As school counselors, we know the importance of taking a moment to recognize, celebrate, and advocate for our profession. National School Counseling Week is just around the corner, running from February 6-10th 2023 this year, so now is the time to start planning those celebratory activities.
Whether it's spreading awareness in your community or hosting some fun events for students and staff at your school - there are plenty of ways that you can celebrate NSCW. Keep reading to learn more about creative ways to celebrate National School Counseling Week and advocate for your role and our profession by spreading awareness through your local school!
However, I want to note that if you're feeling overwhelmed and burned out, as many educators are this year, please don't feel any pressure to put on a big show! You have permission to do nothing to celebrate NSCW and please do not feel guilty about it. Please know there have been years where I've done a lot and there have been years when I've done very little and even nothing at all.
NSCW is such a special opportunity for us to honor school counselors - the dedicated professionals who inspire students everywhere. The American School Counselor Association has a lot of resources for NSCW. They have photo challenges for every day, a press release, certificates of appreciation, morning announcements, and a proclamation.
I usually have my students create something for NSCW and then I make a bulletin board to display their work. I also typically get some treats that I share with my staff and thank them for supporting my program.
Sometimes I have put some “Did You Know?” flyers with facts about school counseling along with the treats.
Some years I've even put together flyers that have stats on my school counseling program. For example, I might have stats and details about:
The programs we’ve brought to the school that year (Calm Corners, Mindfulness, etc.)
The number of jackets we’ve given out
Information about the biofeedback program we've piloted
The number of social-emotional lessons we've run in classrooms
The number of bags of food we’ve distributed
The number of small groups implemented and topics of groups
Events we’ve hosted, etc.
In 2022, the NSCW theme was “we are better together” so I made some posters, worksheets, and bookmarks to help celebrate with your students. And in 2023 the theme is “helping students dream big.” So I’ve created some new worksheets for my students to do, as well as this bulletin board to display their work.
I'm sharing all of these with you for free at my subscriber resource library! If you're not on my email list yet to gain access, just scroll to the top of this page or click here to sign up. This will sign you up on my email list and give you access to my free resource library that includes this free NSCW bulletin board, worksheets, posters, bookmarks, and more to celebrate National School Counseling Week. And if you're already a Whole Child Counseling email list subscriber, just go here!
Besides putting together a bulletin board that celebrates what your students have learned from their school counselor, here are some other ways to celebrate National School Counseling Week:
Reach out to thank a school counselor for all that they do!
Share your favorite memory or moment from working with your own school counselor
Tweet or post about why school counselors are important using the hashtag before the term: nationalschoolcounselingweek
Host or participate in a twitter chat about the importance of school counselors
I'd love to update this blog post and include how you celebrate NSCW. Please reach out and include your photos too so we can share them on the blog and inspire others! Please contact me here to share your stories and photos.
