Franciene Sabens, M.S. Ed., LPC, NCC, is a litigation paralegal turned school counselor with nearly two decades of experience. Franciene serves as a board member for the Illinois Student Assistance Commission, and is a member of the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) Ethics Committee, and the National Council for the Advancement of Educator Ethics (a special NASDTEC Committee). In 2014 Franciene was named Illinois high school counselor of the year and honored by ASCA in 2016 at the White House as the Illinois state representative for the School Counselor of the Year ceremony. She contributed to the current Developmental Counseling Model for Illinois Schools, co-edited the second edition of the School Career Development Advisor Curriculum for the National Career Development Association, and is a frequent ASCA presenter and publication contributor. Franciene is passionate about enhancing the counseling profession by helping school counselors implement ethically aligned comprehensive programs that maintain the highest standards of integrity, leadership and professionalism while supporting students as they strive to reach their greatest potential.
Research suggests that school counselors do not universally utilize an ethical decision-making model when navigating ethical dilemmas, even though the ASCA Ethical Standards for School Counselors obligate school counselors to do so. When confronted with an ethical dilemma, using an ethical decision-making model not only guides the school counselor through a carefully considered process but can also provide some liability protection. Today school counselors are encountering more ethical dilemmas related to cultural and worldview factors so strategies to ethically and effectively navigate these situations are necessary. This session will explore the ethical decision-making steps included in the ASCA Ethical Standards for School Counselors and apply each step to a specific scenario.
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.
School counselors have a unique and ethically obligated role in facilitating collaborative relationships with parents/guardians. This session will focus on the school counselor’s ethical responsibility to parents/guardians, as outlined by the ASCA Ethical Standards for School Counselors. Specific examples and best practices to help school counselors navigate the legal and inherent rights of parents/guardians to be the guiding voice in their children’s lives and creative ways to foster collaborative relationships with parents/guardians will be discussed.
When school counselors learn about a student who poses a serious and foreseeable risk of harm to self, it’s important to be prepared to address the concern immediately. This session will focus on an eight-step breakdown of an ethical response to self-harm. School counselors will walk away with access to a tool to help navigate non-suicidal self-injury response efforts.
School counselors encounter legal and ethical dilemmas in 21st century learning environments almost every day. The ASCA Ethical Standards for School Counselors provides an opportunity to have difficult conversations regarding ethical dilemmas, while also providing direction for navigating the legal and ethical dilemmas encountered through the profession. Participants will develop an ethical decision-making framework for analyzing and resolving ethical and legal dilemmas through the application of the ASCA ethical standards, case and statutory law, and the most recent research in counseling. Through the discussion of the purpose of ethical standards, professional responsibilities, ethical concerns for practice, and current research and case law, participants will be given the opportunity to increase their understanding regarding the complexities of respecting a minors’ right to confidentiality, sole possession notes, caregiver rights, duty to warn, implementing suicidal ideation response efforts, AI/Chat GPT, and personal conduct.
School counselors have a clear ethical obligation when students pose a serious and foreseeable harm to self or others. ASCA has created a research-based suicide information-gathering tool for use by school counselors to replace traditional suicide screeners and assessments requiring the user to quantify risk. This session will highlight the non-negotiables related to addressing suicidal ideation, review the tool, and outline best practices in using the suicide information-gathering tool as part of a collaborative process to respond when students are identified as at-risk for suicide.
