“The Resourceful Counselor: Creating Collaborations and Maximizing Impact”

Professional Development Institutes
10 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.

I. Anxiety and OCD in Children and Adolescents: Early Recognition and Effective Intervention
Anxiety disorders are the most common mental health problem in children and adolescents, affecting one in eight school-aged children. Many anxious children experience serious problems at school. With the right treatment, 90% of these youngsters can successfully overcome anxiety.

The presenter will discuss the unique challenges that school personnel encounter in identifying and managing anxiety in the classroom. Using examples, she will discuss manifestations of anxiety at different ages, and the differences between anxiety and other conditions such as ADHD and Tourette Syndrome. She will discuss effective treatments, management strategies, and specific interventions that are feasible within the school setting for excessive worry, perfectionism, school refusal, separation anxiety, social anxiety, panic, post-traumatic stress, obsessions and compulsions.

Presenter : Aureen Pinto Wagner, Clinical Associate Professor of Neurology, University of Rochester Medical Center; Director, The OCD and Anxiety Consultancy  

II. Collaborating in the Prevention and Intervention of Eating Disorders
An experienced K-12 school counselor will collaborate with a leading professional in the field of eating disorders to discuss ways to help parents and all educational staff promote healthy body image, eating and fitness while preventing the development of obesity and eating disorders. They will discuss some of the challenges a school counselor faces in supporting students with eating disorders and will dialog on how best to assist students/families with accessing the continuum of available care. The presentation will address the latest research on at-risk characteristics and incidence in children as well as explain what research on brain chemistry, genetics, co-morbidity and gender/familiar/cultural and personality-temperament factors, have indicated for treatment. Some dramatic student journal entries will be shared to encourage understanding and exploration of what can be done through classroom guidance and support activities, as well as through teaching critical thinking and media literacy skills in terms of addressing size discrimination and eating issues.

Presenters:Barb Findlay, Counselor, Penfield Central School District
Mary Tantillo , Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, University of Rochester Medical Center: Eating Disorders Treatment Service at the Unity Health System

III. Building School Counselor Skills for Working with Families
Using a collaborative model, the presenters will describe an actual experience of working with a marriage and family therapist to enhance counselors’ understanding of family dynamics. Strategies from marriage and family therapy serve to uncomplicate school counselors’ work with families. A systems thinking approach encouraged middle school counselors to work with families which enhanced student behavior and performance. Systems thinking also increased school counselors’ awareness of and effectiveness in their position in the larger school community.

Clips from videotapes of this collaboration will illustrate the formation of a trusting and collegial environment, which enables counselors to better utilize their creative and problem solving skills. Other resources for this work will be shared, that participants can adapt to their own settings.

Presenters: Kelly Hunt, Counselor, Gates Chili Central School District
Jeanne Lally, Counselor, Gates Chili Central School District
Lucinda Wilcox, Staff Counselor and Approved Clinical Supervisor (AAMFT), the Pastoral Counseling and Family Therapy Group.