Big news! I’ve officially finished my final product. Now, all that’s left is to present everything to the department of counseling, which will go down next week! I made the final touches this morning before my mentor visit, and Vanessa loved how both of the videos turned out! We planned for the meeting, and all I have to do now is get the videos exported to YouTube and check in with the department to make sure that I can get the technology set up. I can really see the finish line of this process now, and it’s honestly hard to process that all my work is about to come to fruition. At my visit today, Vanessa shared some exciting news regarding the steps that FISD is already planning to take to insert more mental health into the curriculum! Starting next year, the district will be hiring more staff for the counseling department, almost doubling it in size. This means that there will be more access to therapy from the counselors. On top of that, in the coming years, there will be new positions added that will relieve school counselors of their non-counseling responsibilities, such as testing and filling out accommodations forms. I was so glad to hear this news, since I have talked to school counselors who wish that they had more time to do what they really loved about their job. The work I’ve done will be falling in line with everything else that is about to happen. The future is bright.
