Group counseling is an effective way for kids to build social skills while also being part of a counseling relationship. Groups are generally formed by age and area of focus. Placing students into small groups for focused lessons and activities provides more in depth practice on key student success skills.
My kinders, 1st and 2nd graders take part in "friendship clubs." These groups give children a chance to practice social skills such as taking turns, active listening, joining in a group, and making new friends. I also include activities that support feelings exploration, emotion regulation, and flexible thinking.
For 3rd, 4th, and 5th grader groups, I tend to focus on leadership skills and personal empowerment. Through games and crafts we cover topics such as setting personal goals, managing difficult emotions, effective team work, building self-confidence, and being an assertive communicator.
For middle school students, I offer a Success Skills group, a Stress Busters group and a Brain Boosters group. While there is overlap in each type, the Success Skills group is especially targeted for students that need support in executive functioning - planning, organizing, prioritizing, setting goals. The Stress Busters group is ideal for students who are experiencing stress, overwhelm, or anxiety and incorportate mindfulness practices and building distress tolerance. The Brain Boosters group is geared towards relational awareness, self-confidence, and assertiveness skills.
Groups are 30-45 minutes per week over a six to eight week period. I do need a permission slip from parents to include students in a group. At the end of our group, I send home a summary letter explaining the topics that we covered as well as offering additional tools and resources that I think would benefit your child.
Social Thinking/Kindergarten
In Kindergarten, we refer to the counseling groups as “Friendship Clubs.” These groups give children a chance to practice social skills such as taking turns, active listening, joining in a group, and making new friends. I also include activities from the Second Step curriculum that support feelings exploration, emotion regulation, and flexible thinking. Group topics include:
- Thinking thoughts and feeling feelings
- Listening with your Whole Body
- Personal Space Camp
- Body in the group
- The Group Plan
- Being a Social Detective
- Expected vs Unexpected Behaviors
Superflex Part One/1st Grade
With 1st graders, I use the curriculum from Social Thinking. I find students in this age group especially resonate with the Superflex characters. There’s “Rock Brain” who makes people get stuck on one idea; “Mean Jean” that makes people say unfriendly words; “Glass Man” who tends to make a big deal out of really small matters, etc. Children learn to put their superpower brain into action, defeating these “unthinkables” and becoming masters of self-control and social-awareness. Topics include:
- The Super Hero in You
- Thinkables vs Unthinkables
- Rockbrain - growth mindset
- Space Invader - giving personal space
- Mean Jean - getting along with others/solving problems
- Body Snatcher - staying with the group
- Worry Wall - dealing with worries
- Glass Man - size of the problem
- Brain Eater - handling distractions/staying focused
- Was Funny Once - being playful/silly at the right time
Kimochis/2nd Grade
With 2nd graders, I use the Kimochis curriculum which the children love. Each character represents an important aspect of wellness. Cloud represents accepting our feelings as they are while being mindful of choices we make; Cat reminds us that it’s OK to be mad but it’s never OK to be mean; Clover helps us recognize things that are in and out of our control; Bella Rose helps us appreciate different temperaments (it’s OK to be shy!), Bug struggles with “the worries” and helps kids learn coping skills, and so on. Children recognize aspects of themselves and other people. We role play tricky friendship scenarios, helping children gain social skills and confidence as well. Topics include:
- Introducing the Kimochis
- Cloud - mindfulness
- Huggtopus - personal boundaries/personal space
- Bug - positive mindset, confidence
- Clover - handling disappointment
- Bella Rose - being friendly
- Cat - being cooperative/handling conflicts
- Lovey Dovey - showing care and concern (empathy)
The Incredible Journey/3rd Grade
With 3rd graders, I use the curriculum from Plucky Wize. It’s an interactive multi-session game/adventure designed to help students understand and practice goal setting, problem solving, healthy coping, and resiliency. We start by creating our characters with our personal strengths, and then we take these characters on a journey of our own design. On the way, we encounter roadblocks and obstacles, find ways to face our worries and fears, overcome adversity, and celebrate our successes. It’s a fun way to engage students in these important social emotional skills. Topics include:
- The Hero in You
- The Cave of Uncertainty - handling worries and anxieties
- The Forest of Resources - recognizing personal strengths
- Potholes, Roadblocks, and Detours - handling upsets and getting back on course
- Mount Emo Tiva - managing big emotions
- The Skills Workshop - coping skills
- The Trust Bridge - support mapping
- Up and Onwards - setting goals and celebrating successes
Star Power/4th Grade
