Play Therapy for Schools

Counselor Games is Play Therapy for Schools

Learn how to use everyday games to teach kids anger control, stress management, study skills, making friends, decision making and more.  Learn how to integrate the counseling strategies into the games.  Use everyday familiar games such as Don't Break the Ice, Topple, Jumpin' Monkeys, playing cards, Jenga, and pick-up sticks and more.  Add the strategies.  It is hands-on, visual and auditory!  It is engaging, creative and FUN!  

Get your at home professional development

At Counselor Games

The demonstrations in the DVDs show you how.  Easy  and clear demonstrations for you to view by game.  

Your students will love the games.  They will interact and engage with the lesson.  They will be able to think through and apply the lesson ideas and return to your next session eager and ready for more! Content and lesson development comes naturally.  

On sale now-ASCA Special

The Fear Trick

10 Reasons Kids Keep Abuse a Secret

      Summer is here and many of us are relaxing and getting refreshed before we go back into the trenches.  During some of our time off we seek professional development so we are armed and equipped for new challenges we will face. (because we love what we do and desire to do well)  We want to share the work of Ginger Kadlec who works tirelessly to inform educators and parents about sexual abuse.  Please take a few minutes to review why some children never tell trusted adults about the sexual abuse they are experiencing.    Consider showing this video to your faculty and staff and also use it during one of your parent informational nights. 

       As counselors and educators, we meet with students who keep many secrets and often we are the first person they trust enough to tell their secret and what is happening to them.  Sometimes they realize for the first time exactly what is happening to them and they look for the trusted adult.
But the sad truth is that some children never tell anyone what is going on and this video presentation by Ginger Kadlec explains why kids chose to keep their secret:

      Sadly, nearly 3/4 of all children who are sexually abused keep their abuse a secret for at least a year. Another 45% don’t tell anyone about their abuse for 5 years; still others never tell.
So, why do so many children keep abuse a secret? Here are 10 reasons children don’t disclose abuse.

Raising awareness of the world-wide epidemic of child abuse has become Ginger’s life mission. An impassioned child advocate, trainer, speaker and child forensic interviewer, Ginger regularly blogs about child protection issues and has produced printable references for parents and other caring adults including “10 Scary Apps”. Click here for your free copy of this informative 12-page report. Along with her husband John and pets Lexi and Chase, Ginger enjoys traveling, skiing, hiking, brisk mornings, colorful sunsets and just hangin’ at home with “the Pack”.


Find out more about Ginger and her work here: http://www.gingerkadlec.com

Teen Resistance to Group Engagement

Teen Group Engagement

http://www.addictionpro.com/article/tackle-teens-resistance-group-engagement

Tackle teens' resistance to group engagement

 

June 4, 2015 by Amanda Gregory

Share on facebook Share on linkedin Share on twitter Share on google More Sharing Services | Reprints

Teenagers are one of the toughest crowds in therapy. I have led adolescent therapy groups for years, and have grown accustomed to hearing phrases such as, “I don’t need to be here,” “This is stupid,” and “Let’s get this over with.”
Few teens attend therapy voluntarily, as most are required to attend by parents/guardians, school/juvenile officials, and state agencies. Some teens believe they are being forced to attend therapy. One of my teen clients, whom I will call “Cliff,” arrived to his first group with headphones in his ears and a smartphone glued to his hand. He said, “They can force me to come, but they can’t force me to participate.” He was right.

Most of your teenage clients do not wish to contribute. Yet clients who are engaged are more likely to benefit from group therapy. It is your challenge to establish and maintain engagement among your clients. You cannot force them to participate, but you can entice them. I promote engagement by utilizing creative interventions specifically designed to cater to the needs of teenagers.

Playing games
Boredom is the nemesis of teenagers. They are easily bored and have difficulty managing boredom. Therefore, you should avoid using interventions that breed boredom. Worksheets, workbooks, lengthy discussions and videos, when used alone, lead to napping and daydreaming. Teens want to have fun, and your groups can accommodate them.
I lead a weekly substance use educational group for teens. The purpose of this group is to educate teens about the negative impacts of substance use. My agency provided me with a stack of papers with all the information I needed. Some clinicians may have given the teens a few papers per group and led them in a discussion about the material. I would not have stayed awake long enough to lead this group. So I took the information and created quiz games.
The teens worked in groups to answer questions regarding the legal, health and psychological impacts of substance use. Each game covered one substance, such as marijuana or alcohol, and each group consisted of one game. I discovered that these teens loved the competition. They didn’t need prizes or rewards, as they simply wanted to win. Even Cliff, the teen who would not be forced to participate, began yelling out answers (“False, it’s gotta be false!”) Cliff was participating. I realized that not only were my clients having fun, but they were also absorbing the information.
Not all of the games need to be created by you. Some games can be bought and used to meet your needs. “I mix counseling strategies with everyday, familiar games,” says Grace Wilhelm, creator of Counselor Games. “For example, use pick-up sticks to teach relationships, and use Don't Break the Ice to teach stress management.” The teens in your groups who are having fun are more likely to be engaged. You may also find yourself becoming more engaged as you play these games.

