December 3-5, 2025
Penn Stater Hotel & Convention Center
State College, PA
December 3-5, 2025
Penn Stater Hotel & Convention Center
State College, PA
Breakout Sessions
We look forward to having you join us at the Pennsylvania School Counselors Association Conference!
Thanks for joining us for the 2025 Pennsylvania School Counselor Association Conference!
We hope to see you next year!
Thursday, December 4, 2025
10:15 a.m. – 11:05 a.m. Breakout Session 1
Dealing With Difficult Behaviors (St. Romain)
Lead Presenter: Dan St. Romain
Are you frustrated about dealing with the challenging behaviors of student, staff or parents? The first step in dealing with behavior is to adjust our perspective. This fun session will feature simple strategies for better understanding, and thus, supporting the behavior of others. This information has application on all levels (dealing with behaviors of students, parents, staff, administrators, family members…)
Emerging School Counselor Leaders and PSCA (Watters)
Lead Presenter: Zachary Watters
PSCA is looking to build and engage school counselor leaders! This inspiring and informative session is designed to educate and empower current and future leaders! We’ll explore ways to engage in our state association, offer insight into policy governance, and provide pathways to begin advocating for students and school counselors!
New PDE School Counselor Preparation Standards for PK-12 School Counselors: A Review of Revisions (Cerrito)
Lead Presenter: Julie Cerrito
This session will provide a review of the newly revised Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) School Counselor Preparation Standards for PK-12 School Counselors. Come learn how the teaching and training of the next generation of professional school counselors is impacted by these changes and what graduate programs and faculty need to do in order to successfully implement changes into their existing curriculum. Bring your questions to this panel for discussion!
Reimagining Resilience: Decentering Narratives in Counseling (Reilly)
Lead Presenter: Gabrielle (Gabby) Reilly
Resilience is seen as a factor of strength, although dominant narratives of resilience are often created through an individualistic lens that overlooks the systemic barriers that may be in place for students that cause them to become “resilient” in the first place. This session will examine how these dominant narratives can perpetuate inequity by ignoring a student’s cultural context and will highlight ways to expand resources that empower students to define what resilience is to them.
School Counseling Leadership Through Uncertainty (Kirk)
Lead Presenter: Jennifer Kirk
In recent years, a range of challenges has created uncertainty in decision-making and leadership—not only within school counseling, but across the broader educational landscape. This session will integrate current research, historical context, ethical and legal guidance, and best practice recommendations to offer a comprehensive leadership framework. Counselors will gain the tools needed to lead with clarity and confidence, from their school buildings to the boardroom.
Trauma, Resilience, and De-escalation (Griffin)
Lead Presenter: Shawna Griffin
This session will explore the impact of trauma, ACES, and discuss ways to implement trauma-informed practices. Also, the importance of resilience, a brief look at the brain science of escalation and de-escalation and specific de-escalation & resilience focused strategies.
11:35 a.m. – 12:25 p.m. Breakout Session 2
BIG Ideas for Small Groups: Planning for Effective Interventions (Nagy)
Lead Presenter: Marshall Nagy
Looking for resources and activities to incorporate with your elementary small group lessons? Join us as we model a variety of methods and resources to make your small group instruction engaging and meaningful for students. We will emphasize methods for fostering connections as we share practical ideas. You will leave with ideas and resources to take back to your school and use immediately!
Dealing With Difficult Behaviors (St. Romain)
Lead Presenter: Dan St. Romain
Are you frustrated about dealing with the challenging behaviors of student, staff or parents? The first step in dealing with behavior is to adjust our perspective. This fun session will feature simple strategies for better understanding, and thus, supporting the behavior of others. This information has application on all levels (dealing with behaviors of students, parents, staff, administrators, family members…)
Exploring Local School Counseling Practice Data to Inspire Understanding, Collaboration, and Change (Barna)
Lead Presenter: Jennifer Barna
Have you ever wondered if the challenges you face in your school counseling program are similar to counselors in neighboring districts? Or, have you ever wished you knew if the roles and responsibilities of school counselors in your region were similar to or different from yours? In this presentation, school counseling practice data from a survey research study will be explored as a means to support understanding, collaboration, and change efforts.
