Psychology Commons^™

A Survey Of School Psychologists To Promote Support For Developing Self-Advocacy Skills In Students With Disabilities, Kiarra K. Steer

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

Self-advocacy is a critical skill for effective communication and for individual assertion of interests, needs, and rights (Hengen & Weaver, 2018). It is especially important for people with disabilities to be able to self-advocate, which includes understanding their own abilities and rights and being able to voice when they need assistance or when their rights are being violated (Hengen & Weaver, 2018).

Even though self-advocacy has been determined to be a necessary skill for students with disabilities to develop, research indicates that self-advocacy instruction is often not provided to students with disabilities. Furthermore, while researchers have shown that teaching students …

Teacher Perception Of A Brief Mindfulness-Based Curriculum And Its Impact On The Development Of Social Skills And Self-Regulation On A Preschool Classroom, Allison Poggendorf

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

Recent studies on mindfulness and its impact on children have found promising results, especially with social-emotional skill development. A majority of the research on mindfulness applied in educational setting tends to focus on elementary and high school students, and there is limited, but growing research that examines the impact of mindfulness among early childhood students. This current study explored the impact of a brief mindfulness-based curriculum on an intact preschool classroom. Specifically, this study examined if preschool teachers perceive mindfulness practices in the classroom to impact their students’ self-regulation skills and social skills and how likely they were to continue …

The Impact Of Teacher Wellness Programming During Highly Stressful Times, Madeline Brawley

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

The purpose of this study was to examine the impacts of participating in a stress-management program on teachers’ self-reported stress and well-being. Participants included a small group of new teachers and their assigned veteran teacher mentors from an elementary school in a large school district in Central Virginia. Self-reported stress as it relates to teacher-teacher relationships and physical symptoms increased significantly from pre- to post-test completion. All other stress measures, with the exception of time management, also increased over time; however none of these changes were significant. Teaching efficacy and school connectedness declined over time, while teaching satisfaction increased. These …

The Role Of Teacher Efficacy In Readiness To Support Lgbtq+ Students In Schools, Andrew Levy

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

LGBTQ+ students experience a myriad of difficulties associated specifically with their sexual or gender minority status. The current body of research has focused on negative outcomes of these difficulties, while there is a dearth of research into how schools can position stakeholders to support these students. Teachers often serve as consistent, direct points of contact for students in schools. As such, this study aims to explore teacher candidates’ sense of professional self-efficacy and its relationship with their confidence in supporting LGBTQ+ students in three ways: individual interventions, developing their own knowledge and skills, and systems-level advocacy. Teacher candidates were surveyed …

Youth Caregiver Focus Group: An Exploration Of School Support Staff’S Perceptions Of Youth Caregivers, Rianna Taylor

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

The present study aimed to identify the level of knowledge, awareness, experience, and perceptions school support staff (school counselors, school psychologists, school social workers, and school nurses) have of youth caregivers. In addition, this study investigated school support staff’s confidence in their ability to identify and support this population specifically in Virginia schools. The focus group consisted of 4 school support staff participants which included two school nurses, one school counselor, and one school psychologist. The participants were asked a list of questions pertaining to the youth caregiver population during the 42-minute focus group meeting over Zoom. The focus group …

The Perceived Self-Efficacy Of School Counselors To Provide Interventions And Support To Students Using Substances And The Potential For Collaboration With School Psychologists, Monica Holtz

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

Substance use has the potential to impact a student’s academic success; however, school counselors are in a position to intervene and provide support to these students to potentially mitigate the impact of the students’ use. Research shows that school-based interventions are effective in reducing substance use, but school counselors may not feel clinically prepared to provide these services. A random sample of school counselors in the state of Virginia practicing at the middle and high school level completed a survey regarding their feelings and perceptions of substance use intervention and support, including their self-efficacy to provide services, level of training, …

School Racial Climate And Discipline Practices, Maya Rivers

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

The disproportionate use of punitive discipline practices with students of color in American school systems is prevalent among many sources of literature. Consequently, student experiences and perceptions of school climate are often tainted, which has yielded school-wide initiatives to improve in these areas. As school psychologists work to improve school climate with the goal of decreasing the racial discipline gap, they may consider strategies to improve the school’s racial climate. Using the School Climate for Diversity – Secondary Scale (Byrd, 2017), the current study explored what relationship, if any, exists between school racial climate and discipline at the secondary level. …

