School counselors play a unique and vital role in the education system, and their work has significant impact on the students they work with. From elementary school all the way through college, school counselors can positively influence students and help them get the most benefit from their social and educational experiences.
The collected wisdom of current school counselors can be an incredible resource for the next wave. Many of the sites acknowledged here are relevant only to school counselors working with a particular age group, but there is something here for everyone. These sites are in no way being ranked, they are simply our favorites, and we wholeheartedly believe that anyone hoping to become a school counselor can gain valuable insight from every blog, organization and resource listed here.
Blogs
Blogs written by current school counselors can be simultaneously informative and incredibly entertaining. Not all of these blogs are by currently practicing school counselors, but all have excellent information on the topic.
Marissa Rex is a school counselor from Ohio and the founder of ESC.org. Her site is a great resource for anyone looking for tools and support to run effective school counseling programs.
Vanessa is an educator with 22 years of experience in schools and a Master of Education Degree in Counseling. Her blog includes motivational and inspirational tools for counselors, as well as tips for counselors looking to pass the National Board certification exams.
Scott Ertl has been a school counselor at the elementary level since 1997. His blog focuses on his years of experience, classroom resources, student guidance, and other tools.
The Middle School counselor is a straightforward blog about a middle school counseling office. The focus is on sharing techniques that help kids with a variety of personal, academic, and social issues.
Allison is a school counselor for grades K-6 in New Jersey. Her blog is dedicated to sharing ideas, information, and inspiration with parents and fellow counselors.
Andrea Burston is a forward thinking elementary school counselor. On her blog, she shares best practices, as well as technology tips for counselors, parents and students.
Kate is a 2nd grade teacher, working towards obtaining her license in school counseling. Her blog focuses on counseling, collaborating, technology, and connecting with other bloggers.
Jeff Ream, writer and founder of TheCounselingGeek.com works with counselors as a consultant and helps with professional development services. As a practicing professional school counselor and tech geek, Jeff will work to find tools and services that fit the counseling program and use innovative and effective technology to connect with students.
The purpose of this blog is to connect with other school counselors in order to provide support and collaboration. Regular posts include new ideas for classroom use, as well as ideas discovered from other resources online.
SCOPE is a free site that highlights the way school counseling professionals are using free technology tools. They welcome entries from anyone in the school counseling community including practicing and retired school counselors and directors or supervisors of school counseling services.
GoodTherapy.org is an organization with a particularly lofty mission of encouraging therapists to work collaboratively and non-pathologically. They are committed to ethical therapy and counseling.
It’s My Life deals with life and the stuff that tweens deal with every day. It attempts to get the idea across that “whatever problem you’re dealing with, believe it or not, other kids and teens have gone through the same thing.” At It’s My Life, tweens can read informative articles, share stories, play games and activities, take quizzes and polls, watch video clips of other kids talking about their feelings and experiences, get advice from older kids and experts, and contribute their own comments and questions. It’s My Life also features interviews with celebrities about things they had to go through when they were kids.
Teens Against Bullying is a great resource for counselors looking to engage students in anti-bullying movements. The movement encourages kids to share their stories and act in positive ways, and the site offers plenty of resources for parents, teachers, and counselors.
Wendy Young is a social worker who counsels kids on a variety of issues, including grief, anger, and self-esteem. Her site includes many tools for parents and teachers, including downloads, printable activities, and DVDs.
This site is dedicated to high school counselors advising students on college. Articles and resources include guidance on how to write recommendation letters and offer help in the area of financial aid.
Kayla Marston is an Elementary School Counselor in Maine. Her site is a place to share her experiences as a counselor, as well as helpful resources, ideas, and thoughts about school counseling.
This site is for teachers and counselors to find resources, ideas and programs for high school counseling programs. Resources include local therapy groups as well as annual conventions and conferences.
This is a great resource for any school counselors looking to connect with other people in the field. There are also numerous articles, actives, and other ideas for counselors.
Storybird lets anyone make visual stories in seconds. They curate artwork from illustrators and animators around the world and inspire writers of any age to turn those images into fresh stories.
Carli is a counselor living and working in Pennsylvania as an elementary school counselor. The mission of this site is to share resources that focus on keeping kids safe and happy in schools.
This blog was born out of a desire to share elementary school counseling tips, ideas, and enthusiasm. With 16 years of school counseling experience, there are plenty of tried and true ideas that engage students and help them to be successful in school and in life.
This page addresses the importance of school counselors. It talks in detail about their part in students’ lives, including addressing students’ academic concerns, career awareness in post-secondary options and helping with personal and social issues.
This is a great interview with an active middle school counselor. It offers insight into the role that school counselors play and why they are an important resource to students.
