Hilton East Brunswick
East Brunswick, NJ
We look forward to having you join us at the New Jersey School Counselor Association Conference!
We hope to see you next year!
Lead Presenter: Johanna David-Tramantano
This session introduces the CONNECT Framework, a college readiness model grounded in nearly 25 years of practice across K–12 and higher education. Developed by Dr. Johanna David-Tramantano and presented in her book CONNECT: A High School-to-College Success Framework (The Worthy Educator Press, 2026), this framework gives school counselors and educators a common language and immediately usable strategies to support students from middle school through the first year of college.
Lead Presenter: Keia R. Boyd
Grief Is Not Your Enemy is a supportive workshop designed to help school counselors understand grief as a natural response to loss rather than behavior to suppress or fear. Participants will explore how grief impacts students, staff, and school communities while gaining practical, trauma-informed strategies to support emotional expression, resilience, healing, and counselor wellness in school settings.
Lead Presenter: Jane Kim
Across the country, educators are seeing the effects of social media on student attention, behavior, relationships, and mental health long before the first bell rings. Yet many responses fail to address the root cause: engagement-driven technologies designed to capture attention. This session explores how social media shapes student behavior and school culture and shares practical strategies that build student agency, healthier digital habits, and stronger school communities.
Lead Presenter: Kavneet Singh
“Bullying of Sikh American Children: Through the Eyes of a Sikh American High School Student,” is the first of its kind and a uniquely historic book highlighting the issues of bias that identifiable Sikh children have to face on a daily basis across the nation. This comprehensive solution-oriented book contains empirical data with practical real life solutions which are applicable to any bullied child regardless of their background especially in the school environment.
Lead Presenter: Houston Kraft
The past five years have stretched the field of education thin. Students are navigating mental health challenges at record levels, and the adults responsible for them are exhausted. School counselors know better than anyone that targeted interventions can’t fix what an unhealthy culture creates — Tier 1 has to do its job first. In this practical workshop, Houston Kraft will share simple, repeatable strategies that counselors can use to support student AND adult well-being at the universal level. Drawing from CharacterStrong’s work in over 12,000 schools, this session will give you tactical tools to decrease anxiety, increase hope, and build a culture where well-being shouldn’t depend on a referral.
Lead Presenter: Gabrielle Chinnici-Heyel
Many school counselors know the ASCA National Model (5th Edition) but struggle to put its templates into practice. This interactive session demonstrates how to effectively use key ASCA templates to build a comprehensive school counseling program. Participants will collaborate in elementary, middle, and high school groups using case studies, complete practical planning activities, and leave with ready-to-use templates, resources, and strategies they can implement immediately.
Lead Presenter: Reyhan Garcia
CONNECT™—“Counselors Open to Nurturing, Navigating Emotions & Challenges, & Teamwork”—is an original program I created to provide a space for school counselors to process emotions related to our work, discuss professional challenges, celebrate our victories and achievements, and engage in case conceptualization. CONNECT™ supports a comprehensive counseling program by encouraging counselors’ self-care and mitigating burnout, thereby bolstering their practice and contributions to student outcomes.
Lead Presenter: Kristin Callahan
This professional development sessionequips school counselors with practical tools to better support students with ADHD by helping parents and teachers understand the concept of executive functioning age. Participants will leave with actionable strategies, practical language for difficult conversations, and a renewed framework for supporting students with ADHD in ways that replace misunderstanding with informed intervention and replace negative labeling with empowered self-understanding.
Lead Presenter: Hema Solanki
This presentation explores how trauma-informed care can be integrated into school counseling to support students affected by adverse experiences. It highlights the impact of trauma on learning, behavior, and emotional well-being, and provides practical strategies for creating safe, supportive, and resilient school environments. Participants will gain tools to strengthen student relationships, promote equity, and enhance counseling outcomes.
