academic schedule. I look forward to including your child in a group.

Click here for Permission Slip

I will be offering counseling groups on the following topics:

Anger management - Throughout the course of the anger management group students will learn that it is ok to be angry but that it is important to learn to calm down when you are angry in order to avoid making poor choices or losing control and hurting yourself or others. We discuss what anger is and what it feels like. We then share what makes us angry. then students move on to learning strategies to manage their anger as well as some conflict resolution activities to use with others.
Anger management group session outline

Grief - The grief management group will allow students an opportunity to share their sadness with others. They will learn about the process of grieving and all the emotions that come with it, such as fear, worry and anger. Students will also be given the opportunity to share stories and memories of the person they are grieving for as well as create a memory book that they can take home with them.
Grief management group session outline

Divorce - In the divorce support group students will be given the opportunity to share their stories. We will discuss the changes that come with divorce as well as the feelings that are part of this big life change. Part of the group will be used to reassure students that the divorce is not their fault. Finally - if applicable- we will discuss stepparents.
Divorce support group outline

Friendship skills - Students participating in the friendship group will practice and discuss strategies to help them make new friends. We also spend some time discussing how a true friend should treat us and how we need to behave in order to be a good friend. I always tell them that if they are only going to remember one thing from the group it should be "to have friends you have to be a friend". There is also a focus on building friendships between the group members as well.
Friendship group session outline

Stress management - In the stress management group students will learn to recognize the indicators that they are under stress and will be able to describe the effects of stress on their bodies and mental health. Then they will be asked to document the stressors in their daily life and differentiate between the stresses that they can do something about and the stressors that are out of their control. Students will then practice setting a plan of action for decreasing the stressors that are within their realm of control. The remainder of the group will focus on relaxation strategies to help with the stressors that they cannot control.
Stress managment group session outline



All groups have currently concluded for the current academic year. Look out for permission slips in September if you are interested in enrolling your child in a counseling group.


If you are interested in enrolling your child in one of the groups please print out the permission slip, fill it out and send it in to your child's class in a sealed envelope.