November 20-21, 2025
Indianapolis Marriott East
Indianapolis, IN
We look forward to having you join us at the Indiana School Counselor Association Conference!
We hope to see you next year!
Lead Presenter: Samantha Vidal
This session teaches school counselors how to transform Career Day into an interactive, student-driven event using dramatic play. Participants will explore ways to incorporate hands-on activities, role-playing, and career-themed stations, allowing students to step into different professional roles. With strategies to blend traditional guest speakers and engaging activities, counselors will leave with practical ideas for making career exploration fun and impactful for elementary students.
Lead Presenter: Jason Graves
Learn how to elevate traditional Work-Based Learning into Certified Pre-Apprenticeship programs that align with Indiana’s new graduation requirements. This session explores the benefits for students, outlines the certification process, and offers tools to help schools and partners build sustainable pathways that lead directly into Registered Apprenticeships and high-wage careers.
Lead Presenter: Ebony Gilbert
We will provide an ethics update on Indiana legislation and federal updates and review case studies on current events and topics that are on every school counselor’s mind. Our session will first provide background, then review the Ethical Decision-Making Model, and then jump into interactive groups or partners to review case studies together. Resources will be shared. We will revisit our ethical standards as they relate to what is going on in society today.
Lead Presenter: Rebekah Frazer
We will review the 2025 Legislative Updates that are relevant to school counselors. Indiana also passed into law new high school graduation requirements in December 2024 that are applicable starting with the class of 2029. This session will share the why behind the updates and review in depth the new Indiana diploma and readiness seal options.
Lead Presenter: Houston Kraft
With seemingly endless obstacles over the past 5 years, those in the field of education face increased stress and pressure. Our students are navigating increased mental health challenges. Conference keynote speaker Houston Kraft will share simple, but impactful ways to provide meaningful supports for student AND adult well-being to decrease anxiety and increase hope.
Lead Presenter: Caroline Retter
In this session, elementary counselors and educators will learn how to build an ASCA-aligned school counseling program that helps students thrive both academically and personally. Explore key components of the ASCA National Model and how to adapt them for young learners. From creating a strong foundation to delivering effective support, you’ll leave with practical strategies to strengthen your program and better support student success.
Lead Presenter: Mandi Isaacs
This session will equip you with key information and resources to support your students and families in college and career planning. Learn best practices for using the free BigFuture College and Career Planning Tool to help students refine their pos-secondary goals. Additionally, discover how to leverage free toolkits and professional learning opportunities that provide counselors with turnkey resources for college and career advising.
Lead Presenter: Linsay Osos
This session will look at how school counselors can support students pursuing CTE Programs of Study under the new Indiana diploma. It will include an overview of Credentials of Value (industry certifications/post-secondary credentials) that students can earn through CTE, with a focus on Transfer Single Articulation Pathways (TSAPs) and how they can maximize opportunities for students. Resources for supporting students with creating a personalized Credential Completion Plan will also be shared.
Lead Presenter: Amanda Davis
Grief in school-aged children often shows through behavior or silence, not words. This session introduces play, story, and movement-based techniques to help students process grief safely and developmentally. Participants will gain practical, culturally responsive strategies for individual and group support, family collaboration, and community partnership, with hands-on activities to strengthen grief interventions.
Lead Presenter: Emily Hancock
Looking for ways to better serve your students, families, and yourself in post-secondary planning? Engage and partner with the Indiana Associate of College Admission Counseling (INACAC) executive board (during this session and beyond) to develop services, development opportunities, connections, and higher education pathways within our college admissions and secondary schools.
Lead Presenter: Hilary Deardorff
Please join this session for programmatic and legislative updates with the Indiana Commission for Higher Education (CHE) including, but not limited to: Indiana Pre-Admissions: Your Path to College, State Financial Aid/FAFSA, and 21st Century Scholars. This session is designed to be a broad overview and will conclude with time for a Q&A. Counselors and school staff can always contact schools@che.in.gov for CHE support if you miss this session!
Lead Presenter: Samantha Vidal
This session explores how Indiana’s Carrying the Torch to Student Success program aligns with the (July 2025) 5th Ed. of the ASCA National Model. Participants will learn how the updated ASCA components were integrated into Indiana’s framework to improve school counseling programs. Attendees will gain practical strategies for supporting counselors, improving student outcomes, and ensuring alignment with national standards in their districts.
