The Catalyst

Welcoming Schools

The website "Welcoming Schools" offers professional development tools and lessons designed for use in elementary schools. Topics covered are: Embracing Family Diversity, Creating LGBTQ-Inclusive Schools, Preventing Bias-Based Bullying, and Supporting Transgender and Gender Expansive Students. The resources found here are great and will give educators materials to help create learning environments in which all students are welcomed and respected.

Visit http://www.welcomingschools.org/ to view the full article online.

 

Complex Trauma

As school counsellors, we are often faced with students presenting with depression, separation anxiety, Oppositional Defiance Disorder (ODD), Conduct Disorder (CD), Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD), Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD), Learning Disabilities (LD), Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), or Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD). Carolynn Turner of Lavender Counselling talks about how all these disorders may actually be masking a complex trauma. The potential misdiagnosis of behavioural manifestations of a complex trauma potentially means that specialized treatments may not be meeting the underlying needs of the client. Carolynn outlines a variety of ways to support students that is trauma informed, no matter the diagnosis.

Visit http://www.nxtbook.com/naylor/BCOT/BCOT0116/index.php#/10 to view the full article online.

 

Bipolar Babes

There are numerous stigmas in society, particularly mental illness stigma, that contribute to our perceptions and attitudes of ourselves and others. The new Vancouver-based Stigma-Free Zone Superheroes classroom presentations program delivered by the Bipolar Society of British Columbia (BDSBC) encourages students to become stigma-free by claiming their classroom and eventually their school as a Stigma-Free Zone. The Program is inspired by the Society's Bipolar Babes Classroom Presentations Program that has been delivered on Vancouver Island with more than five years of tremendous success at www.bipolarbabes.com.

Visit http://www.stigmafreezone.com/ to view the full article online.

 

Goals and Objectives

The BC School Counsellors Association executive is elected by the members to work for the association. As an executive team, goals and objectives are created that guide actions of the executive. These are presented at the annual general meeting, but you can find them again here. A strong association is built through the actions of everybody, so when the executive seeks input from the members, please add your voice.

Visit http://www.naylornetwork.com/bco-nwl/pdf/BCSCA_2016_Goals.pdf to view the full article online.

 

In Their Words

What do young people really want the adults in their lives to know about their gender identification? The students outlined in this article give meaning to the gendered language commonly used in society and specifically in BC classrooms. While habits may take a while to change, the first step is becoming aware of how language, especially when used casually and thoughtlessly, can affect people. Moving beyond language, there are many other challenges to being a student with a gender/sexual orientation difference in the school system. As teachers and counsellors consider these challenges, the evolution of change will have begun.

Visit http://issuu.com/teachernewsmag/docs/2015_nov_dec_teacher_issuu/17?e=0/31427020 to view the full article online.