continue reading

124 Ideas For Kids This Summer

Like Counselor Games on Facebook

124 Things to Do This Summer

·         Go to the beach/lake

·         Create a pet show

·         Wear clown make-up

·         Go to a movie

·         Go hiking

·         Take swim lessons

·         Go on a picnic

·         Weave a potholder

·         Swim

·         Hula hoop

·         Badminton

·         Plant a garden

·         Wii

·         Make a card and mail it

·         Water balloon fight

·         Build a fort

·         Play twister

·         Create a neighborhood newsletter

·         Learn to play canasta

·         Show an outdoor movie

·         Take swim lessons

·         Take diving lessons

·         Make soap

·         Make a necklace

·         Crochet

·         Build a tent city in your back yard

·         Have a pool party

·         Visit the library

·         Paint by numbers kit

·         Plan a canoe trip

·         Design/make a pillow

·         Puzzle (1000 pieces or more)

·         Create a variation of a Frisbee game

·         Frisbee soccer, Frisbee golf, Frisbee tennis

·         Play bocce

·         Plan a camping trip

·         Scavenger hunt

·         Practice algebra

·         Go boating

·         Bike trail

·         Adopt a pet

·         Make tacos

·         Talk to your grandparents about their grandparents

·         Write a book

·         Publish your book on amazon

·         Interview a war veteran

·         Clean out your closet

·         Make a salt and flour map of your state

·         Make a salt and flour map of the USA

·         Plan a road trip

·         Visit the zoo

·         Join a community walk or race for charity/event

Bake a cake

·         Play limbo

·         Plan a BBQ

·         Go to a ball game

·         Create a tournament

·         Play monopoly

·         Start a blog

·         Visit a nursing home

·         Write a song

·         Jump rope

·         Have a fashion show

·         Visit the thrift store, purchase items and have a fashion show with your new outfits

·         Take music lessons

·         Visit a museum

·         Bike parade

·         Make funnel cakes

Counselor Games is Play Therapy

·         Read Gone With the Wind

·         Watch “Gone With the Wind” in one day

·         Build a Time Capsule

·         Decorate cupcakes

·         Make a smoothie

·         Create a chalk mural on the sidewalk or driveway

·         Build a birdhouse

 Play with clay

·         Make s’mores

·         Make milk shakes

·         Color

·         Have a yard sale

·         Create a bouquet of flowers

·         Paint a bouquet of flowers

·         Plan a neighborhood carnival

·         Make a basket

·         Play war with cards until someone wins

·         Masquerade party

·         Design a t-shirt

·         Make a bird feeder

·         Produce a neighborhood play/theater

·         Start a kickball tournament

·         Make crepe paper flowers

·         Have a tea party

·         Go to the flea market

·         Attend a vacation/church/synagogue school

·         Read a novel

·         Research your genealogy

·         Decorate sock puppets and make a show

·         CPR class

·         First aid class

Write a book

·         Create a board game

·         Slumber party

·         Bake cookies from scratch

·         Make jello with half the water, cut it into shapes, eat it

·         Create frosting flowers and decorate a cake

·         Get a make-over

·         Make ice cream

·         Plant a tree

·         Make popcorn balls

·         Make play dough

·         Take an on-line class

·         Visit a farm

·         Do outside work for an elderly neighbor

·         Play crochet

·         Write a letter and mail it

·         Run a mile

·         Count calories for a week

·         Make homemade pizza

·         Bake bread

·         Play chess

·         Make a wreath and hang it

·         Build a campfire and tell stories and sing songs around it

·         Pick berries and make jelly

·         Learn another language

·         Make a photo album

·         Create a family yearbook

Grace Wilhelm, MA

Grace Wilhelm is a National Board Certified Counselor with over sixteen years  experience.  She enthusiastically presents to counselors, teachers, youth workers, and parents on anger, stress, crises intervention, communication, data, counseling programs, play sessions, and more. 

Join the Counselor Tribe. 

Like Counselor Games on Facebook

Purchase the DVD demonstrations of play therapy techniques to teach students of all ages anger control, stress management, study and organizational skills,  decision making, making friends, and more.  Use everyday, familiar games to teach students counseling strategies.  On sale now at counselorgames.com

Awesome Steps for Stuck People in 3 Minutes

When you are stuck... Here is some AWESOME advice and you get it all in less than 3 minutes!