Healing in Color: Using Play Therapy in Schools to Support Black and Brown Students (Peterkin-Mclean)
Lead Presenter: Taja Peterkin-Mclean
This interactive session introduces school counselors to the powerful role of play therapy in supporting the emotional and developmental needs of Black and Brown children. Participants will explore foundational play therapy techniques that can be integrated into the school setting to promote healing, emotional regulation, and connection—especially for students who may struggle to express themselves verbally.
The "Platinum Rule" of Grief Support: Utilizing Grief Education and Counselor Self-Efficacy (Tortorella)
Lead Presenter: Colleen Tortorella
The “Platinum Rule” of grief support is an approach to grief communication that emphasizes treating the bereaved as they want and deserve to be treated in times of deep grief with a priority on empathy, active listening, and personalized support over generic or scripted expressions of sympathy. Counselors are key resources when supporting grieving students. Learning various theories helps the school counselor advocate for the needs of the grieving student and increase counselor self-efficacy.
Trauma, Resilience, and De-escalation (Griffin)
Lead Presenter: Shawna Griffin
This session will explore the impact of trauma, ACES, and discuss ways to implement trauma-informed practices. Also, the importance of resilience, a brief look at the brain science of escalation and de-escalation and specific de-escalation & resilience focused strategies.
Understanding Black Male Adolescent Development and Mental Health: A Life Long Journey (Spivey-Mooring)
Lead Presenter: Tazzarae Spivey-Mooring
This session specifically addresses the psychological, physical, and unique emotional challenges that Black male adolescents may face as they mature, particularly during their high school years. Depression, anxiety, and behavioral disorders are among the leading causes of illness and disability in this population. Given that suicide rates are increasing among adolescents in general, it is important to begin the discourse on how we can better support this special population.
1:25 p.m. – 2:15 p.m. Breakout Session 3
Brick-by-Brick, learning communication and social skills through Lego. (Staszewski)
Lead Presenter: Andrew Staszewski
Brick-by-Brick is a program that allows counselors to have a framework to work on social skills and communication skills through Lego. I will describe the program, explain my experiences with it, and answer any questions for those interested in the program. Brick-by-Brick can be used to work on a variety of skills. This is also a program that is data driven and research backed.
Equipped to Learn, Inspired to Lead: Executive Skills for Lifelong Impact (Strasser)
Lead Presenter: Michelle Strasser
Discover your own executive functioning skill strengths and challenges while learning how our school implemented a Tier 1 approach utilizing data to determine our building’s top concerns. Gain practical insights and strategies to boost student success through proactive, school-wide supports that you can implement with your students and staff.
Gen Z Unfiltered: Redefining Success, School, and the Skilled Trades (Coyle)
Lead Presenter: Steven Coyle
Four-year college isn’t the dream for every Gen Z student—some want skills, not syllabi. In this high-energy session, we’ll dig into why the skilled trades are hotter than ever, what success means to Gen Z, and how you can connect your students to real career paths they’ve probably never considered. You’ll also get a sneak peek at SPARK, the chatbot built to answer student questions about skilled trades, jobs, and training—so you don’t have to.
Strengthening Student Relationships and Resilience in a Digital World (Karr)
Lead Presenter: Kim Karr
With social media increasingly contributing to anxiety, depression, and peer conflict among students, school counselors play a critical role in guiding healthy online habits. This session integrates social-emotional learning (SEL) and digital wellness strategies to prevent online harm, reduce digital drama, and strengthen relationships both in and beyond the classroom. By the end of this session, participants will understand the developmental stages of digital behavior and gain practical tools to proactively teach digital safety, citizenship, literacy, and wellness at every grade level.