Lead Presenter: Timothy Adams
In this interactive and energizing session, you will explore how school climate and culture are shaped not just by programs, but by people. Drawing from lived experience and current research, the presenters will engage attendees in a meaningful conversation on how school counselors can lead with connection, influence climate, and build community. This session will inspire reflection and action for those eager to cultivate spaces where both students and staff thrive.
Lead Presenter: Rebekah Frazer
Explore the College and Career Navigation Toolkit developed to support counselors in creating a comprehensive college and career navigation system that will ensure all young Hoosiers have access to the necessary tools and guidance for meaningful post-secondary planning and post-high school transitions.
Lead Presenter: Amanda Felten
As school counselors, our role in crisis management is vital. We must be informed in crisis prevention, intervention, and recovery in order to be effective leaders in the event of tragedy. In this session, participants will learn how a high school addressed grief, trauma, and loss after the traumatic death of one of its own by providing immediate support, counseling, and resources to students, staff, and the school community.
Lead Presenter: Jasmin Williamson
School counseling is a rewarding, but often difficult job! It can be hard to find the fun each day! Come join us for another fun and inspiring session sharing effective counseling strategies that are quick and easy to implement and provide fun and creative ways to engage with students (and adults!) of all ages. Come learn new twists on “tried and true” tips, plus get some new ways to flip those difficult days into more empowering (and fun!) moments.
Lead Presenter: Deb Thompson
This certified training program will teach you the warning signs and the skills to help save lives from suicide. You will leave with official certification of your training.
Lead Presenter: Sherry Yazel
High school kids can be tough nuts to crack sometimes, but underneath their tough little shells, most of them do want to connect with someone. So the question then becomes, how do we crack those shells? We have some engaging strategies and ideas we would like to share with others that have worked for us to help build and maintain positive relationships with our students. There is no magic or sharp tools involved, just some good, old fashioned FUN!
Lead Presenter: Oliver Camacho
Latinx students are a vital part of Indiana schools but often face barriers to academic success, mental health, and college access. This session explores how ASCA-aligned school counseling programs and counselor-administrator collaboration can create equity. Participants will gain practical strategies in academic support, mental health, college readiness, and family engagement—emphasizing culturally responsive practices and MTMDSS frameworks.
Lead Presenter: Aaron Munson
According to research conducted by Aleman, Friere, McKinney and Bernal at Brigham Young University, the surest way to shift the mindset of a school district from college being a dream to becoming a logical next step is to cultivate school/university partnerships BEFORE high school. This is a goal that we have at Indianapolis Public Schools. Come and learn how IPS has implemented a process for each middle school student to visit a different college campus each year in grades 6-8.
Lead Presenter: Molly Lee
This session will explore how one district formed leadership teams for both school counselors and school social workers—and then strategically brought these teams together to amplify student support and systemic impact. Attendees will walk away with practical tools to form their own leadership teams, foster interdisciplinary collaboration, and align efforts to better meet the academic, social/emotional, and behavioral needs of all students.
Lead Presenter: Deb Thompson
This certified training program will teach you the warning signs and the skills to help save lives from suicide. You will leave with official certification of your training.
Lead Presenter: Rufka Ibrahim
This session explores how school counselors can lead restorative practices to transform school culture. Unlike punitive discipline, restorative approaches promote equity, healing, and accountability. Using real-life K-12 cases, participants will learn how to implement circles, effective statements, and re-entry meetings, align practices with MTSS and ASCA standards, and design Tier 1 and Tier 2 interventions that build community, reduce infractions, and elevate student voice.
Lead Presenter: M. Beth Borst
Presenters will provide attendees with a wealth of information on the community college sector, including key ideas around how to educate and empower students and families to make informed decisions regarding higher education options. After this interactive session, attendees will have more tools in their toolkit in terms of introducing the community college sector to the students with whom they work.
Lead Presenter: Kristen Seward
This workshop will examine the characteristics of students with high ability that may make them vulnerable to anxiety, panic attacks, and sometimes debilitating stress. Learn how to recognize the symptoms these students may try to hide from their teachers, parents, and school counselors. Leave with a plan to support these students in the counseling office and classroom. School counselors and other educators from elementary, middle, and high school welcome!
Lead Presenter: Ligia Zosel
The mission of the Indiana Latino Institute (ILI) is to advance Latino educational attainment and workforce preparedness across the state through advocacy, leadership development, and culturally responsive programming. One of our current priorities is increasing Latino post-secondary enrollment in Indiana, and to achieve this goal, we would like to offer a presentation to your school’s counselors, EL teachers, and any administrators you feel would benefit from this information.
