Champlain Valley Educator Development Center (CVEDC-ESA)

Instructors: Rachel Luks Petraska, M.S. Shelburne Community School, School Counselor, grades 6-8 (She/Her/Hers) and

Rachel Petraska and Patti Tomashot, experienced school counselor leaders, offer counselors a road map for navigating the crucial beginning years in the field. This course identifies the different phases every new and current counselor goes through, offering crucial strategies to navigate each. Participants return to schools equipped with proven instructional and self-care practices.  Counselors will create a plan for implementation of the VT School Counseling Framework, and a monthly roadmap to follow that aligns with the VT Framework and ASCA. New for 2025, we will review the revised ASCA model (released July 2025) as well as the updated VTSCA model. Counselors will have each other to connect and collaborate with throughout the year, getting to see multiple perspectives and participating in confidential case studies to help problem-solve whatever issues that come up. Each month, we’ll invite a partner/constituency that will provide knowledge and expertise in a variety of areas such as special education, administration, technology and education law and how they all intersect with the school counselor role.

Throughout the course you will:

• • Explore the six phases of beginning school counselors: 1) anticipation, 2) survival, 3) disillusionment, 4) rejuvenation, 5) reflection, and 6) second anticipation.
  • Understand the feelings and challenges associated with each phase.
  • Discover practical strategies for small group work, classroom facilitation and individual student meetings
  • Explore exemplar SEL curriculums to use at the universal level.
  • Learn how to practice self-care to avoid career burnout that so often leads to counselors changing careers.
  • Develop a plan for decreasing stress, increasing student achievement and enhancing students’ social and emotional well-being