In fourth grade, I run a group called “Star Power” (I often let the group pick/change the name after our first meeting to make it more relevant to them!). This group is focused on leadership skills and personal empowerment. Through games and crafts we cover topics such as setting personal goals, managing difficult emotions, effective teamwork, building self-confidence, and being an assertive communicator. I also work in some executive skill building such as handling distractions, finding motivation, planning, organizing, prioritizing, and setting goals. While I have specific topics planned for each week, I also allow for a lot of flexibility within the group so that we can cover issues and topics that are coming up for them - especially as they build trust within the group and with me. Topics include:
- Individual uniqueness
- Team work - positive and negative qualities in self and others
- Recognizing and building meaningful connections
- Friendship pitfalls
- Assertive communication and solving problems
- Sportsmanship
- Goal setting
- Developing leadership
Success Skills/5th grade
In fifth grade, I use a Circle Talk/Community Circle format. We establish norms for our group, start each group with a community building activity, bring a topic to the circle for reflection, have a game/activity/craft that goes with the topic, and close with our rose/thorn/bud (something going well, something that’s been hard, something we’ve learned or hope to learn soon). I have a list of topics, but like to keep the discussions relevant for the group, so often I will start by sharing some options for topics and let the group vote on what sounds most engaging. It’s a simple but effective format for getting students to build trust, gain confidence, learn some new skills, and be emboldened as they prepare for middle school. Topics might include:
- Self-esteem and confidence
- Strengths and obstacles to success
- Habits of the mind
- Self-care planning
- Finding motivation; RIASEC or Multiple Intelligence Assessments
- Stress management
- Handling tricky peer situations
- Digital citizenship
- Goal setting
- Relational skills and self-advocacy
Specialty Groups:
Taking Control/Early Elementary Executive Function Support
- Changing channels - ignoring distractions, listening for understanding, staying focused
- Pause - mindful strategies
- Fast forward - making predictions about behaviors
- Rewind - looking at past choices and evaluating them
- Slow motion - taking deliberate action/setting goals
- Coach - positive self talk
- Zapper - identifying thinking errors and other negative self-talk
Flower Power Friendship Hour/Lunch time club focused on healthy friendship
- Friendship connects and disconnects
- Friends vs friendly acquaintances - how to have both!
- Advanced friendship making skills
- Popularity - what is it anyway?
- Friendship trouble starters:
- The Big Boss - how to share your ideas without being bossy
- Tug O Warriors - what to do when you are stuck in the middle
- Back Out and The Big Mouth- keeping promises and following through; not sharing top secret news
- Terrible Two Face - being loyal to friends even when they aren’t around; making up with a friend
- Show Off - sharing proud moments without bragging
- The Joker - being fun without crossing the line
- Rules for Fighting Fair
- Breaking up is hard to do - what to do when you grow apart
Stress Busters
- Fears, worries and anxiety
- Connecting thoughts, feelings, and behaviors
- Recognizing worry triggers; things I can vs can’t control
- Positive vs negative coping; self-care plan
- Inner coach vs inner critic; positive self talk
- Recognizing thinking errors; disputing automatic negative thoughts
- Relaxation and mindfulness training
Grief Support
- Understanding emotions and the grief process
- Coping with change
- Meaningful rituals and memorializations
- Handling anniversaries and special occasions
- Telling your grief story
- Dealing with the waves
- Finding optimism
Divorce/Major Life Transitions
- Telling your story
- Things I Can vs Cannot Control
- Lessons and linings
- Problem solving difficult situations
- Making peace with a new reality
Brain Boosters - Middle School
- Belief in self: qualities, interests, values
- Belief in others: genograms, support mapping
- Emotional regulation: managing mood and energy levels
- Engaged living: quality life planning
- Assertive communication: DEAR MAN skills
- Positivity: growth mindset and positive self-talk
- Building a values box w/ coping tools and confidence reminders
Stress Busters - Middle School
- What is stress?
- Understanding the stress response system
- Adaptive vs maladaptive coping
- Mindfulness and meditation
- Things I can vs can't control
- Problem solving
- Recognizing thinking errors; disputing automatic negative thoughts
Success Skills - Middle School
- Your brain's command center
- Executive skills - strengths and areas to grow
- WOOP - setting and achieving your goals
- Getting organized
- Prioritizing tasks
- Managing stress
- Celebrating success
Virtual Counseling Activities
- Mindfulness - taste and rainbow, five finger breaths, magic carpet ride
- Show and tell - favorite things
- Show and tell - an object that gives you strength
- Coronavirus “Right Now I am Fine” book
- Stormy waters light house drawings
- The Magic Key - safe space creation
- Optical illusions - seeing things in different ways/perspective taking
- Rocks and Socks - things I can vs can’t control
- Imagination Station - conversation cards and the power of your imagination