Integrating Creative Arts In Counseling: Review And Recommendations, Brittany Sehenuk

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

Creativity is present in many aspects of counseling practice. While clinical decisions are often assisted by the ability to think creatively, clinicians may not identify the potential benefit further exploration of creative pursuits within the counseling room could provide. The following paper seeks to explore the benefits of arts in counseling as well as the barriers that keep clinicians and clients from feeling comfortable brings arts into sessions. Arts may assist clients dealing with trauma and grief and can provide support for training clinicians and those in training. Clients and clinicians both may keep themselves from connect with artistic activities …

Asian Immigrant Parents And Their Asian/Asian-American Children: Bridging The Emotional Gap, Natalie Vergara Realubit

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

This manuscript explores and examines Asian/Asian-American identity and values. A brief discussion of Asian immigration history, intergenerational trauma, and the impacts of COVID-19 will be linked to Asian identity. Eastern values are explored in conjunction with Western values to highlight the differences and contradictions Asians/Asian-Americans navigate. Biculturalism is explained, as well as how the navigation of values results in individuals living in their ethnic and host cultures simultaneously. Acculturation and enculturation, the model minority myth, education and the American Dream, and bicultural stress experienced by Asian-Americans and Asian international students are explored to highlight the various ways in which biculturalism …

The Fetishization Of Asian American Women: Where We Are And Where To Go, Genevieve Askin

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

Women of color in the United States suffer from hyper sexualization and fetishization, and Asian American (AA) women are no different. These racial microaggressions and normalized expressions of oppression based on both race/ethnicity and gender contribute to a distinct marginalization that women of color experience. This paper seeks to 1) explore the unique layers of oppression that AA women face, including combating the model minority myth, westernized beauty standards, and fetishization, as well as 2) address the difference in reception between the Stop Asian Hate movement and Black Lives Matter, while defining and critiquing the whitewashing of this field in …

Marketing And Branding For Counseling Interns And Residents In Private Practice, Madeline Grove

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

For interns and residents in mental health counseling beginning their careers in a private practice setting, building a full-time caseload of clients is challenging. The process of marketing and branding outpatient psychotherapy services is not generally covered in clinical training programs, leading to a gap in practical knowledge upon departure from higher education. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, rates of behavioral health disorders have increased, leading to a sense of urgency to providing care for communities in need. Effective marketing and branding of services allows for clinicians to work with populations they are most well suited to serve, and potentially allows …

Trauma Healing With The Neurosequential Model Of Therapy And Bal-A-Vis-X, Becky Johnston

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

Stigma related to childhood trauma is shifting with the help of advancements in the understanding of neurobiology and interventions that are proving to be effective for healing. There are immense costs and consequences for survivors of childhood trauma and their loved ones that were not so long ago considered irrelevant and the notion that kids bounce back from adversity was previously popular in the psychological community (Perry & Szalavitz, 2017). The broad strokes of Dr. Bruce Perry’s clinical intervention model, The Neurosequential Model of Therapy (NMT) describes a trauma-sensitive, sequential approach to changing the stress response within mental health counseling. …

Informed Consent In Counseling Processes With The Transgender Community, Sindhura Elagandhala

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

Cultural competence from mental healthcare professionals is vital to effectively serving the transgender population. Unfortunately, specifics for working with this community often remain unaddressed in most counselor education programs. Working with gender diverse individuals requires a nuanced understanding and application of contemporary theories surrounding gender, sex, intersectional theories, and potential medical consultation. Counselors may be asked to play unique roles for transgender clients that require knowledge of basic concepts and definitions regarding transgender identity and the ways in which these topics become relevant in the clinical, counseling environment. It is also necessary to question roles that mental health counselors may …

Aggression In Session: Defining, Conceptualizing, And Treating Aggression, Tyler A. Greenough

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

Within the counseling profession, there is a great deal of interaction with aggression affecting both clients and the systems affecting clients. Therefore, it is vital that counselors be adequately prepared to work with various presentations of aggressive behavior. Aggression is defined, categorized based on common historical delineations, and summarized from a multi-axis continuum perspective. Contextual factors are considered such as the role of hormones, neurotransmitters, varying substances, and a wide range of diagnoses. Aggression is then conceptualized from a functional lens and explored based upon a need fulfillment model. Treatment practices such as building self-esteem, increasing emotional regulation, and developing …