Concurrent with the release of Education and Identity in 1969, the United States was at the nexus of social unrest and expanding funding and support for educational initiatives. The decades of the 1950s and 1960s saw a great increase in research and practice focused on developmental theorists working in the area of higher education. At the forefront of this work was theorist Arthur Chickering. The primary construct of Chickering’s (1969) work is the Seven Vectors of Development. The vectors are: (a) developing competence, (b) managing emotions, (c) moving through autonomy toward interdependence, (d) developing mature interpersonal relationships, (e) establishing identity, (f) developing purpose, and (g) developing integrity. This vector addresses competence across three domains: intellectual, physical and manual, and interpersonal. This chapter briefly outlines Chickering’s life work, and ways in which practitioners can apply his theory to their daily interactions with college students.

Traditionally, there has been a division of labor in higher education between academics and student affairs. This chapter is designed to focus on the plausibility of using theory to facilitate communication across the many departments and divisions of higher education. It is important to remember that the student affairs profession “grew from the campus up, not from theory down”. Early institutions of higher education followed the Oxbridge model with historically based residential living systems in which educators resided in residence halls with the students. This concept of faculty–student integration remains a valuable component in student success today, and is discussed in greater detail in this chapter. One useful “language” for student affairs practitioners is found in Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development. Erik Erikson pioneered a theoretical framework and proposes an eight-staged life-span model through which developing individuals permeate starting at birth and eventually ending with death.

Informal and loosely generated models of White identity development began to emerge in the late 1970s and early 1980s; however, the first formal White identity development model, or typology, was proposed by Helms in 1984. This chapter describes her model, followed by an application of the model to the opening vignette. It identifies strategies for educators and student affairs practitioners to work with students like Craig to begin to more fully understand his Whiteness, the sociopolitical realities of race on campus and, in general, increase his multicultural competence, and engage in healthy interracial interactions. The chapter also discusses the summary of the literature examining the steps educators and student affairs practitioners can take to promote their own cross-cultural interactions and multicultural knowledge in order to more effectively work with students struggling with their own racial identity, followed by the strategies to promote healthy interracial interactions among students.

Holland theorized six distinct worker personalities (Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional). This is often referred to as RIASEC. The theory includes six work environments that correspond to the same personality types (Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional). Although people possess aspects of each type, the general thesis of the theory is that salient types (work personalities) will emerge in each individual. Holland’s work represents a significant contribution to career development and counseling. Understanding Holland’s focus on interests as expressions of personality aids career counselors and student development specialists in helping students gain critical self-understanding. Exploring the match between personalities and work environments is a fundamental aspect of applying this theory to student development. Helping students to explore and learn about different careers that may be of interest to them is congruent with the goals of higher education institutions and student development theories.

Integral to theories of moral development is the matter of not only what individuals think but also how they think. Across the life span, moral development is shaped by challenging events that prompt individuals to question the frameworks they have created for finding ways to determine what is good and what is bad. College students encounter new ideas and values that differ from those of their families, in the classroom, in the residence hall, in the dining facility, in the student union, and sometimes on the athletic field or court. In order to illustrate how moral development unfolds within a college student population, this chapter introduces a fictitious character who displays each stage of moral development for two theories–Lawrence Kohlberg’s (1963, 1984) and Carol Gilligan’s (1982) models of moral development. The chapter discusses the underpinnings of two specific moral development theories.

Many adults understand the pressures of having multiple responsibilities that require attention in a variety of life circumstances. Whether giving attention to work, friends, school, religious activities, romantic relationships, family, or even recreation, adulthood requires the ongoing ability to multitask a variety of expectations and responsibilities. Before reaching adulthood, each person has experienced influences that affect how we think, feel, and react to life’s circumstances. This chapter offers professionals and educators one model for understanding these influences and their impact on college students who oftentimes are transitioning to a new world of adult responsibilities for the first time. Ecological theory originally developed out of the work of Urie Bronfenbrenner (1977) within the field of developmental psychology. The concepts described in Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory offer a number of important implications for supporting students in a college setting.