Lead Presenter: Raquel Evans
School counseling programs are undergoing real change—bigger caseloads and growing pressure to demonstrate impact with data. This session gives counselors a practical way to manage that transition: one home base for future-ready skills (SEL) caseload management, assessment, and intervention planning—not a general case management system. You’ll leave knowing what to look for in that technology and how to lead change with families and administrators.
Lead Presenter: Katherine Villacorta
Many school counselors provide services to students with disabilities in classes within their buildings. This session will include evidence-based curriculums applicable when implementing small-group counseling with students with disabilities. This session will also include trauma-informed strategies and prevention procedures for teaching classroom lessons in self-contained special education classrooms. Discussion will also include the benefits of collaborating with school-based specialists.
Lead Presenter: Hugo Carvajal
Paying for college is more complicated than ever—and many families don’t know where to start. In this engaging session, discover the “Little-Known Secrets of Paying for College” and the strategies families can use to potentially reduce college costs, maximize financial aid opportunities, and make smarter funding decisions. Walk away with practical insights, resources, and conversation starters you can bring directly to the families you serve.
Lead Presenter: Cassidy Dawson
Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) provides a framework for addressing students’ academic, career, and social/emotional needs. This interactive session examines the school counselor’s role across Tiers 1, 2, and 3 and its alignment with the ASCA National Model. Participants will explore practical interventions, data-informed practices, and collaboration strategies to strengthen MTSS implementation, advocate for appropriate role utilization, and improve student outcomes.
Lead Presenter: Hema Solanki
This presentation explores how trauma-informed care can be integrated into school counseling to support students affected by adverse experiences. It highlights the impact of trauma on learning, behavior, and emotional well-being, and provides practical strategies for creating safe, supportive, and resilient school environments. Participants will gain tools to strengthen student relationships, promote equity, and enhance counseling outcomes.
Lead Presenter: Katherine Bognar
Schools seek to understand emerging adolescent health needs to ensure effective, targeted counseling services. This interactive session explores how NJ Healthy Youth Survey data on substance use and mental health can be used to inform and shape student wellness and prevention initiatives. Attendees will explore available student data, identify actionable insights, and discuss strategies to strengthen collaboration and reduce burden among schools and community partners.
Lead Presenter: Katherine Villacorta
Many school counselors provide services to students with disabilities in classes within their buildings. This session will include evidence-based curriculums applicable when implementing small-group counseling with students with disabilities. This session will also include trauma-informed strategies and prevention procedures for teaching classroom lessons in self-contained special education classrooms. Discussion will also include the benefits of collaborating with school-based specialists.
Lead Presenter: Florentina Crawford
Teaching SEL lessons in elementary classrooms can sometimes feel like controlled chaos! This engaging and practical breakout session will provide School Counselors with ready-to-use classroom management strategies, behavior redirection techniques, lesson engagement ideas, and time-saving tips to confidently lead effective SEL lessons. Walk away with a “bag of tricks” full of realistic strategies that work with elementary students.
Lead Presenter: Ambar Gomez
Students from immigrant backgrounds may face challenges related to migration, acculturation, family separation, language barriers, and trauma. This session explores trauma-informed, culturally responsive school counseling practices that promote resilience, belonging, and academic success. Participants will gain practical strategies and advocacy tools to better support students from immigrant backgrounds and multilingual learners.
Lead Presenter: Mark Kiselica
This session will highlight how a veteran school counselor used a Multi-Tiered Support System (MTSS) of culturally responsive practices to address the stressful challenges and traumas experienced by immigrant students and their families. Pertinent MTSS activities (e.g., discussing books about diverse cultures, hosting Multicultural Night, forming Immigrant Students’ Newcomers Clubs, collaborating with TESL teachers and community organizations, and providing trauma counseling) will be described.
Lead Presenter: Daneen Collins
Building on Language Is an Intervention: Connection Before Correction, this interactive session explores how school counselors can transform intentional language into schoolwide culture. Participants will examine strategies for increasing consistency, improving school climate, reducing behavioral escalation, and transforming individual communication practices into sustainable, data-informed, schoolwide systems that reduce academic and attendance barriers and improve outcomes.
