Running head: CONSULTATION FIELD EXPERIENCE

Consultation Field Experience

at Southwest Middle School
Kierston Beets
Kansas State University

CONSULTATION FIELD EXPERIENCE

2
Abstract

This paper will review the field experience I conducted at Southwest Middle School in
Lawrence, KS. Throughout the experience I worked with both of the counselors at Southwest,
but the main counselor I consulted with was Sandy Liechti. Sandy has worked as a counselor in
many different school settings and at several different levels. After some discussion about
different students and other problems she would like to see addressed in the years to come we
decided the focus for this project would be on girl drama and becoming more proactive instead
of reactive. We discussed many different ideas that the current counselor and myself could
continue to grow and develop on. The model of consultation I chose to focus on was systemslevel consultation because I will be working on a program level concern. I will provide ideas for
assessment, strategies to improve the concern and some of the stakeholders involved in the
school.

CONSULTATION FIELD EXPERIENCE

Consultation Field Experience

at Southwest Middle School
Southwest Middle School is located in Lawrence, KS. The school has about 700 students
in the building and is consider one of the more affluent middle schools in the district. For this
project I worked with Sandy Liechti, the interim school counselor. Sandy has worked at all three
levels throughout her years of school counseling, but told me that Southwest has been one of her
favorite schools. I decided to work with Sandy for many different reasons; after this school year I
will be taking Sandys spot, Sandy is an experienced counselor that many people really look up
to and Sandy will be willing to provide me with valuable information about the school because
she will be leaving and since she is an interim school counselor, she has a view that other people
may not have.
When I went in for my interview I asked What is the greatest problem that you would
like addressed in your school?. The interviewers talked about how great their school was and
how many students do enjoy being at Southwest, but one of the big problems they had this year
that they wanted to avoid for next year was girl drama and the typical mean girls. I had an idea
that this would be the program issue that would be addressed for this assignment and I was
correct, but not only do we need to focus on girl drama, but also on being more proactive. Sandy
told me that they have been very reactive with the girl drama in the school (S. Liecthi, personal
communication, May 11, 2015). As school counselors, one of our main job descriptions is to stop
problems before they happen. We need to be proactive when we think there could be a potential
problem. It can be really difficult to address a problem that isnt there and could potentially not
be there, but we have to take what we know about students and the school setting and do the best

CONSULTATION FIELD EXPERIENCE

we can. School counselors cannot predict the future and will be reactive to some situations, but
there are ways to avoid certain problems with proper planning.
Girl drama can come in many forms, physical bullying, talking behind another persons
back, starting or spreading rumors, etc. All of these problems have arisen at Southwest with a
group of 6th grade girls and we want to make sure that we address and minimize this problem
before they start 7th grade. This biggest impact for this problem is girls, or boys, feeling hurt,
excluded, or victimized. It can also cause problems in the classroom because students dont feel
comfortable and their minds are often else where. This can be a difficult to problem to address,
but we will do the best we can.
Since I will be working on adjusting a program concern and not an individual student I
will be working from the systems-level consultation and collaboration. According to systems
theory, there are two types of systems: open and closed. Open systems are systems where objects
can move in and out of, this can include families and organizations. Closed systems are
impermeable and operate without taking or producing resources, like a water fountain pump
(Brown, Pryzwansky, & Schulte, 2011). Human beings will form systems based on goals, and for
a school, the goal is to produce successful, happy and healthy students.
This model has seven different stages; pre-entry, contract setting, problem exploration,
information gathering/problem confirmation/goal setting, solution searching/intervention
selection, evaluation, and then termination (Brown et al., 2011). Since I am not actually in the
school yet, I will be an external consultee. Also because I will not be completing all of the steps
in the consultation process based on time and other limitations I will be combining and excluding
some of the various steps.

