A Day in the Life of a
School Counselor:

The Month of November 

Grateful and Gratitude are the words of the month during the month of November. Let the warm fuzzy friend "Grateful" teach your students this word and how to use it in real life situations.

 This month I am teaching the school counselor character word “Gratitude” in my school counselor guidance lessons to Kindergarten thru 5th Grade . I have created a story based on two warm fuzzies. One’s name is “Grateful” and the other one is “Thankless”.

These warm fuzzy friends both have basically the same life, but view the world differently. You can read my story as I have posted it on the website under “Counselor Guidance Lessons”. Please refer to the link below to get the school counselor guidance lesson story.

For the month of November I am getting ready for the Thanksgiving holiday. Many of our families are in need of support over the holidays. I enlist the help of several churches in our area that offer free turkeys and canned food for the holiday.

I make sure to send a notice home to all the children who receive our “Backpack Weekend Snack Program.” I will also be sending something home with these students for holiday help for Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanza, etc.

We use Fill-A-Stocking in our county and Toys for Tots. I also include all of our foster care students on this list. The Department of Family and Children’s Services gives our foster care children gifts, but I want to make sure they have something special from our school as well.

One of the ways we celebrate “Gratitude” in November is by honoring “Veteran’s Day”. I ask the students to write a card and say “Thank You” to the brave men and women who have fought, or have worked in the military.

I believe it is important to say thank you to these folks and also to teach children to appreciate what our military does for us. Our elementary school also has a special lunch we offer our veteran parents or grandparents in November.

I am also in full swing with my school counseling groups. The “Positive Behavior Group” is the most popular. I am seeing some of the same students I saw last year. This makes a great opening line when we try to break the denial of poor behavior. It is somewhat of a wake up call for students in the group.

I use the “Rethink It ©” program for the second part of my school counselor behavior group. This seems to be helping students take responsibility for some of their behavior. I created this program based on the play therapy and visual imagery training I received as a therapist. For more information on this free program see the link below on “Rethink It ©” Positive Behavior Program.

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School Counselor Guidance Lesson Story on Gratitude: The Story of "Grateful" and "Thankless" | Warm Fuzzy Friends

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A Year in the life of a School Counselor for the Month of October

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A Year in the Life of a School Counselor: The Month of December

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Disclaimer: This website and its content is intended for trained licensed mental health professionals and school certified mental health professionals to use for their clients / students at their own discretion.

*If you ignore the disclaimer above are using these techniques on yourself and you feel any discomfort or upset it is highly suggested that you seek out a licensed  mental health professional immediately.

"Beyond Art Therapy" is the concept from Dr. Stangline that combines all creative fields in therapy. It is not the traditional "art therapy" but goes beyond to include sand tray therapy, play therapy, mindfulness, meditation, color therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, and a vast majority of other therapies.

For any other type of mental health emergency call your local 911 / Police Number immediately.

Dr. Stangline does not offer advice / suggestions to anyone who is not a professional mental health provider, or a student who is studying this field and has questions about mental health programs of study.