Lead Presenter: Thomas Gambino
Under New Jersey legislation, all schools must establish a school-based threat assessment team. Members complete training aligned with the U.S. Secret Service model. This session, led by NJDOE presenters, will outline team roles, processes, and collaboration with school leaders and law enforcement. Emphasis is placed on identifying concerning behaviors and implementing appropriate, preventive interventions.
Lead Presenter: Jasmine DeLaPaz
Join two elementary school counselors (who are also Licensed Professional Counselors!) for a fun and practical session on using CBT and DBT strategies with our tiniest thinkers. You will walk away with playful, engaging, age-appropriate tools to utilize with your students. Use tools like glitter calm down jars, “thought detectives,” and coping skill charades – all embedded into NJTSS tiers. Learn how clinical knowledge meets classroom magic to support PK-5 students’ big feelings and small wins.
Lead Presenter: Jason Wooster
Identify at-risk students in seconds and transform data into action. This session teaches counselors to build a secure AI tool that automates high-fidelity MTSS data analysis. We will demonstrate how to leverage these insights to generate and implement a standards-based, culturally responsive, and differentiated counseling curriculum. Reclaim your time from reactive intervention and manual data management to focus on delivering high-impact student services and systemic equity.
Lead Presenter: Joanna Barney
Looking for practical, easy-to-use resources to strengthen your responsive counseling practices? Together, we’ll build a toolbox with strategies for de-escalation, peer conflict resolution, and other common student needs. Come ready to participate and experience these activities from a student’s perspective. You’ll leave with tools you can use right away!
Lead Presenter: Faride Hernandez
This interactive session supports new, early-career, and veteran school counselors with practical systems that reduce overwhelm and prevent burnout. Participants will engage in case discussions, peer sharing, and a “System Swap Wall” to explore case management, communication templates, triage, documentation, and workload tools. Attendees leave with ready-to-use templates, QR-linked resources, and one concrete system to implement immediately.
Lead Presenter: Tara Young
It’s a tale as old as time…how do school counselors get everything done? To outsiders, it’s an unknown marvel. For those of us in the know? We give it our all and still don’t feel as though enough was done. This negatively impacts a counselor’s sense of efficacy. In this PD, we will examine common interventions to increase counselor efficacy and redefine “success” of student interventions. This PD is targeted towards Elementary Counselors, Counselors in Training, and Novice Counselors.
Lead Presenter: Jessica Piernik
School Counselors are uniquely positioned to lead MTSS through a relationship-centered approach to student success. This presentation highlights why counselors should chair MTSS teams and manage plans. Attendees will learn how counselor-teacher pre-meetings reduce referrals while gaining hands-on practice in pinpointing concerns, identifying goals, developing data-tracking tools, and implementing targeted interventions to ensure thorough documentation before a CST referral becomes necessary.
Lead Presenter: Alexa Bernatowicz
Starting as a new school counselor can make it challenging to connect with students who don’t yet know or trust you. This session shares practical, experience-based strategies to build relationships, increase student engagement, and break down barriers in your first year. Participants will leave with actionable tools to create a visible, approachable presence and foster meaningful student connections.
Lead Presenter: Caitlin Fabrocini
Comfort Zone Camp is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization providing free bereavement camp weekends in NJ for kids 7-17. Their motto is Grieve, Heal, Grow. We will highlight the process, activities, and supports needed to help students to grieve, heal, and grow in the camp bubble and in the school building. School Counselors will become familiar with this impactful community resource while learning applicable ways to support their students through grief with group and individual services.
Lead Presenter: Carly Ashnault-Hutchison
In classrooms across our country, there are students who completed their homework in a car, a shelter, or on a friend’s couch the night before. They walk into school carrying more than a backpack—they carry instability, uncertainty, and often a level of stress that most of us have never had to manage as children. Youth homelessness is not a distant social issue, it’s a school issue. This presentation will provide information and resources in best practices on supporting your homeless population.