CONSULTATION FIELD EXPERIENCE

The first stage of the consultation process is the entry stage. There are a couple of steps
that happen in this stage and they include surveying the problem and what are the goals of the
organization, what are the resources and commitment to change and after that work to set up a
contract, which moves into the next step (Brown et al., 2011). The main step that needs to
happen in this stage is generating information about the problem and starting the change process.
I do believe there is desire for change here and so this is the point where we start
brainstorming ideas on how to change the problem at hand. Systems-level change has a different
process than other consultations and one may point to focus on is that the consultant isnt the
expert. They are more of someone who is on the outside looking in, that is why it is more
beneficial to be an external consultant when it comes to systemic change. The consultant instead
will gather data on the human processes and that is what I was working to do throughout my
field experience. I spent most of my time discussing ideas with Sandy, \but I also talked to the
other counselor, principal, assistant principal, and teachers. Not all of the conversations where
about the girl drama I will be focusing on here, but instead being proactive and working to avoid
problems and I will incorporate these discussions throughout my paper as well.
After the first stage of collecting and gathering data from everyone we will move into the
diagnosis and assessment stage of the process. I think one major problem that Southwest has
faced, and are trying to address, is there has been a lot of change in the counseling office these
past couple of years and because of that, the counselors have been putting out fires instead of not
letting them get lit in the first place. Sandy is only an interim counselor and has come in and
done the best she could, but it is difficult to come in during the middle of the year. The other
counselor is recently new and she came into situation unprepared because she is also recently
graduated.

CONSULTATION FIELD EXPERIENCE

I believe that is why the principal is pulling me in now and working with me to address concerns
they have. This is also the stage where I take the data I have gathered from my assessments, but
because I didnt actually perform the assessments I will briefly touch on the assessments we have
talked about administrating at the beginning of next year to not only catch the girls that could be
a large concern with the drama, but also to catch any student that may need those tier 2 or 3
interventions.
The entire school district will be administering a new test to all students to catch those
students earlier that may need extra support. This test will actually be administered to the teacher
and they will grade the students they have on not only educational skills, but behavior and
personality traits as well. This data will be especially helpful to all people involved in the school
setting, but especially school counselors because they can catch the students and start to work
with them before a problem arises. Another assessment the other counselor has talked about
administrating would be to the students and ask them to address their concerns about coming into
the middle school and also to get their ideas on what we need to be proactive about. On top of
these two I will create an assessment that I would like to administer to the 8th and 7th grade
teachers. Since the girls they had the most trouble with this year will be moving up to 7th grade I
would like to see the concerns of the 7th grade teachers I will be working with and since I will
work with all of the 8th grade teachers I would like to see what changes they would like to see in
this position and how I can be proactive not only for the students, but for them as well. This will
all be done at the beginning of next year.
Once I have gathered my data and have worked through my assessments I will move to
goal setting and the intervention stages. The goal is to become more proactive, with not only girl

CONSULTATION FIELD EXPERIENCE

drama, but any problem. When talking to Sandy I mentioned ideas that were girl drama specific,
but at the interview she told me to not forget the boys and the problems they can face (S. Liechti,
personal communication, May 13, 2015). Some of the ideas I came up with to address the girl
drama are simple but hopefully effective strategies. These include strategies of talking to
elementary counselors and finding out which girls could be a concern, working to empower the
girls (not only the victims, but also the bullies), making sure we there is a greater presence of
counselors throughout the school, group activities for the girls that are having problems and
making sure that we continue to address this topic throughout the year. Sandy told me that I was
on the right track with these ideas and we need to make sure continue to develop (S. Liechti,
personal communication, May 13, 2015).
The main intervention I would apply when working to become more proactive I would
work from the idea of group interventions (Brown et al., 2011). I believe that it will help not only
to work with the students, but also to inform the teachers of what problems we could face and
what they need to watch out for. The most important thing here would be taking the data from the
assessments and relying that to the teachers. On the other hand, when working with students it
would also be useful to use the group intervention. This would mean letting the students know
what we expect of them and what concerns we have that the students could face. I believe it is
important for them to know what problems could arise in the middle school setting, but the
counselors are there to help them and they are available almost all the time to talk about those
problems.
After all of these steps have been completed we will need to evaluate and decide what we
need to adjust for the rest of the year and the years to come. As I have stated earlier, a counselor

CONSULTATION FIELD EXPERIENCE

can never be entirely proactive. There will be problems that are a complete blind side, but there
will also be problems that are constants in the school setting. One of the best ways to evaluate if
the goal has been met is to see if the problem has been reduced or eliminated, in this case that
would mean that there are less mean girls. If next year we still feel as though we are putting out
this fire then the problem hasnt been addressed and we need to reevaluate our strategies. Each
year will be different and we will need to reevaluate each year, but if we are starting to get a lead
on this concern we will know that we are taking steps in the right direction.
There are many different players in the school setting and each of them has their own
role. The other counselor and myself are there to help the students in different ways, but the most
important is to be proactive and advocate for the students. The principals will be there to help
support, not only the counselors, but the teachers, students, and other players that are outside the
school. Teachers are on the frontline, they see the students more than most and they will be able
to recognize problems we may not be able to see. Everyone needs to play their position to make
a school work in harmony.
I have already discussed a bit about the assessments that would be helpful in working to
address the concerns, but I will dive into them a bit more. I will discuss all three assessments
instead of two because I do believe that all of the assessment will provide useful information
once we receive the results. The student and teacher assessments will be created by the other
counselor and myself and the district wide assessment: Comprehensive, Integrated, Three-Tiered,
CI3T.
The students assessment will be in the form of questionnaire that we will give out to the
students, most importantly incoming 6th graders. We will ask them what their concerns are for