The general racial/ethnic identity theories offer some insight into possible ways to approach diversity education within all aspects of student affairs. Student affairs professionals and faculty could facilitate educational programs, seminars, and workshops that challenge students to confront issues of prejudice and racism as well as to cultivate racial or ethnic pride. These programs should address the external conditions in which students explore their identity and how to make meaning of shifting thoughts as they progress in their racial or ethnic identity development. By looking at diversity through the lens of racial or ethnic orientation, professionals can meet students where they are and help them not only understand other cultures, but also how they fit into their own race/ethnicity. Practitioners might also use these models as a way to gain insight as to where students might be in their racial/ethnic identity development.

At its core, Kolb’s construct of experiential learning is more than simply a theory. Experiential learning theory (ELT) holds that learning is “the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience”. Although ELT is often used in formal classroom settings, there are many out-of-classroom environments in student affairs that use and benefit from it as well. One way in which colleges and universities use experiential learning is through service-learning courses and projects. Several scholars have reported that using service learning in conjunction with ELT provides students with meaningful ways to engage not only with the community, but also to come to know more about diversity and social justice. Because out-of-classroom learning is such a key component in higher education and in the holistic development of students, using Kolb’s experiential learning model can aid students in meaning making as it facilitates personal growth.

The Myers–Briggs type indicator (MBTI) was designed to help people understand themselves and others by helping them appreciate the diverse strengths of different personality types. It has been widely used in counseling as well as business to work on team building and relationships. There is, therefore, room for using this assessment within the field of student affairs to help build teams and groups both for professionals in the field and for students. This chapter discusses the basic information about the MBTI and implications for student affairs. The instrument is considered as a personality assessment for normal individuals designed to assess personality type. The MBTI offers strength-based guidance in every realm of living concerning individual growth to interpersonal relationships, in academic matters to spiritual terrains. From the office of the president to the chaplain, the MBTI is a useful and effective tool on a college campus.

The study of human development, broad in scope and diverse in nature, has been the focus of research by psychologists, sociologists, educators, human ecologists, and many others since the early to mid-20th century. This chapter provides an overview of identity development in young adults. Initial theories across multiple domains of development (e.g., cognitive, psychological) have focused primarily on child and adolescent changes based on the assumption that most development slowed considerably or crystallized and stopped completely after late adolescence. As a result, developmental issues in young adulthood (approximately ages 18–24 years) received greater scrutiny, and theoretical frameworks for understanding these aspects emerged. The chapter examines some of the issues and theories that impact identity development during this period in life. Psychosocial developmental theories offer frameworks for conceptualizing the issues individuals encounter at various points across the life span and have provided structure for more recent research as well.

This chapter focuses on the racial identity development of Black or African American college students and of students who identity as biracial or multiracial. Although racial identity development theories do not support biological distinction between racial groups in the United States, they recognize how different conditions of domination or oppression of various groups have influenced their construction of self. In this chapter Black is used to refer to the racial identity of U.S.-born persons of African descent who may categorize themselves as Black, Black American, African American, or Afro Caribbean. The term biracial is used to describe persons with two parents of differing monoracial or multiracial descents. It is worth noting that some individuals may claim Black racial identity although neither of their parents identify as Black, such as the case of civil rights activist Rachel Dolezal. This chapter goes in depth into such alternative experiences of Black identity development.

Sociocultural theories situate learning and development as embedded within cultural, institutional, and historical contexts. Within these contexts, the focus is on how individual learning and development is mediated by social interactions and culturally organized activities. The goal within a sociocultural approach is to understand the relationship among cultural, institutional, and historical situations and their influences on human cognition. This chapter provides an overview of the history and development of sociocultural theories. It discusses two specific sociocultural theories: Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) and communities of practice. Communities of practice, the central component of another sociocultural theory, developed out of the work of Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger on situated learning that focused on the role of participation in a community and social learning. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the application of sociocultural theories and closing vignettes.

Transition is a process that takes place over time rather than at one point in time, and every transition begins with an ending. Schlossberg (2008) explained that each phase of the transition allows for a way of viewing and navigating the transition. Building student programming efforts around Schlossberg’s Transition Model adds an important foundation to any transitional program. Taking stock is a process by which transitioners examine their situation and coping resources for the situation. Taking stock consists of analyzing four domains: (1) Situation - the situation at the time of the transition; (2) Support - the people and assets that strengthen and encourage the student; (3) Self - who the student is (identity), his or her optimism level, and dealing with ambiguity; (4) Strategies - ways and functions of coping. Incorporating the Four Ss as standard components ensures a holistic approach in bolstering student success and retention.