Lead Presenter: Matt Chrystal
Intended for high school classes or community settings with groups of teens, ages from 14 to 18, It’s Real: Teens and Mental Health for High School Students (available in English and Spanish) are a 45-minute program that provides young people with mental health education and resources. The program raises awareness about mental health issues, how to start a conversation about mental health, the importance of self-care, and how to reach out for help.
Lead Presenter: Keyoshia Liverman
School counselors are often on the front lines when students experience self-harm, emotional distress, or other mental health concerns. This practical session equips counselors with strategies for responding to students in crisis, communicating with caregivers, and supporting early intervention. Participants will explore a structured response process, documentation considerations, and practical tools they can immediately apply in their schools.
Lead Presenter: Justyna Bronski
Some students lean into challenge while others disengage the moment answers are not immediate. What makes the difference? This session explores emotional regulation and uncertainty tolerance as critical skills for student engagement and academic transitions. Participants will learn practical strategies school counselors can use to help students manage uncertainty, stay engaged in learning, and build confidence through challenge.
Lead Presenter: Sean Matteo
This interactive session explores how high school counselors can move from reactive crisis response to proactive systems leadership. Attendees will examine practical strategies for integrating MTSS, wellness, attendance intervention, SEL, and postsecondary planning into a cohesive counseling framework. Topics include student burnout, mental health and admissions, attendance as a wellness indicator, and building systems that support long-term student success and readiness.
Lead Presenter: Ann Guillory
School counselors are often among the first professionals to recognize when students are experiencing abuse, neglect, family crisis, chronic absenteeism, or other barriers to learning. This interactive workshop explores how school counselors and child welfare professionals can strengthen partnerships to support students and families through trauma-informed practices, family engagement, community resources, and effective collaboration before, during, and after a referral.
Lead Presenter: Tiffany Nesbey
School counselors play a key role in connecting students to career pathways. This session explores how pre-apprenticeships support transitions into high-demand care economy fields with youth-serving, education and mental health organizations. Participants will gain strategies and free curricula developed under a US DOL Apprenticeship Building America grant to support career awareness, build skills, expand equitable access, connect with employers, reduce barriers, and strengthen student success.
Lead Presenter: Joanna Curry-Sartori
To lead a program, team, or student in crisis, you must first lead yourself. Counselors and educators guide others through stress and conflict, while their own inner world often goes unacknowledged. How do you stay centered amid it all? This workshop explores PAUSE for Self-Leadership, an IFS-inspired framework that builds collective calm, confidence, and compassion, starting within ourselves. Discover your capacity to embody the qualities you hope to nurture in students, staff, and systems.
Lead Presenter: Matthew Zakreski
Today’s students, especially gifted and twice-exceptional individuals, are marked by their intensity, particularly their emotional intensity. These emotional outbursts can be very disruptive and dysregulating to the students, as well as their peers, parents, teachers, and community supports. This session will focus on the psychology and neuroscience behind emotional intensity and give concrete, accessible techniques that will allow for the development of self-regulation skills.
Lead Presenter: Fatma Miraloglu
I will share practical strategies for supporting high school students navigating grief, including loss of a loved one, parental incarceration, or heartbreak. Learn how to recognize signs of grief, support immigrant and at-risk students, and provide compassionate, evidence-based interventions that help teens build resilience and thrive.
Lead Presenter: Vanessa Ming
This session explores how one district uses a college and career readiness platform to support comprehensive postsecondary planning for grades 6–12. Topics include academic pathway development, course planning, college application management, scholarship tracking, and career exploration. Attendees will leave with practical implementation strategies and tools to strengthen student outcomes and data collection across the district.
National Center for Youth Issues
ATTN: NJSCA
P.O. Box 22185
Chattanooga, TN 37422-2185
