Three Dog Night made famous the song and phrase, “One is the Loneliness Number.” I won’t be using that as my mantra. Instead, I believe more in “The Power of One.”
Think of it like this old Breck commercial:
My friend and fellow counselor, Jeff Ream, from the blog The Counseling Geek, started a Tell 1 Campaign to encourage counselors to join their State Associations and ASCA. I can say I already am a member of NYSSCA and ASCA and at a local level I am a member of TACA (or the Tompkins Area Counselor Association.) Membership at our local level has been sparse. Only a few members show up at each meeting.
The meetings are so valuable. Information is shared about new graduation requirements, local programs, and community outreach services. Because, however, so much of the information was targeted to high school counselors (who also make up the largest percentage of membership) another middle school counselor and I decided to form a break off group focusing on K-8 counselors. Our goal is go beyond our current local counseling association borders and invite a few more nearby schools. Since many of us are the sole counselors in our building, having a support group is important–sharing resources, look at case studies, discuss trends and even the students we often share.
Here is the brochure we have put together to mail out to local schools and invite them to our new TACA K-8 PLC.