Outskirts Press, INC.

From tears and fears to cheers—the adult guide for middle-schoolers

Twenty of the most common issues that drive emotional middle-school students to the school counselor’s door are told in story form based on real-life confidential meetings, phone calls, and interventions. Stories include practical life lessons and inspiring solutions for such problems as anger management, eating disorders, peer pressure, bullying, divorcing parents, failure spirals, broken friendships, gossip, sexual harassment, and test and performance anxiety. The stories also provide insight for challenges with parents, teachers, or siblings, and they help students deal with being new at school, death and major change in the family, and friends who are desperate or hurting themselves. Each of the chapters details the process of taking these educationally disruptive issues from emergence to resolution in a format perfect for use by school counselors, teachers, and parents. Additionally, each chapter offers discussion and reflection questions at the end to help promote insight through discussions with individuals, groups, or in classrooms. This full range of school counselor programs, professional resources, and responsibilities is the perfect read for the school counselor wanting new tools and strategies, or for the graduate student wanting an understanding and guide for the career they have chosen. And for the parent or teacher, this book will help them support the social and emotional growth of their middle-school children with an understanding of their emotional needs.

"Okay, let's get going." Mrs. Kaufmann called the group meeting to a start as she joined the circle and looked around at all the drawings. "What are the emotions we're cartooning this morning? Anything new?" she checked.

Allison was first to share. "I'm trying to draw frustration, but I don't know how, and I'm frustrated," she laughed.

"Now that's a good one to talk about. Is there anyone here who can identify with that one?" Mrs. Kaufmann asked.

Claire immediately answered, "Oh, I know that one! When I'm at my dad's and I'm finally feeling comfortable, I have to pack up and go back to my mom's. And sometimes, I leave things at the other place, and then I have to do without it for days. That is so frustrating."

Miranda chimed in, "Me, too. I just can't think of everything I'm going to need for the next couple of days when I'm packing. And I'm leaving stuff that I need for school, and my parents are both working, so they can't bring it in for me."