Get a Grip!  Get a Life! and Get Going!
watch the video here


Check out Dr. Mike Thompson
http://www.drmikethomson.com/

How to Help Kids Identify Angry Behavior

It is important to teach students that their behavior is noticed when they get angry.   When the external world and their internal world meet, or collide, will they be able to to manage their anger or will their anger manage them?  Use this article to help students:   How We Behave When We Get Angry       When the external world and the internal world of our feelings interact, the result is our behavior.  How we behave when we get angry determines whether the anger will fade or whether it will get worse.  There are two negative responses to anger.  The first negative response is withdrawal or avoidance.  The second negative response is hostility or aggression.       The first negative response is withdrawal or avoidance.  This is when a person does not actively deal with conflict and “goes away mad.”  The problem is not solved and the person may continue to think about it, get angry, and then eventually become depressed. Depression and the inability to deal with one’s problems results in low sense of personal worth, a sensitivity to unpleasant events, high self-criticism and a dealing of helplessness.  These are called the passive behaviors.       The second negative response to anger is hostility and aggression.  When we react too quickly and too intensely to feeling of anger, we become antagonistic.  This leads to more hostility which leads to more aggression.  Aggressive acts are often acts of impulse or desperation.  They may also be an attempt to overpower the other person.  These acts are called aggressive behaviors.      Did you know that there are also positive responses to anger?  When you manage your anger, you can make some good things happen because of the anger.  This is called anger management. Anger management is the utilization of assertive skills.  It is the result of self-awareness, self-confidence, and good communication skills.   First of all, you must learn to understand your own feelings.  This takes some thinking and self-instruction.  Feelings are linked to situations.  One way to understand what feelings are linked to certain situations is to keep a diary of things that happen to you and the feeling you have at that time.  Feelings are also linked to thoughts.  When you keep your journal or diary try to link the feelings you have to the thoughts you have.  Learn to view and think of the anger-producing incidents in an objective manner.  Try not to think of what is going on, or why, with a lot of opinions.  You must try to be objective.      You may find that sometimes your anger is unnecessary.  Unnecessary anger is often due to fatigue, pressure, conflict, and insecurity.             Second, you must try to understand the feelings of others.  Learn to understand things from the other person’s perspective to keep anger from becoming too intense.  Try to put yourself in the other person’s shoes.  Look at the situation from a different point of view.         Third, you must constantly instruct yourself to get composed and help deal with the situation.  This is self-instruction.  Learn to know what your body is telling you.     When you are tense because of a situation, you might get a headache or feel your muscles tighten.  You might feel your heart pound real hard or fast in your chest.  You may get sweaty hands or just sweat all over.  Your forehead may wrinkle and your eyebrows may become cross looking.  Some people start to breathe faster or heavier.  When these things happen, your body is releasing adrenalin.  These are signals of agitation and tension.  Your anger starts to build and so does the level of hostility you feel.  However, the anger will lessen as you start to solve the conflict.           Anger management also involves several ways you can learn to control yourself and take control of the situation before the situation takes control of you.  One way is to learn to relax.  Use relaxation techniques.  Anger is linked with tension.  You cannot be angry and relaxed at the same time.                    Another way to manage anger is to use humor.  Don’t take things to personally when they happen.  You can learn to see humor in things.             Anger is also managed by keeping it at a moderate level.  Use the arousal to be assertive rather than aggressive.  Communicate your angry feelings instead of acting on them.  When you feel anger, just say so and let the other person know what has made you angry.  If a person is doing something that stirs up the angry feelings in you, let him know how you are feeling with the right tone of voice and attitude.  Learn to communicate your anger in an appropriate way.  For example, it never will help in a situation if you scream or yell out your commands and demands.  You will only arouse anger in the other person you are dealing with.  You must learn to communicate your angry feelings in an effective and non-hostile way.           Communicating effectively is the most important skill in managing anger.  Good communication helps control the build-up of anger.  It prevents an aggressive over-reaction.  It also provides the opportunity to change the situation that has caused the anger.  An effective way to communicate is to use a power statement.   (see activity on power statements) Anger and Me is a workbook for students.  It includes articles about identifying anger and situations students and/or their friends may be a part of.  It is great for individual use or small groups.  It is reproducible, so make as many copies as you need.  It can be found on Amazon. Grace Wilhelm is a National Board Certified Counselor with over sixteen years  experience.  She enthusiastically presents to counselors, teachers, youth workers, and parents on anger, stress, crises intervention, communication, data, counseling programs, play sessions, and more. Find out more about Play Therapy for Schools at Counselor Games. Grace will be presenting at the ASCA Conference in Phoenix June 29 and 30.  The session title on Monday is: Play Therapy and Stress Management for Students.  Tuesday she will be contributing in the Data presentation.  Her part will be Parent Involvement.   Like Counselor Games on Facebook Subscribe to the Counselor Tribe.