Join Dr. Elizabeth Rogers and TCA Public Policy Analyst Noah Jones for an overview of the role of TCA Legislative Ambassadors that will prepare you for meetings with your elected officials. 

Presenters – Dr. Elizabeth Rogers, Public Policy Committee Co-Chair, Noah Jones, TCA Public Policy Analyst

This session will explore the importance of elementary career exploration by showing how play based, hands on learning can build strong career awareness. Participants will examine research that supports early career development and learn how playful exploration strengthens academic engagement, SEL skills, and future readiness. I will walk through the creation and structure of my Career Lab as well as share practical alternatives that any campus can implement, even without a dedicated space. The session also addresses funding options as well as alternative ideas to traditional "Career Day". Participants will leave with actionable ideas, ready to bring meaningful career exploration to life in the elementary setting.

Learning Objectives:

1.) Identify at least three research based reasons early career exploration is essential for elementary students and explain how these reasons align with campus goals, district initiatives, and the Texas Model for School Counseling. 2.) Describe how play based and hands on learning strengthen career awareness, SEL skills, and academic engagement and list at least two examples that can be used on individual campuses. 3.) Explain the structure and purpose of an elementary Career Lab and outline the key components needed to create a similar experience.

Speaker:

Jennefer Bell

This presentation explores the critical role of advocacy in rural school counseling. Attendees will examine the unique barriers rural school counselors face, including limited resources, role confusion, and community challenges, while gaining insight into effective advocacy roles such as client support, social justice leadership, and professional advocacy. The session highlights strategies to strengthen counselor impact and promote equitable outcomes for students in rural school communities.

Learning Objectives: 

1.) Explore the school counselor’s responsibility to engage in advocacy. 2.) Identify barriers rural counselors face when engaging in advocacy. 3.) Define the various roles counselors have regarding unique aspects of advocacy in rural settings.

Speakers:

Nicole Killian

Tara Martin

Grief manifests uniquely in elementary-aged children and is often misunderstood by adults. This interactive 90-minute workshop equips school personnel with practical, play-based strategies to support grieving students. Developmental stages of grief and the signs of distress will be addressed. Drawing from play therapy principles, the focus will be on accessible, low-cost interventions, including expressive arts, therapeutic storytelling (bibliotherapy), and sand tray techniques; that can be seamlessly integrated into the school setting. The session will also cover essential multicultural considerations and how to create a supportive environment, encouraging children to express pain through play rather than avoid it. Attendees will leave with a ready-to-use "Grief Toolkit" of activities to implement in their schools. Presenters will engage in discussion around areas to enhance parental consent in regard to Senate Bill 12.

Learning Objectives:

1.) Attendees will examine and understand types of loss children experience and how they respond with common signs of distress by age group. 2.) Attendees will learn specific interventions, and practical applications to help grieving children process and cope with loss. 3.) Attendees will discuss ways to increase parental consent regarding grief services related to Senate Bill 12.

Speakers:

Sloane Sivek

Ana Garcia

Marita Bailey

This 90-minute session translates the core principles of Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) into practical, campus-ready tools for school counselors, supervisors, and mental health professionals. Built from real school-counseling experience and grounded in evidence-based practice, this session demonstrates how SFBT supports efficient, high-impact interventions that align with both the ASCA National Model and Texas school counseling expectations. Participants learn how to shift from problem-saturated conversations to future-focused, strengths-driven dialogue using techniques such as miracle questions, scaling strategies, and exception identification. The session also introduces a full SFBT toolkit, including scaling cards, check-in forms, a worry-box method, and supervision templates—and guides attendees through hands-on practice and action-planning. Whether serving a busy campus or supervising LPC-Associates, participants leave with concrete resources and a renewed sense of confidence in using SFBT to support student success, resilience, and self-advocacy.

Learning Objectives: 

1.) Explain how SFBT can be applied in K-12 school settings (individual, small group, consultation) including concrete techniques and case examples. Demonstrate at least three solution-focused tools from a school-counseling toolkit and design a mini-plan to integrate one into their own setting (district, campus, supervision). 2.) Explain how SFBT can be applied in K-12 school settings (individual, small group, consultation) including concrete techniques and case examples. Demonstrate at least three solution-focused tools from a school-counseling toolkit and design a mini-plan to integrate one into their own setting (district, campus, supervision). 3.) Reflect on how adopting a solutions-not-problems mindset aligns with the ASCA National Model, Texas LPC/LPC-Associate supervision, and efficient use of time in busy school environments.