As diverse student populations gain visibility in colleges and universities across the United States, higher education counselors and student affairs professionals aim to effectively serve and meet the needs of these students. Individuals with disabilities (IWDs) represent one of these previously segregated diverse voices and perspectives that have recently experienced positive developments from inclusive college experiences. College students with disabilities represent an important segment of the growing student population. In 1997, Gill proposed a Disability Identity Integration Model (DIIM) for people with disabilities at the individual and group levels. The DIIM model aims to understand the integration process for people with disabilities into society in a process that involves identity development as part of the disabled minority group. The DIIM offers four types of integration: (a) coming to feel we belong, (b) coming home, (c) coming together, and (d) coming out. This integration process promotes personal empowerment and disability rights.

Perry’s theory of development has had a significant impact on the field of psychology and is essential to understanding the cognitive development of college students. This chapter provides an overview of Perry’s theory and describes the ways in which it still applies to college students on a diverse, pluralistic college campus. The chapter discusses how Perry’s theory continues to apply to the diversified college student population common in modern American institutions of higher education. It outlines the ways in which Perry’s scheme applies to Fatima, the contextual and pluralistic challenges faced at each position, and future development, should Fatima continue to courageously accept responsibility for her moral development and overcome the ambiguities of relativism. The chapter describes utilizing Perry’s scheme as a lens through which to view Fatima’s development, anticipate deflections from growth, and identify strategies and campus and community resources to foster inclusivity, personal exploration, and continued development.

Student developmental models that can be used to understand various students in groups and their development include identity models, such as Chickering and Reisser’s model, as well as Levinson’s model; psychosocial models, such as Erikson’s model; intellectual and ethical developmental models, such as Perry’s model; moral developmental models, such as Kohlberg’s model; cognitive models, such as Piaget’s and Vygotsky’s models; and experiential models, such as Kolb’s model. For a broad and universal understanding, these and other student developmental theories are integrated into the group theory. This chapter provides a discussion of group theory in relation to various salient student development theories. It addresses a brief introduction about the need for inclusion and multicultural awareness for students and student groups. The chapter discusses aspects for understanding successful student group development regarding group types, group leader guidelines, group processes, and learning reflection of student groups through a multicultural lens.

Students may enter higher education with a strong set of ideals, firm models of career options, and certain confidence in their ultimate direction; however, it is not uncommon for students to begin college unprepared for life after graduation, let alone housing assignments and first semester coursework. This chapter focuses on the difficulties surrounding the major choice, the factors that influence decision making, career theories in student affairs, and campus and community resources available to assist students in gathering important data about their major and career choices. Selecting a college major and making career decisions are not easy, and require self-knowledge, self-examination, and research on what is available in the world of work. Essential to student success is the ability of student affairs professionals to accurately recognize when students are struggling and make an appropriate referral for career counseling, academic support services, or personal counseling.

One of the more comprehensive and enduring theories of psychosocial development was created by Erik Erikson (Erikson, 1968). He developed a map of human psychosocial development that covered the crises and touch points humans experience from birth to death. This chapter provides brief descriptions of each stage of Erikson’s chronologically organized model. Erikson’s model of sequential development implies that incomplete resolution of one developmental crisis may hinder future developmental progress regardless of an individual’s chronological age. Thus, “arrested development” may lead to a variety of concerns, behavioral problems, or adverse events for students, regardless of their ages. Awareness of the role that psychosocial development can play in a student’s maturity level or his or her adherence to rules and expectations can help student affairs professionals recognize and respond to student issues. The chapter outlines the ways in which obstructed development may create challenges for students on campus.

This chapter presents an overview of intrapsychic theories, cognitive theories, behavioral and environmental theories, biological theories, and integrative theories. Past ideas about the nature of adolescent development serve as foundations for current adolescent developmental theories. In many ways, the adolescent years are the culmination of childhood; hence, in order to truly understand adolescence a review of what happens in the years leading up to adolescence can help clarify the nature of adolescents. Although the early biological process of puberty begins to develop several years before adolescence, in Freud’s theory puberty and adolescence are considered roughly equivalent. Adolescents experience a reawakening of and an obsession with sexuality. Studies indicate that occurrences of eating disorders, obsessive-compulsive patterns, and self-reports of same-sex attraction surface during the adolescent years as a result of the reawakening of the underlying subconscious conflicts.

