Looking for resources to help reduce burnout and support collective care for yourself, your colleagues, and/or your clients? Check out Vikki Reynolds' resources including her "Solidarity, Collective Care & Sustainability: Responding to Gender-Based Violence" workbook (linked below) and her "Zone of Fabulousness" resources on her website https://vikkireynolds.ca/writings/workshop-exercises/.

Have you seen our latest issue of BC Counsellor, which focuses on using the arts in counselling? As a July 2022 article in the Smithsonian magazine summarized, "Research has found that making art can activate reward pathways in the brain, reduce stress, lower anxiety levels and improve mood. Various studies have also looked at its benefits among specific populations: It’s been linked with reduced post-traumatic stress disorder and depression among Syrian refugee children and lower levels of anxiety, PTSD and dissociation among children who were victims of sexual abuse, for example. Art therapy can help reduce pain and improve patients’ sense of control over their lives" (Kuta, 2022, full article linked below).

Do you use any arts-focused approaches in your work? Drop us a line to tell us how (bcsca.editor@gmail.com) and you could be featured in an upcoming issue!

Ready, set, go to the BC School Counsellors Association annual conference! The conference will once again be fully virtual and is being held Friday, October 21, 2022. 

If you are not already registered, you still have time to sign up. This year's keynote is Dr. Michael Ungar, who has been researching resilience in youth for decades. Learn more about his work by visiting his website at https://www.michaelungar.com/.

BCSCA membership pays!

As a BCSCA member, you have access to discount codes for workshops from a variety of pro-d providers including Jack Hirose & Associates, the Crisis & Trauma Resource Institute, and Mental Health Foundations. Check your email or the BCSCA members only Facebook page for codes to access these discounts. More information coming soon on the new BCSCA website.

Do you enjoy writing and have an idea or perspective you might be willing to share with colleagues around BC and beyond? Is there a technique you rely on that could help others in their work as mental health professionals? Consider writing an article for BC Counsellor! We are always looking for ideas and contributors, including Youth Voice authors (i.e. students who are open to sharing their experiences with or perspectives on mental health); these authors are also typically round and recommended by school counsellors. Please email publications chair, Shirley Giroux (bcsca.editor@gmail.com), or see the attached author guidelines for more information.