Speaker:

Jacqueline Moreno

Graduate counseling programs equip students with a wide range of skills to shape competent, ethical counselors. Most individuals enter the counseling profession with a desire to help others, support healing, and contribute to the well-being of society—not to participate in litigation or testify in court. Formal instruction on navigating subpoenas, court testimony, or legal procedures is often limited or entirely absent in counselor training programs. While participation in legal processes, such as court testimony or depositions, can be intimidating, it is a critical aspect of ethical client advocacy. As Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “The thing we fear is the thing we must do.” For counselors, this includes maintaining our professional counseling identity, professionalism, ethical considerations, and integrity in legal settings. This session will demystify court involvement and equip counselors with the tools they need to respond professionally, effectively, ethically, and confidently to subpoenas and in court-related settings.

Learning Objectives:

1.) Attendees will learn how to respond to subpoenas and differentiate between common types of subpoenas counselors may receive. 

2.) Attendees will learn ways to maintain professional identity and prepare for court-related proceedings. 

3.) Utilizing a case study, attendees will learn how to organize client files and documentation in preparation for legal involvement, including strategies for supporting clients during court-related processes.

Speakers:

Lynn Jennings

Stephen Jennings

Counselors are uniquely called to engage in advocacy for minoritized communities, but an everchanging social climate continues to create barriers to effectively engaging in advocacy. Evolving legislation, compassion fatigue, and scarce availability of resources all hinder the counselor's ability to engage fully in advocacy. In this presentation, attendees will reflect on their own levels of compassion fatigue and compassion satisfaction using the Professional Quality of Life (ProQOL) Scale (Stamm, 2009), a well-established instrument. Furthermore, participants will gain practical strategies and solutions for engaging in sustainable and meaningful advocacy, fostering both personal well-being and impactful social change.

Learning Objectives:

1.) Attendees will discuss barriers to engaging in advocacy as professionals. 

2.) Attendees will examine their own levels of compassion fatigue and compassion satisfaction. 

3.) Attendees will learn practical strategies for advocating for marginalized communities in the community.

Speakers:

Kamiron Tran

Reagan Dickson

Sloane Sivek

Non-Suicidal Self-Injury has become a common coping strategy during the adolescent years. Family response and cultural considerations have been found to impact the therapeutic outcomes of adolescents who use NSSI to cope. This original research will give you the knowledge, tools, and strategies to prevent and intervene with clients who struggle with NSSI.

Learning Objectives:

1.) Participants will be able to define and identify non-suicidal self-injury, warning signs of self-injury, and the cycle of self-injury. 2.) Participants will be able to identify and process the implications that family response and cultural considerations has on the outcome of non-suicidal self-injury interventions, based on research. 3.) Participants will learn specific family-based, culturally responsive, interventions that can be implemented in both clinical and school settings. They will be able to facilitate trainings in their specific work setting and provide others with the knowledge and educations related to self-injury.

Speakers:

Krystal Humphreys

Wendy Helmcamp

Michael Moyer

For many clients, religious and spiritual beliefs serve as the foundational lens through which they interpret and make sense of their experiences and the world around them. When adversity strikes, they often turn to their faith as a way of attributing meaning to their suffering. However, when the distress is too severe, this interpretive grid can fall short, leaving these individuals experiencing great spiritual pain and going through a season of what has become known as religious deconstruction. This seminar addresses the importance of assessing for spiritual pain and addressing these spiritual struggles in a multiculturally competent manner. The religious coping literature provides the empirical base to understand this spiritual pain while common factors research highlights the most efficacious way to walk alongside strugglers. Participants will learn how their “way of being” creates the type of alliance necessary to facilitate the healing of spiritual wounds.

Learning Objectives: 

1.) Participants will be able to distinguish between the three domains and six types of spiritual struggles in order to assess for underlying spiritual distress. 

2.) Participants will be able to describe the importance of “way of being” in the nurturing of a strong alliance and identify the postmodern tenets of this posture that best facilitate healing for those experiencing spiritual struggles and/or faith deconstruction. 

3.) Participants will be able to list and describe the interventions and interactions that facilitate growth at various phases of the resolution process and be able to apply them with clients who are struggling spiritually.

Mentanna Campbell

This presentation focuses on transitioning from crisis-oriented counseling and supervision to preventive approaches. Attendees will explore the necessity of proactive strategies, examine evidence-based interventions in counseling and supervision, and discuss the critical role of supervisors in fostering preventive care within clinical training and practice to enhance client wellbeing.

Learning Objectives:

1.) Explore the need to shift from crisis orientation to preventive approaches. 

2.) Highlight evidence-based practices for proactive counseling, supervision theories, and interventions. 

3.) Discuss the role of supervisors in promoting preventative care for clinical training and practice.

Speakers:

Tara Fox

Rikki Collier