This chapter describes the importance of research-based practice, the research method, evaluating the science and ethics of research and careers in adolescent development. The theories that guide research and practice in adolescent development now were generated through a rigorous and ongoing process of scientific investigation. Issues relating to health, school, delinquency, parenting, family, relationships, and dating are just a few of the many areas that use the ideas generated by the study of adolescent development to benefit adolescents in practice. Questions in adolescent development must be approached using the scientific method. Maybe playing violent video games is linked with aggression in adolescence, but as adolescents enter young adulthood playing violent video games impacts people in different ways. A college degree or knowledge in adolescent development can be applied to many fields of work.

This chapter describes family, friends and enemies, dating and love, tv and media, technology and cyberbullying. Children with close family relationships during middle childhood are more likely to have closeness in these relationships during adolescence than those with detached family relationships during middle childhood. Studies indicate that adolescents with high levels of parental monitoring are less likely to engage in problem behaviors than those with little or no parental monitoring. Many adolescents have little or no conflict, and those with elevated levels of conflict are often experiencing other difficulties in their lives such as substance abuse or depression. The way in which adolescents engage in victimization shifts from primarily physical aggression, which is more common during middle childhood, to social or relational bullying. An additional aspect of the reorganization of an adolescent’s social network discussed earlier involves a shakeup of the peer group to include more cross-sex interactions.

Many clinicians and researchers who work with adolescents classify the adolescent problems into two general categories of difficulties: externalizing problems and internalizing problems. Externalizing problems are difficulties that affect the external world of adolescents, such as drug abuse, delinquency, and engaging in risky behaviors. The adolescent who is abusing drugs is likely to also be engaged in risky sexual behaviors and delinquency. The discovery of and experimentation with drugs are common for adolescents and vary primarily from socially acceptable and legal drugs such as caffeine, cigarettes, and alcohol to socially rejected and illegal drugs, ranging from marijuana to heroin and cocaine. Unfortunately, adolescents often do not think that drug abuse is harmful, despite the fact that both alcohol consumption and marijuana use have short-term and long-term negative effects. However, sexuality during adolescence has the potential to become a serious health concern.

This chapter describes the overall health, sleep and diet and nutrition. The importance of focusing on health promotion during adolescence is apparent when considering that close to two-thirds of premature deaths in adulthood can be attributed to unhealthy lifestyle choices made in the adolescent years. The approach adolescents take to their overall physical health is driven by competing cognitive forces producing behaviors that sometimes seem contradictory. Boys tend to exercise more often than girls, and girls are more likely to engage in healthy eating habits in comparison to boys. The adolescent years are an opportunity to develop healthy eating patterns that can carry into adulthood. Family is also important in helping adolescents develop healthy eating patterns. Close to 80% of obese adolescents continue to be obese throughout their adult years, with many of them eventually having to contend with serious health issues such as heart disease, diabetes, and stroke.

This chapter describes the external and internal physical changes and the brain. The hormonal changes of puberty initiate drastic growth in the body and organs of adolescents. Recent advances in brain-imaging technologies such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and positron emission tomography (PET) scans have contributed greatly to understanding of brain development in adolescence. Similar to what happens during infancy, the early adolescent’s brain begins a process of overproduction, which is an increase in neural connections in the brain’s gray matter. The development of gray matter follows a pattern of maturation from the back of the brain to the front of the brain. By eliminating unused synapses the adolescent brain becomes more efficient and is able to process mental functioning at an accelerated speed. The amygdala is a small, almond-shaped structure in the midbrain charged with emotional expression.

This chapter describes the interacting forces, understanding the self, identity and emotions. It examines adolescent self and identity, which will serve as a basis for understanding much about the social and emotional world of adolescents. The adolescent years bring with them the long process of departing childhood and emerging into adulthood. Similar to many aspects of development during adolescence that proceed somewhat differently based on gender, males and females differ in the process of self-exploration and identity formation as well. Sexual experimentation is common during adolescence as part of this gender identity struggle. An inability to develop a mature ethnic identity may entail denying one’s culture of origin, whereas a healthy identity process may result in adolescents who are proud of both their culture of origin and the culture they find themselves in currently.