This site has a wealth of free downloads, links, and expert commentary on bullying, parenting, conflict resolution, and character education. This serves as a great source for teachers, parents, school counselors, and youth group leaders.
This blog is a great tool for counselors looking to connect with other school counselors. There are many links to other school counseling blogs and their resources.
This blog is a resource for parents, professionals who work with children, and policy makers. The writer works to show how contemporary research in child development can be applied to support parents in their efforts to facilitate their children’s healthy emotional development.
This blog shares tips and tricks from real school counselors that tackle things like classroom motivation and teaching self-care. There are also many links to other school counselor blogs and resources.
This site shares the effective strategies and student stories of a new student counselor. Stephanie blogs about the tools she uses in her own career, as well as where she finds and downloads her resources.
This site has several free guidance counseling lesson plans for anyone teaching K-5. There are large groups, small groups, and individual lesson plans available.
This school counseling site is an inviting space for all school counselors looking for connection to other counselors, as well as successful and useful methods and ways of reaching students. They offer parent and student resources and presentations and PowerPoints for counselors.
This site serves as a place where school counselors share innovative ideas, creative lessons and quality resources. Sharing ideas and asking questions is an important part of being a successful counselor.
School Counseling by Heart is a blog that works to support and encourage the work of school counselors everywhere. Here, counselors can find techniques, lessons, materials, insights, experiences, humor, and shared struggles.
The counselor running this blog works on three school campuses, with over 60 teachers and 1500 students. From that experience, this blog works to share ideas and strategies that promote social, emotional, and behavioral development.
This school counseling blog is a place where counselors can go for inspiration and collaboration. There are many links to resources, classroom guides, small group lessons, and more.
Cheryl Lassey is a School Adjustment Counselor in an upper elementary school of over 600 children in suburban Massachusetts. The focus of this blog is to give other school counselors tips and ideas to utilize in their everyday counseling lives.
Paula Sidler has been a school counselor for the past ten years at a comprehensive high school and also the parent of six children. She constantly works to make high school the positive foundation for adult life for her students. She is currently in charge of counseling the class of 2014.
Traci R. Brown is currently preparing to be a School Counselor by pursuing her Master of Science degree in Educational Counseling and a Pupil Personnel Services (P.P.S.) credential. Her goals are to advocate for students, promote a caring school climate, challenge stereotypes, celebrate diversity, and further my contributions to education through social justice, community intervention, and scholarship. She is committed to the student population with extensive experience in empowering students at the primary and the secondary level.
Barbara is a counselor and character coach in Friendswood, Texas at a National School of Character. She shares positive, comprehensive, and creative ways to connect with and challenge students.
Roxanne has been working as an elementary school counselor since she obtained her Master’s Degree in Education in 2005. Bibliotherapy has always been a passion of hers and over the years she has witnessed the healing power of books in children’s’ lives. She has made it her mission to find contemporary books that help address the many issues children currently have to deal with. She hand picks all of her books and will only post books she actually uses and feels truly make a difference in a child’s life.
Since 2003, Kate’s Club has created healing communities that allow grieving children and their families to have fun, express their emotions, remember their loved ones, develop healthy coping skills, and know that they are not alone.
This is a great site for counselors looking for a lot of information on students and social issues, as well as continued education for counselors. There are also many links to fellow counselors’ blogs and resources.
Stylish School Counselor was created by a counselor named Melanie. It is an overall really fun blog and a place for her to share counseling resources and ideas.
Written by a woman named Amanda, School Counseling from A-Z is all about sharing and learning with others all about the school counseling world. Amanda feels passionate about creating an open environment for kids to talk about life, and helping them to work through everyday hardships, as well as celebrating their accomplishments.
This blog aims to connect with school counselors, counseling graduate students, play therapists and counselor educators to share information and important resources.
The School Counselor ideas blog shares all kinds of news from the counseling field. They have mentoring advice, links to relevant education and social articles, and school counseling conference news.
Jonathon Allen is a Licensed School Counselor for K-12 in Indiana. He graduated from Indiana State University in 2012 and is currently an Elementary School Counselor for two Elementary Schools: the Falcons and the Wildcats.
This is a comprehensive site for counselors offering thoughts, ideas, and resources on issues pertaining to school counseling. Counselors can find videos, books, links to school and social issues, as well as professional development and presentation information.
Franciene Sabens, M.S. Ed., LPC, NCC is a Litigation Paralegal turned School Counselor. She is passionate about helping today’s youth reach their full potential and become well-adjusted members and contributors to society. She lives for her students and fight for their success each day.
This site offers practical advice for developing and running a school counseling program. The advice and tips include ideas on professional development, student engagement, and staying inspired.
Lauren Manion is the school counselor at Crossroads Elementary. Her main priority as the school counselor is assisting students in reaching their fullest potential. To help students with their personal growth, she strives to provide Crossroads students opportunities to participate in individual and group counseling, as well as classroom character education lessons.