Lead Presenter: Angela Ness
Uncovering the root causes of student barriers to learning is essential for school counselors. This session examines how historical and social implications of evidence-based practices (EBPs) may perpetuate inequalities. By focusing on socially-just, evidence-based interventions, participants will gain insight into how these practices affect students and learn strategies to address systemic issues. Practical tools for promoting equity and supporting student advocacy will also be shared.
Lead Presenter: Koi Ogden
This engaging session equips school counselors with practical strategies to use AI ethically and creatively to enhance student services. Presenters will connect AI applications to the ASCA National Model, share real-world school counselor experiences, and provide hands-on practice with AI tools. Leave ready to streamline tasks, amplify your impact, and lead ethically in a changing educational landscape.
Lead Presenter: Franciene Sabens
The fourth Industrial Revolution has arrived and now more than ever students need to be prepared for jobs that do not yet exist, in a world where what work looks like is changing faster than ever before. This session will help school counselors develop career development programming and practices that contribute to overall student success, articulate the most important skills students need to possess to be competitive in any career path, and outline specific strategies, tools and tips to help school counselors implement a 21st century career development program that prepares all students to be future-ready.
Lead Presenter: Jessica Johnson
Learn and explore ways to run small groups in the Elementary setting. We will discuss ways to make the most out of your Tier 2 interventions, different models that can be used in small groups, choosing your participants, choosing topics, and more. THIS IS A REPEAT PRESENTATION FROM THE 2024 ISCA CONFERENCE.
Lead Presenter: Jessica Johnson
Tier 1 interventions are a great way to reach as many of your students as possible, and a great way to advertise and promote your school counseling department. In this session, we will discuss how to identify your school’s needs, building Tier 1 interventions (classroom presentations) that will keep your students engaged, and how to build your program over time. This session will be geared toward newer elementary school counselors developing a program, but is open to anyone.
Lead Presenter: Caroline Retter
Discover how to bring families into the heart of your SEL efforts with Connected and Caring. This session offers creative, age-appropriate ideas for hosting SEL family nights in elementary schools. Learn to engage families through hands-on activities, strengthen home-school connections, and share take-home tools that reinforce SEL skills beyond the classroom. Leave with practical, ready-to-use ideas to make SEL a shared experience.
Lead Presenter: Julie Arnold
Focusing on its vision of “a culture of unrivaled support,” one small school conducted an activity to assess student-teacher connections. Staff marked students they had relationships with, while students anonymously answered if they had a trusted adult at school. Using the data, teachers committed to connecting with identified students. Did it work? Join us to learn the results of the follow-up student survey!
Lead Presenter: Katie Beyer
Through dynamic, standards-based guidance lessons, we can address academic, social/emotional, and career development in every classroom. Come learn about our student ambassador and peer mentoring programs and how they create a powerful culture of leadership and belonging, extending the reach of the counseling office far beyond its walls. With strategic small groups, targeted interventions, and schoolwide activities, we make the most of every minute.
Lead Presenter: Keegan Fox
What if discipline focused on healing and growth instead of exclusion? The Southport Middle School Cardinal Success Program utilizes restorative justice practices to help struggling students grow and succeed. This session explores an 8-week intervention program that addresses behavioral and academic challenges through a student services team approach. Discover how restorative practices create a culture of equity, empathy, and empowerment, transforming school culture and student outcomes.
Lead Presenter: Angie Ness
Using data and referrals to develop interventions is considered best practice. However, this is not always student-centered and neglects to address inequitable systems that cause barriers to student learning. YPAR principles can be utilized in group counseling to empower students and enable more relevant and equitable school counseling services. Learn how YPAR principles were used with two different student groups, the process for development and implementation, and changes in student outcomes.
Lead Presenter: Amanda Culhan
This structured sharing session will involve participant engagement in K-8 grade-level and topic-specific conversations and resource sharing, allowing for connection and conversations around best practices. Attendee feedback will drive the format and content for group sharing. In addition to networking and resource sharing, participants will receive an update from Counselor Connect.
National Center for Youth Issues
ATTN: INSCA
P.O. Box 22185
Chattanooga, TN 37422-2185
All intellectual property rights in and to the INSCA Annual Conference (“the Event”), the content and all materials distributed at or in connection with the Event are owned by the Indiana School Counselor Association and/or the Event sponsors or speakers presenting at the Event. You may not use or reproduce or allow anyone to use or reproduce any trademarks or other trade names appearing at the Event, in any Event content and/or in any materials distributed at or in connection with the Event for any reason without the prior written permission of Indiana School Counselor Association or the presenting speaker.
