Janine Halloran

The Many Roles of a School Counselor: An Interview with Rachel Davis of Bright Futures Counseling

The Many Roles of a School Counselor:  An Interview with Rachel Davis of Bright Futures Counseling

Every school has a school counselor and there are so many reasons why a school counselor may work with any student at any stage of their educational career. But what do they do? From individual 1-1 support to whole class workshops, a school counselor is there to see students thrive and support them with strategies so they can love and enjoy learning. They give the tools the student needs for the challenge in front of them at that moment. Today I speak to school counselor, Rachel Davis. The topics we cover in this episode are:

Bullying in Middle School Through the Lens of a Middle School Diary and Memoir

Bullying in Middle School Through the Lens of a Middle School Diary and Memoir

Firstly I want to pre-warn you that my guest Meghan Joyce Tozer and I discuss some tough topics during this episode. Today’s podcast talks about sexual abuse and suicide. We encourage you to keep this in mind when listening to this podcast. Please be aware, especially if younger ears are listening, and please click play with care. 

Sexual assault and harassment, sadly happens in schools on a too regular basis, whether that’s happening peer to peer or even between teacher to student. We hope our children never have to experience this. Knowing how to parent our children to take ownership of their bodies, so they know how to say no is key. We discuss how to navigate through abuse, bullying, harassment so they can get help is just as vital.  

In this episode, I speak with Meghan Joyce Tozer, author of the critically acclaimed novel Night, Forgotten and her annotated middle school diary, UnSlut: A Diary and a Memoir, which she wrote under the pen name Emily Lindin. The topics we cover are:

How to Talk To Kids About Anything: An Interview with Dr. Robyn Silverman

How to Talk To Kids About Anything: An Interview with Dr. Robyn Silverman

All parents will face that moment when they have to have some of life’s hard conversations and speaking with your child to prepare them for what comes in life is key. We don’t really know when the right time is but in life we have to put the building blocks in place relationally with our children so that when that time comes, we can have proactive, sensitive and good conversations. 

Take a listen to this episode where I speak to Dr Robyn Silverman about how to talk to your kids about anything. 

The topics we cover are:

Your Turn: How to Be an Adult - An Interview with Julie Lythcott-Haims

Your Turn: How to Be an Adult - An Interview with Julie Lythcott-Haims

Do you ever sit and think about how you actually became an adult? Think of all the skills you have from tying your shoelaces to presenting a report at work. How did we learn these skills? … with lots and lots of practice! And for us to practice, our parents or caregivers have to ease the control a little to allow us to make mistakes. Imagine if your parents still followed you around all day waiting to tie your shoelaces or stand up in front of your colleagues to make that presentation themselves, life wouldn’t be very fulfilling would it! Take a listen to this episode where I speak to Julie Lythcott-Haims about how parenting is about letting go of control. 

The topics we cover in this episode are:

Sensory Based Strategies for Kids: An Interview with Claire Heffron from The Inspired Treehouse

Sensory Based Strategies for Kids: An Interview with Claire Heffron from The Inspired Treehouse

Does your child like to move and fidget a lot? Maybe lay upside down or spin around in circles? This isn’t just a random act of silliness or hyperactivity, they are likely gaining sensory input! In this episode, my guest Claire and I discuss proprioception, which is your body's ability to sense movement, action, and location. It's present in every muscle movement you have. Without proprioception, you wouldn't be able to move without thinking about your next step. We also discuss the vestibular system which functions to detect the position and movement of our head in space. This allows for the coordination of eye movements, posture, and equilibrium.

The topics we cover in this episode are:

Introduction to Zentangles: An Interview with Andrea Santogrosso

Introduction to Zentangles: An Interview with Andrea Santogrosso

When you are stressed, anxious or perhaps angry and need to calm down, what techniques do you use? There are so many out there, from yoga, meditation, exercise and mindfulness but today I will be speaking to my guest Andrea about one which you’ll love if you sit on the creative side of life. It’s a mix of art and mindfulness and it’s called ‘Zentangle’. 

The topics we cover in this episode are:

Summer Book Series #3: The Highly Sensitive Child

Summer Book Series #3: The Highly Sensitive Child

Today’s installment of my book series covers the book ‘The Highly Sensitive Child’ by Elaine N. Aron, Ph.D. I read this book over COVID and it totally changed the way I look at kids, how to spot what’s going on with them in order to help them. In this episode, I go over the 4 areas in which high sensitivity presents itself so you can better see if your child is highly sensitive. 

Introduction to Montessori Philosophy: An Interview with Jeanne-Marie Paynel, M.Ed.

Introduction to Montessori Philosophy: An Interview with Jeanne-Marie Paynel, M.Ed.

Have you ever considered a different educational style for your children besides the conventional method? If so, perhaps you have heard of the Montessori method. It is based on self-directed activity, hands-on learning and collaborative play. In Montessori classrooms children make creative choices in their learning, while the classroom and the highly trained teacher offer age-appropriate activities to guide the process. In this episode, I spoke to Montessori Home Consultant, Jeanne-Marie Paynel about the benefits of this education style. 

The topics we cover in this episode are:

Five Books about Anger for Kids: Summer Book Series #2

Five Books about Anger for Kids: Summer Book Series #2

This episode is the second installment of my book recommendation series. This week I want to focus on books dealing with anger since I have seen a lot of kids showing up to school with big emotions like anger lately. It is an emotion we have all felt many times, but we’re not all clued up with how to deal with it so perhaps a bit of light reading can help! 

Two Highly Recommended Books: Summer Book Series #1

Two Highly Recommended Books: Summer Book Series #1

I have always been a reader ever since I was a child but sometimes life gets in the way and I have found I don’t make much time for it so I used a recent vacation to spark my love for pleasurable reading again. After posting about this on Instagram, I was really inspired by one of my comments; to make a list of books to read over the summer and start a podcast series about it!

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