The need for school-based interventions targeting the childhood obesity epidemic has been well documented. The risk factors associated with childhood obesity are physical, mental, psychosocial, academic, and economic. With training in developing comprehensive programs and interventions, professional school counselors are positioned to assist…

Without structured guidance activities, students may drift through high school without learning about all of the career opportunities available and without gaining the skills that can help them take advantage of those opportunities. They may also be in danger of failing to continue on to postsecondary education, or even worse, of dropping out of…

While today's girls are learning that they can achieve at the highest educational and professional levels, they also receive strong cultural messages that portray girls and women according to limiting sexual stereotypes. The trend toward the sexualization of girls is increasing in contemporary culture and can negatively impact girls' academic,…

Comprehensive school counseling programs (CSCPs) have evolved into well-articulated organizational frameworks that will successfully guide school counseling practice for years to come (American School Counselor Association [ASCA], 2003; Gysbers & Henderson, 2000, 2005). At their heart, CSCPs emphasize that as society and families continue to…

This article looks at the history of a guidance program in a west Texas school district bordering on Mexico. Due to the high drop out rate and low test scores, money was pulled away from guidance programs because of the lack of success of the services. With persistence, a comprehensive guidance program was eventually introduced. Advocating for the…

This document represents the latest collaborative effort between the Connecticut School Counselor Association (CSCA), the Connecticut Association of Counselor Educators and Supervisors (CACES) and the Connecticut State Department of Education. This document delineates best practices for establishing a comprehensive school counseling program and…

When the State of Utah implemented a comprehensive guidance program, it began with a state-sponsored training of school guidance teams. Successfully identifying and displacing non-guidance activities (NGAs) in the comprehensive guidance program was a complicated process and was dependent upon communication and building positive relationships with…

School counselors agree that for school counseling programs to be successful, parent participation is essential. Involving parents in designing a school counseling program increases the chances that the counseling objectives will be reinforced at home. One effective strategy used by the Dorchester School District in South Carolina is conducting a…

Describes a program which draws on interagency collaboration, principles of care, needs assessment, and other components to create a community-based system of care. Presents the rationale for each of these components and how they were implemented, data on the children and families served by the program, and a case study. (RJM)