The adolescent stage of life does not occur in isolation from other developmental stages. When an adolescent is experiencing difficulties with parents and friends leading to feelings of sadness, studies of average adolescents and their natural propensity toward difficulties during the adolescent years can help us assess whether this particular adolescent’s problems go beyond the norm. Understanding normative adolescent development can help clarify for professionals working with teens if the issue they encounter with a client is clinical or developmental. The majority of the time, when a teen is experiencing sadness it is an expression of a normal part of the adolescent experience. Understanding normal adolescent development can help in making the types of determinations thoughtfully, without jumping to conclusions and over diagnosing adolescents with major depression when all they are experiencing is a normal developmental process.

This chapter describes Piaget’s formal operational stage, thinking in context, and educating adolescents. According to Piaget, during the formal operations stage adolescents advance in their ability to assess questions in scientific ways. Engaging in hypothetico-deductive reasoning does not just occur when adolescents are trying to solve complex questions about math and science. Adolescents have the ability to manipulate and talk about concepts such as love, the future, and God in very tangible ways. Adolescents develop perspective taking, which is the ability to understand the thoughts, emotions, and behaviors of others. In order for adolescents to be successful at social interactions, in which they will be engaged quite often, they need to understand other people. Adolescents value the ability to make independent decisions and consider this to be an integral part of the transition into adulthood.

This chapter describes the beginning of puberty, the timing of puberty and off-time puberty. Puberty is marked by striking differences between the physical development of males and females. The puberty process is an illustration of the magnificent way in which multiple systems in the body interact to produce growth. Puberty is initiated in the hypothalamus, an almond-sized structure in an area of the limbic system called the midbrain. As a child nears the adolescent years, and a threshold level of body fat is reached, fat cells produce the hormone leptin, which provides the signal to the hypothalamus to begin the puberty process. Parents, teachers, or mental health personnel should prompt discussions about the emotions linked with having the first period, feelings connected with the rite of passage of menarche, and the mixed feelings associated with puberty, such as the combination of embarrassment and pride.

This chapter provides a visual representation for the student of his or her goals that can be kept as a daily reminder. Indications can be used in individual counseling, small-group counseling, or in large-group guidance, which all meet the competencies of the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) National Model. The evaluation plan for this type of intervention would be to periodically check back with the student to discuss progress made on the desired goals depicted on the vision board. Incorporating complementary activities based on the class curriculum can be done to help youth learn more about biology, conservation, and the natural environment. Elementary and middle school students’ focus of the activity is on taking/keeping perspective, being positive, and making positive life choices, as well as understanding and respecting different strengths in different individuals. The vision board can help many different situations or issues students must deal with in today’s world.

This chapter presents over 100 interventions using art, drama, music, writing, dance, and movement that school counselors can easily incorporate into their practices with individual students and groups, and in classroom settings. These creative interventions, based on the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) National Model framework, support the key student domains of academic, career, and personal/social development. It provides a wider variety of modalities as well as easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions for each intervention. The chapter focuses on the visual arts interventions in the career domain including topics on the career cards, envisioning future, guided imagery script, and heroes: identity and adaptability in the world of work. These activities are designed to be used in small-group counseling, and individual counseling or even classroom guidance. It is also designed to help students explore and envision themselves in specific careers and self-exploration for career preparation.

This chapter presents over 100 interventions using art, drama, music, writing, dance, and movement that school counselors can easily incorporate into their practices with individual students and groups, and in classroom settings. These creative interventions, based on the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) National Model framework, support the key student domains of academic, career, and personal/social development. The chapter provides a wider variety of modalities as well as easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions for each intervention. It focuses on drama-based interventions in the career domain. The career domain activity is designed to be utilized in the working phase of small school counseling groups aimed at career exploration and development with adolescents. Providing a creative atmosphere, this activity encourages adolescents to explore, develop, and articulate career goals during single or multiple group sessions.

This chapter presents over 100 interventions using art, drama, music, writing, dance, and movement that school counselors can easily incorporate into their practices with individual students and groups, and in classroom settings. These creative interventions, based on the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) National Model framework, support the key student domains of academic, career, and personal/social development. The chapter provides a wider variety of modalities as well as easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions for each intervention. It focuses on narrative/expressive writing interventions in the personal/social domain including blue goodbye, collaborative story, and grief expression through poetry writing for spanish-speaking students, personalized stress ball, strengths scrabble, and trust tube. Bibliotherapy is a creative arts technique that can be employed by the counselor during the termination phase. The collaborative story is a brief team-building/trust-building activity in which students collaborate to create a spontaneous story together.

