Counseling Center
Samantha Toney
Ensign Elementary School Counselor
I am available to set appointments, if needed.
(801)578.8150 ex 1230
Counseling Lessons
Based on data I collected from our teachers at the beginning of the year, I teach each Ensign Elementary class every week—utilizing Ensign Elementary's Performance Results, district social-emotional learning (SEL) standards, and needs assessment data.
Our lessons will touch on:
- Bullying
- Treating each other with respect
- Self-advocacy
- How to identify bullying
- How to respond to bullying (as a victim or bystander)
- More severe types of bullying, such as harassment, prejudice, etc.
- Empathy and Emotions
- Verbal vs. Non-verbal communication
- Empathy Skills
- Emotional Vocabulary
- Perspective-Taking Skills
- Boundary Setting
- What are boundaries?
- How do we set healthy boundaries?
- Conflict Resolution
- What is conflict?
- Different strategies to solve conflict
- Self-Esteem
- Building one’s own self-esteem
- Building others’ self-esteem
- Where does your self-esteem come from?
- Self-esteem vs. self-worth vs. self-respect
- Diversity
- Prejudice, stereotypes, and bias
- Kinds of diversity
- Kindness
- What is kindness?
- What kindness looks like in various settings
- Communication (Current and upcoming)
- Younger students—Good conversation skills, manners, etc.
- Verbal vs. nonverbal communication
- Older students—Electronic Communication, intended message vs. received message
Feel free to call or email me for an appointment if you feel your student needs support in the following areas:
· being teased or bullied
· changing family or transition
· need help making new friends
· social withdrawal
· struggle with self-esteem
· need help with emotions/feelings and self-regulation
· need tools to make better choices
· worried, stressed or sad
· nervousness or irritability
· difficulty coming to school
· difficulty engaging in learning
My Main Goal: To support the academic, behavioral, and emotional wellbeing of all students in the school.
- This goal may seem overwhelming…and it is! Fortunately, I do not do it alone. Every family member, teacher, and staff member at our school works together to support the whole child.
What does a school counselor do?
Here’s a list of the things I spend the most time doing on a “normal” day:
- Teach social and emotional skills to whole classes of students—i.e. empathy, conflict resolution, friendship building
- Collaborate with teachers to meet individual student needs (academic, social, or even physical needs)
- Collaborate with parents to address family or school concerns
- Meet with students in small groups (2-5 kids) to build friendships, strengthen community, and/or to work on specific skills needed by the students
- Monitor friendships and peer interactions at most recesses to head off most problems before they become problems
- Meet with students individually to check in, ensuring kids feel safe and giving them tools to be successful
If a student is upset about a specific situation that happened, I will talk with them for anywhere from 2-60 minutes to try to solve the problem. If it’s a small problem, I may even just talk to them in the hallway for a short time. If it turns out to be a symptom of a more long-term problem going on, I will always contact parents to make sure they are aware of it, and we may meet to discuss how we can provide the best supports possible for the students.
If there’s something you’re unsure about, or if you would like to provide input on something we can be doing better to support the needs of our students, let me know! I believe in progress, not perfection. Your kids will guide the future of our world, and they are important.
Thank you for all you do to support our kids.