Do you have a counseling intervention in your toolbox that just seems to work with your students, time and time again? You know what I’m talking about - that trick up your sleeve that catches their attention, gets them thinking, and leads to lightbulb moments? The one you excitedly share with other school counselors because you just know they’ll have success with it, too?
I can think of a few interventions that I’ve grown to love and use when the time is right, but when it comes to using literature as a counseling tool, I’m all in, all year long. Two picture books in particular come to mind as examples of why bibliotherapy is such a powerful counseling intervention with students. I’ve used the books Enemy Pie by Derek Munson and Peer Pressure Gauge by Julia Cook in elementary classroom lessons since my very first year as a school counselor. Every time I use those stories to teach a classroom lesson, I’m amazed at how connected my students are to the story. I’m not talking about the kind of connected where a lot of the students seem to be enjoying the story, or at least are politely following along. No, I mean the kind of engaged where, when I glance out at them while I’m reading the book, almost every student is “in” the story. Their bodies are still sitting on the floor in front of me, but mentally and emotionally, they’re right there on the pages with the characters.
It isn’t the entertainment value of the stories that has me hooked on using them year after year, though. When the story is finished and we move on to the heavy lifting of the lesson - the processing questions and dialogue those questions inspire - it has been my experience that, with both stories, the students can barely wait to share their thoughts and ideas. They have empathy for the characters and their dilemmas, and they generate heartfelt, realistic suggestions that the characters can use to improve their situations.
As for those lightbulb moments? They happen when the students consider what it would be like for them to take the advice they’ve just given the story characters. These are the kind of classroom lessons that my students hang on to. Sometimes, students will share with me weeks or months later how they used an idea from the lesson to take care of business in their own life. I love that!
All this, thanks to a seemingly simple, deceptively powerful picture book.
Bibliocounseling is an intervention that school counselors can use to facilitate therapeutic growth with students through the use of language-based forms such as books, poetry, lyrics, and even students’ own creative writing. You know that finding literature is as easy as hitting up a bookstore, placing an online order, or visiting your local library, but despite the ease of finding resources, school counselors must be committed to use best practices when it comes to literature selection for bibliocounseling purposes. How, then, does a school counselor sift through the resources out there to find literature that a.) is high-quality, b.) is engaging to students, and c.) can be used therapeutically through dialogue and interaction with you, as the school counselor, to help students learn social skills, develop self-awareness, or accomplish other social emotional counseling goals?
Whew! That’s a tall order! But like all interventions that we use with our students, bibliocounseling is worth doing right. As this year’s bibliocounseling Special Interest Network (SpIN) facilitator for ASCA, I’ll be writing about how you can make using literature as an intervention work for you. Some topics might appeal more to school counselors at certain grade levels than others, but there will be a little something for everyone. My hope is that we can have conversations about what ethical and effective bibliocounseling looks like in our school settings, and in doing so, you can take away some knowledge and ideas about bibliocounseling to add to your counseling tool box.
I also hope to learn from you! I’m always on the lookout for new tips and tools to stay on top of my counseling game. If you have tried-and-true ideas that would help other school counselors use bibliocounseling as an intervention, I’d love to hear about it! Whether it’s a book that really “sticks” with students or a creative way you’ve incorporated literature into your small groups or individual sessions, send your thoughts my way. You can also share classroom lessons and resources in the bibliocounseling folder in the ASCA Scene Library. Even if you don’t have a resource to share, take some time to check out what’s already there.
If you don’t have much experience using bibliocounseling with your students, I encourage you to learn more about this counseling intervention and consider how you can work it into your comprehensive school counseling program. Who knows - maybe you’ll find a book or two (or an armful, or a few bookshelves worth!) that you’ll find yourself reaching for again and again. Bibliocounseling, like all counseling interventions, is not a cure, but when applied using best practices, you and your students might experience some magic.
Enjoy the rest of your summer!
- Katie