This chapter presents over 100 interventions using art, drama, music, writing, dance, and movement that school counselors can easily incorporate into their practices with individual students and groups, and in classroom settings. These creative interventions, based on the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) National Model framework, support the key student domains of academic, career, and personal/social development. The chapter provides a wider variety of modalities as well as easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions for each intervention. It focuses on drama-based interventions in the academic domain for doing something different. Albert Ellis developed Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy (REBT), which relates that it is not the events in our lives that cause us angst, but the beliefs centering on those events. Students will role play the ABCs above using an event that has occurred recently within their lives.

This chapter presents over 100 interventions using art, drama, music, writing, dance, and movement that school counselors can easily incorporate into their practices with individual students and groups, and in classroom settings. These creative interventions, based on the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) National Model framework, support the key student domains of academic, career, and personal/social development. The chapter provides a wider variety of modalities as well as easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions for each intervention. It focuses on creative interventions in the career domain for garden of care, and exploring occupations through sand tray and miniatures. The purpose of the Garden of Care is to teach students to nurture a living organism, develop a sense of responsibility, learn to work with others to accomplish a task, and cultivate a sense of community.

This chapter presents over 100 interventions using art, drama, music, writing, dance, and movement that school counselors can easily incorporate into their practices with individual students and groups, and in classroom settings. These creative interventions, based on the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) National Model framework, support the key student domains of academic, career, and personal/social development. It provides a wider variety of modalities as well as easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions for each intervention. The chapter focuses on movement-/dance-based interventions in the academic domain for Cakewalk Hip Hop. Positive time management skills promote positive study skills, and good study skills promote academic achievement. Elementary school is frequently a time when students learn study habits and concept of academic achievement. The Cakewalk Hip Hop is a comprehensive exercise designed to promote awareness of time management, communication with peers and teachers, and discuss persistence in a way that is both fun and instructive.

This chapter presents over 100 interventions using art, drama, music, writing, dance, and movement that school counselors can easily incorporate into their practices with individual students and groups, and in classroom settings. These creative interventions, based on the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) National Model framework, support the key student domains of academic, career, and personal/social development. The chapter provides a wider variety of modalities as well as easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions for each intervention. It focuses on movement-/dance-based interventions in the career domain for overcoming obstacles: navigating the road to career success. The movement-/dance-based interventions provides a way for students to explore situations, the self, support, and strategies to reach their career goals. The focus of the activity is to stimulate greater self-awareness as well as to increase the mind-body relationship during a time of exploration and potential stress.

This chapter presents over 100 interventions using art, drama, music, writing, dance, and movement that school counselors can easily incorporate into their practices with individual students and groups, and in classroom settings. These creative interventions, based on the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) National Model framework, support the key student domains of academic, career, and personal/social development. The chapter provides a wider variety of modalities as well as easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions for each intervention. It focuses on Creative Interventions in the personal/social domain for conflict garden, a cup of community, and feelings of nature, personal pizza party, pocket pillows, and remembrance bead bracelet. The Conflict Garden is an expressive group-counseling approach in which students create a metaphor for their family of origin in order to gain insight into their current conflict and potential resolutions. Processing postsession feelings is intense and can be overwhelming, especially when exploring painful life events.

This chapter presents over 100 interventions using art, drama, music, writing, dance, and movement that school counselors can easily incorporate into their practices with individual students and groups, and in classroom settings. These creative interventions, based on the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) National Model framework, support the key student domains of academic, career, and personal/social development. The chapter provides a wider variety of modalities as well as easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions for each intervention. It focuses on movement-/dance-based interventions in the personal/social domain for balloon walk, banana split, and being atlas: carrying the weight of the world. Balloon walk is an experiential activity in which students must learn to cooperate as a group to reach a finish line while walking with balloons between them. The banana split is a brief group-building exercise in which students line up according to their favorite flavor of ice cream.

This chapter presents over 100 interventions using art, drama, music, writing, dance, and movement that school counselors can easily incorporate into their practices with individual students and groups, and in classroom settings. These creative interventions, based on the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) National Model framework, support the key student domains of academic, career, and personal/social development. The chapter provides a wider variety of modalities as well as easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions for each intervention and focuses on visual arts interventions in the personal/social domain including intervisions for anger switch, creative expression of healing, and culture shock. It presents an activity which can be utilized in a small group, as classroom guidance, or in individual counseling. In this activity students create an object or artifact that expresses the process of healing from a past crisis, loss, or traumatic experience.