This blog follows the discoveries of a first year school counselor. Here, she documents the success of resources used and the challenges of counseling.
This blog is run by two elementary school counselors. Together they share resources for parents, classroom resources, and techniques for dealing with social issues like bullying and anxiety.
Tracy has been working as a leader and coach in the counseling world since 1997. She specializes in creating professional development opportunities for school counselors, academic and career planning, revising counselor job specifications, accountability and evaluation instruments and incorporating instructional strategies into classroom guidance lessons.
Emily Hansen is an elementary school counselor in New Melle, Missouri. The name “Hanselor” came from a student who combined her last name, Hansen, with counselor. The Hanselor name was born and has stuck. She writes about celebrating student and shares her favorite counseling resources.
Lori Hartman is a lifetime educator and a possibility advocate. She earned a Master of Arts in Counseling Education Counseling Psychology from Western Michigan University and is an L.P.C.
This blog offers school counselors 20 years of experience and research from Laurie Mendoza, who has been a counseling professional for two decades. She shares her favorite counseling activities and links with others in the field.
Creative School Counseling is a website created for counselors and other mental health/school professionals. This website features many lesson plans, preferred counseling books, recent articles and publications.
During the 2011-2012 school year, Callie Maas completed her internship at Greenwood Elementary in the Washington Local School district, where she was able to work with students through individual, group, and classroom guidance lessons. Now she is a school counselor at Highland High School, where she is able to help all students with issues that may be affecting their academics, career, and personal/social interactions.
Books, online questionnaires and classroom activity toolkits can all become a part of a school counselor’s repertoire, depending on the setting in which they choose to work. These are some interesting, fun, unique or just downright useful ones.
Smilebox is a tool that creates cards, invitations, collages, slideshows, and more. It’s a great way to create graduation initiations or collages from student events.
We Give Books is a new digital initiative that enables anyone with access to the Internet to put books in the hands of children who don’t have them, simply by reading online. There are many resources for educators including online books, reading guides, and more.
Dr. Paula Kluth is a consultant, author, advocate, and independent scholar who works with teachers and families to provide inclusive opportunities for students with disabilities. Her blog is dedicated to sharing her work, which includes collaborating with schools to create environments, lessons, and experiences that are accessible and inclusive.
Free Spirit is the leading publisher of learning tools that support young people’s social-emotional health and their educational needs. They offer tips and tools for educators, counselors, and parents and keep educators up to date with current news and trends.
This site is full of educational toys, all inspired by museums. There are technology, math, science, animal, and history toys, all which can be used by parents and teachers in fun, educational activities.
FableVision Learning is an educational publishing company. FableVision’s mission is to help educators inspire their students to develop and strengthen their essential creative skills and knowledge.
izzit.org is dedicated to teaching the next generation about the ideas, institutions, and benefits of a free society. At the same time, they seek to foster the critical thinking skills necessary for young people to become independent-minded, fully engaged citizens.
This site offers lesson plans, games, and other resources for teachers and counselors to use with children in grades K-5. Some resources cover social skills, coping with change, and more.
Paperbacks for Educator specializes in bibliotherapy, counseling books, and therapeutic games. They offer deep discounts on bulk orders and free shipping on many orders.
Smyface is a great visual tool for school counselors looking to connect with students. This simple internet tool helps students easily discuss and display their feelings and situations behind them.
School counselors can find technology issues, resources, and activities, and explore free and almost free resources on this site. They can also explore lesson plans and training tools and development ideas for their counseling programs.
YouthLight Inc. develops and provides useful educational materials to help counselors, other educators, mental health professionals, and parents. Their professional, effective books, CDs, and DVDs connect with students K-12.
Childswork/Childsplay is a brand that provides products for the teaching and counseling of special needs and emotionally troubled kids and teens. For over 25 years their children’s learning toys, therapeutic activities for kids, and tools for social skills training (individual and/or in groups) have been used by special education professionals, parents, counselors, and therapists worldwide. Their full product line includes games, books, and multimedia tools.
School Counselor Resources, a division of Social Studies School Service, was created to demonstrate the company’s commitment to providing the most comprehensive selection of resources for school counselors.
Local, national, and international organizations have been formed to provide school counselors with a professional community and a platform of support for continued improvement of individual counselors’ skills, and of the field as a whole.
The American School Counselor Association supports school counselors’ efforts to help students focus on academic, personal/social and career development. ASCA provides professional development, publications and other resources, research and advocacy to more than 33,000 professional school counselors around the globe.
The We Do Listen Foundation website offers free entertaining and educational counseling tools for 4-8 year olds. Included are animated books, songs, lessons, posters and games. The subjects are trust, anger, fear, listening, bullying, resolving conflict, divorce and more. Free Skype video author visits can be scheduled for PK-3 classrooms and schools.