The Counselor's Role in Raising Responsible and Safe Digital Citizens (Clarke)
Lead Presenter: Averi Clarke
Explore how school counselors can be leaders in their communities to foster safe and responsible digital citizenship amongst students. The presentation evaluates free online digital citizenship programs and curricula that target schools and teachers to align them with the goals and standards of school counselors as outlined by ASCA. The presentation highlights how school counseling programs can proactively address students’ social-emotional development while navigating the digital world.
The System and Psychological Comfort (Oettinger)
Lead Presenter: Perk Oettinger
We all come from different homes and environments—and so do our students. This breakout session takes a realistic, data-informed look at the average student’s school experience. Together, we’ll explore what these insights mean for us as educators and student advocates. We’ll also take time to appreciate the whole child, examining what new research reveals about brain development and its implications for teaching and learning
2:45 p.m. – 3:35 p.m. Breakout Session 4
Enhancing Your School Counseling Program to Best Support Multilingual Students and Their Families (Hale)
Lead Presenter: Jane Hale
Multilingual Learners (MLs) are a population of students that are continually increasing each year, but are school counselors equipped and ready to meet the unique needs of these students? Learn about the history of MLs in US schools and their current experiences to have a better understanding of the landscape at hand. Explore specific counseling techniques and leave with strategies and tools aimed at emphasizing strengths and building resilience to improve how you support your MLs.
FAFSA to SAI: How to Talk to Students and Families About College Financial Aid (Corrato)
Lead Presenter: Christopher Corrato
This session will provide an overview of the Financial Aid Process and how to best assist/counsel students and families in how to apply for, understand, and evaluate the Financial Aid process.
Foundations of Friendship: Social Skills for Young Learners (Galiczynski)
Lead Presenter: Sean Galiczynski
Our elementary age youth our struggling to adapt to the social expectations in and out of the classroom. How many times have you heard from teachers about redirection in the classroom? How many times do you see students wandering aimlessly without peer support? Our youth are struggling, and since COVID it is clear these are struggles that go beyond developmental appropriateness. In this presentation, you will learn about a social skills group created for elementary age students.
Inappropriate Functions of the PSC: Practicing within the Legal and Ethical Boundaries of Competence (Behun)
Lead Presenter: Joe Behun
This session will examine inappropriate roles and responsibilities of the professional school counselor as determined by the American School Counselors Association and the potential for ethical and legal issues when school counselors are assigned specific job functions which fall outside of the boundaries of their competency and best practice standards.
School Counselors Supporting Students Experiencing Homelessness (Seaux)
Lead Presenter: Sandy Seaux
This presentation introduces school counselors to the McKinney-Vento Act, highlighting its purpose in protecting the educational rights of students experiencing homelessness. The session emphasizes practical ways counselors can provide support, coordinating with district McKinney-Vento liaisons, and fostering a welcoming school environment. By equipping counselors with this knowledge and actionable strategies, the presentation aims to empower them to remove barriers and promote opportunities.
Student Engagement: Connection, Prevention, and Having Fun! (Swope)
Lead Presenter: Heather Swope
What if you had ways to get to know your students better while having fun and building positive rapport BEFORE you needed it? Attend this session to learn about the pay back of having fun with students in a systematic way that has great rewards! Your presenters are an affirmed introvert and a proud extrovert. Learn how they work as a team to create community within their high school! All are welcome – you will leave with ideas and experiences to share and use!
3:50 p.m. – 4:40 p.m. Breakout Session 5
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8:30 a.m. – 9:20 a.m. Breakout Session 6
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9:35 a.m. – 10:25 a.m. Breakout Session 7
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11:00 a.m. – 11:50 a.m. Breakout Session 8
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CONTACT INFORMATION
National Center for Youth Issues
ATTN: PSCA
P.O. Box 22185
Chattanooga, TN 37422-2185
The Lead Presenter will receive all communications regarding your breakout session and will be responsible for sharing it with co-presenters, if any.
All intellectual property rights in and to the PSCA Annual Conference (“the Event”), the content and all materials distributed at or in connection with the Event are owned by the Pennsylvania School Counselors 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 Pennsylvania School Counselors Association or the presenting speaker.