This chapter presents over 100 interventions using art, drama, music, writing, dance, and movement that school counselors can easily incorporate into their practices with individual students and groups, and in classroom settings. These creative interventions, based on the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) National Model framework, support the key student domains of academic, career, and personal/social development. It provides a wider variety of modalities as well as easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions for each intervention. The chapter focuses on music-based interventions in the academic domain including lyrics and life. This activity will help students explore what difficulties they may be experiencing in school through music. Students can pull from different songs and splice lyrics together or students can pull from a single song. Students would then summarize song content rather than play it during the group session.

This chapter presents over 100 interventions using art, drama, music, writing, dance, and movement that school counselors can easily incorporate into their practices with individual students and groups, and in classroom settings. These creative interventions, based on the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) National Model framework, support the key student domains of academic, career, and personal/social development. The chapter provides a wider variety of modalities as well as easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions for each intervention. It focuses on drama-based interventions in the personal/social domain for Elvis blindfold maze, superhero strength, and using words against bullies. This is a trust-building activity in which students take turns being a “blindfolded” follower and the leader. This activity reinforces some of the key principles of group therapy: universality, altruism, development of socialization techniques, and group cohesiveness.

This chapter presents over 100 interventions using art, drama, music, writing, dance, and movement that school counselors can easily incorporate into their practices with individual students and groups, and in classroom settings. These creative interventions, based on the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) National Model framework, support the key student domains of academic, career, and personal/social development. The chapter provides a wider variety of modalities as well as easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions for each intervention. It focuses on creative interventions in the academic domain for sand tray for special needs groups. The purpose of this technique is to develop and refine social skills through expressive sand tray technique among children with special needs or children in general. Sand tray groups can be conducted in a play therapy room, counselor’s office, or any art/sand tray room at the school.

This chapter presents over 100 interventions using art, drama, music, writing, dance, and movement that school counselors can easily incorporate into their practices with individual students and groups, and in classroom settings. These creative interventions, based on the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) National Model framework, support the key student domains of academic, career, and personal/social development. It provides a wider variety of modalities as well as easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions for each intervention. The chapter focuses on music-based interventions in the career domain including retirement celebration “DJ playlist”. This activity provides students with the opportunity to envision their future, establish goals related to career plans, and celebrate upcoming career accomplishments. Envisioning goal provides clarity and focus to the decision-making process and aid in the implementation of the steps necessary to achieve the goal.

The use of expressive arts as a healing modality has been around for thousands of years. The arts are the language through which history and healing are transferred from person to person and culture to culture. In relation to the evaluation suggestions, people also acknowledge that the interventions are designed to be extensions of the therapeutic work that is done by the school counselor. However, school counselors are encouraged to incorporate aspects of music therapy into their work with students. The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) National Standards identify and prioritize the specific attitudes, knowledge, and skills that students should be able to demonstrate as a result of participating in a school counseling program. The described attitudes, knowledge, and skills fall into three domains: academic development, career development, and personal/social development. School counselors today are faced with many challenges and demands on their time.

This chapter presents over 100 interventions using art, drama, music, writing, dance, and movement that school counselors can easily incorporate into their practices with individual students and groups, and in classroom settings. These creative interventions, based on the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) National Model framework, support the key student domains of academic, career, and personal/social development. It provides a wider variety of modalities as well as easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions for each intervention. The chapter focuses on music-based interventions in the personal/social domain for connecting students to the Civil Rights Movement through music. Music played a key role in the movement and marked pivotal milestones as the movement progressed. The music-based interventions explore songs related to the Civil Rights Movement and as an expression for discussing social justice.

This chapter presents over 100 interventions using art, drama, music, writing, dance, and movement that school counselors can easily incorporate into their practices with individual students and groups, and in classroom settings. These creative interventions, based on the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) National Model framework, support the key student domains of academic, career, and personal/social development. The chapter provides a wider variety of modalities as well as easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions for each intervention. It focuses on narrative/expressive writing interventions in the academic domain for color-coded elements. Being supportive of student learning is not only important to improving their grades, but also because it boosts their self-esteem. The intervention may be used with individuals, groups, or as a part of classroom guidance. This intervention is designed to support the learning process of students of any age.