The West Virginia Department of Education website offers both academic and career development resources for teachers and counselors. There are downloadable activities, workshops, lesson plans, and more.
This innovative site offers school social work, counseling, and special education products, resources, free downloads, and inspiration. Their resources are designed to really connect with students, and there are sections for seasons, classroom management, organization, special needs, and more.
The Illinois School Counselor Association supports school counselors’ efforts to promote academic, personal/social, emotional and career development in all students and provides professional development. They have over 750 members across Illinois.
Cheryl Lassey is a School Adjustment Counselor in an upper elementary school of over 600 children in suburban Massachusetts. The focus of this blog is to give other school counselors tips and ideas to utilize in their everyday counseling lives.
The American Counseling Association is a not-for-profit, professional and educational organization that is dedicated to the growth and enhancement of the counseling profession. Founded in 1952, ACA is the world’s largest association exclusively representing professional counselors in various practice settings.
USCA believes that guidance and counseling must be an integral part of every student’s educational experience. Their goals include provide professional counselor development, leadership, and support.
A Division of the American School Counseling Association, The California Association of School Counselors, Inc. is a professional organization, which provides leadership and advocacy for the profession of school counseling in California.
So many incredible resources are available freely online for school counselors who will take the time to look. Any of these gems is a great place to start.
Tom McIntyre, a former teacher of students with behavior disorders and learning disabilities, is now a Professor of Special Education and Coordinator of the Graduate Program in Behavior Disorders at Hunter College of the City University of New York. An entertaining presenter, and author of 3 books and over 100 articles, he promotes practical, positive, and respectful management of defiant and aggressive behavior.
The mission of this organization is to help students succeed in school, in work, and become productive in life. They use a comprehensive approach to help students in their personal and academic lives.
The mission of PresenceLearning is to make all kinds of online therapy practical, affordable and convenient for schools, school districts, and families with special needs children. Their solutions include engaging games and evidence-based activities and a growing network of top-notch speech language therapists and occupational therapists.
Applerouth is a student tutoring group with offices in Atlanta, DC, New York, Chicago, and Seattle. They are known for taking an innovative approach to education and working alongside students to increase their SAT scores.
Intervention Central is a great destination for schools looking for high-quality, free resources for assessment and academic and behavioral intervention. Educators and counselors can find a number of great tools and ideas here.
Imaginative Minds specializes in products that raise standards of teaching and learning using critical and creative thinking. They publish many books and resources, including e-bulletins such as Leadership Briefing, e-Learning Update and Every Child Update.
Suzanne Luse founded Suzanne Luse and Associates to guide students to successful college experiences. A Certified Educational Consultant, Sue has counseled students for more than 20 years on college planning and admissions issues.
The Northview Counseling Department works in conjunction with stakeholders to reach out to all students. Through implementation of a comprehensive counseling program that encompasses all aspects of college and career readiness, they make sure students will become productive members of society who accept responsibility for their actions. In this they strive to create a safe, personalized, and supportive environment that fosters tolerance and respect for each student who enters their school community.
Working as a school counselor in the Korea International School, this counselor uses her site to promote applications and resources that are helpful in counseling. On the site, there are group, individual, and classroom counseling resources, all organized for educators.
Metcalf Counseling offers a number of workshops for school counselors and teachers. Some of the solutions the workshops strive towards include innovative ideas in dealing with bullying, classroom management, communicating with parents and more.
Until Sept. of 2009, Brenna Hicks, MA, LMHC was a Private Practice Children’s Therapist in Tampa Bay, Florida. A.K.A. “The Kid Counselor™”, Brenna ran a VERY successful Private Practice, specializing in children only! Brenna loved what she did, and made a huge difference in families all over the Tampa area. Then in Sept., 2009, Brenna gave birth to her son, and closed her Practice to be a stay-at-home Mom. Always wanting to make an impact in the lives of parents and their children, Brenna still continues to post informative articles about parenting on her blog.
Darlington School is a coeducational day and boarding school established in 1905. With their blogs, Darlington, does more than prepare its students for college. It prepares them for life by emphasizing the pursuit of individual excellence in a diverse learning environment. Their students are the center of all that they do. Students are challenged to learn with passion, act with integrity, and serve with respect.
Life on the Fly follows the nine-year journey of Angela Poovey, a school counselor in North Carolina. She shares her classroom and group techniques, as well as presentations and collaborations with other counselors.
The mission at Middle School Counseling Blog and as Kamehameha Schools Counselors is to support the vision and mission of the Kamehameha Schools and to provide a comprehensive counseling program which addresses the personal/social, academic, and career needs of all students.