CONSULTATION FIELD EXPERIENCE

the new year and what problems have been/or will need be to be addressed this year. Other
middle schools have given similar questionnaires and were actually very surprised by the
responses they received. For instance, one school received overwhelming statistics saying that
cyber-bullying didnt need to be addressed and that can be surprising because we know that
cyber-bullying is a growing problem. While the results say we dont need to address cyberbullying, it will tell what other problems the students are concerned with and if we want to
address cyber-bullying to do it in a new way.
For the teacher assessment I will only give it to the only the teachers I am working
directly with, the entire 8th grade and part of the 7th grade. I will ask the teachers what areas
they think are lacking in the counseling program and what can be improved upon. In talking with
administration it seems as though there are many strong academic teachers, but many of them are
lacking with teaching social skills. I would get their opinion on what areas they feel the most
uncomfortable with and then work with them to improve in those areas. Lawrence Public
Schools is starting a new social skills curriculum in the middle school setting that will happen
every week in advisory, similar to homeroom, and teachers will teach the bulk of that curriculum.
The other counselor and myself cannot be in every classroom every time they are to work on this
new curriculum so we need to make sure we prepare the teachers as best as possible for what
could come up in each lesson and how to address that. I know that teachers will be more willing
to address some problems and I just want to gauge where they are at with everything that is
planned to be covered with the new curriculum.
On top of the new social skills curriculum, the district is also wanting to catch those
higher tier students before they need help. To do this the district will administer a test to all of the

CONSULTATION FIELD EXPERIENCE

10

teachers and each one will be given a roster of students and they will gauge their students not
only on academic work, but also social skills. The hope is to intervene faster with both academic
and social skills. This will be helpful tool, as long as we use it correctly. Because teachers will be
rating the students we have make sure we not only know the student, but also the teacher and the
relationship between the too. For instance, teachers will rate students on ability to cheat. If the
teacher and the student dont get along the teacher may rate them higher on this than what is
actually true. This is a step in the right direction, we just have to make sure we use it correctly.
Sandy is definitely an advocate. She wants to make sure that the students have plans and
all of the information when working with them. I fall a bit more in the joint problem solver
camp. I want to work as a team to help the students. I believe that both of these consulting styles
are effective when it comes to working with students. It is important to know all of the different
types of styles, but also to know what style you tend to operate out of. Sandy was very helpful
when it came to the consulting process. She provided me with useful information and ideas that I
hadnt really thought about. She also allowed me to talk about my ideas and if I was on the right
track she let me know. Sandy has a wealth of knowledge that I am glad I was able to experience.
I think this has been a very successful consultation and will continue to be one. Sandy has
introduced me to people in the school and provided me with a good idea of how each person in
the school operates. I will go into this experience with much more knowledge than most people
have and I am extremely grateful for the opportunity.
This has definitely been a weird consultation and field experience for me. Once I started
the semester and saw that we had a field experience project I was excited because this meant I

CONSULTATION FIELD EXPERIENCE

11

could get my foot in the door. I dont know if this project itself helped me, but the fact that I
could send an email and have them at least see my name and interest did help. When it came
time to working I believe that overall I did well in the consultation process. I gained a great deal
of knowledge from Sandy and she was able to help me out tremendously. I am someone that is
shy and reserved when you first meet me and because of that when I was in some group setting,
the 8th grade team and administrator meeting, I was still reserved, but I know that I will break
out of my shell once I get to know these individuals better and continue to develop relationships
with these people. I want to make sure that I have the skills listed and that I efficient in these
skills because all of these skills are necessary for a school to work.
This experience has shown me a great deal. I am extremely grateful to be able to be in my
new school before the new school year starts and be able to get my feet wet. I know that this will
continue to be a good experience for me and I am extremely lucky to be at Southwest and be able
to work with the people I will be working with.

CONSULTATION FIELD EXPERIENCE

12
References

Brown, D., Pryzwanksy, W. B., & Schulte, A. C. (2011). Psychological consultation and
collaboration: Introduction to theory and practice (7th ed.) Upper Saddle River,
NJ:
Pearson Education, Inc.