Holy Cross Ministries' counselors begin program to build school as a community

Friday, Nov. 13, 2015

SALT LAKE CITY — Holy Cross Ministries counselors have begun to implement a new school-wide curriculum at St. Vincent de Paul, Our Lady of Lourdes, St. Andrew and St. Francis Xavier schools in the Diocese of Salt Lake City to help the students create a sense of community. 

“Building our school community, brick by brick” is a program established in the four schools by Katie Simpson, a HCM intern and master of social work student at the University of Utah. 

She created the program under the direction of Corine Johnson, HCM Counseling Services director and licensed clinical social worker for the Catholic schools; it is designed to encourage students to be responsible for their school environment by making positive contributions.

Each of the four schools has an outline to follow based on the word “brick”: B for Bullying Awareness and Production, R for Respect, I is for Integrity, C is Compassion and K is for Kindness. 

Simpson is creating the curriculum, which will have two lessons for each letter so the students will learn and understand the behaviors and have concrete examples of how they can earn the bricks at the end of the lessons. The cardstock bricks will be mounted on a wall-sized board in the shape of a schoolhouse so students can see their accomplishments. 

“When the schoolhouse is filled with bricks, the entire school will get a reward, such as a pizza party,” Simpson said. “These types of school-wide projects help the schools create a sense of belonging, which is essential to their growth and development.”

The brick by brick program will be based on the social skills Simpson teaches throughout the day. “We talk about identifying feelings, what to do with those feelings and how to express them in a healthy and appropriate way,” she said. “We discuss being assertive without being mean.” 

Simpson tailors the concepts for each classroom based on how the students learn and the time of day the class is held, and adds an art project, a video or role-playing to present the message in a fun way. 

The school counselors spend about a day and a half each week in the schools teaching social skills and providing individual counseling to students in pre-kindergarten through sixth grade. On occasion they include the seventh- and eighth-grade students. 

A seventh-grade girls group at St. Andrew School is working with Simpson on self-esteem, socialization skills and how to interact with their peers, she said.  They will also be involved in the brick by brick program. 

“The girls are learning technology and Internet safety and navigating who they are within the social media pressures,” Simpson said. 

“For some kids, school is the most consistent, positive environment they have, and we want them to like school and be happy here,” Johnson added.

Gary Green, St. Vincent de Paul School principal, said the school counseling program works well because “the counselors raise the students’ awareness of how they should treat others. Kids can be impulsive; they don’t always realize the consequences of their actions.”

Green and Sarah Lambert, St. Vincent de Paul School vice principal, also consult Johnson for resources.

“We have children who are in pain from serious issues like the death of a parent or depression – that’s beyond our expertise,” Green said.

The counseling program is “amazing,” Patrick Jeffries, St. Andrew School principal, agreed. “Things as simple as social skills and social interactions to conflict management are taught in the classroom that are not necessarily academic. … Corine Johnson also does a wonderful job taking care of our staff, providing emotional and other kinds of support that are just invaluable.” 

 The counselors also provide referrals to Debbie Roacha, a licensed clinical social worker at Holy Cross Ministries, who accepts family members of Catholic school students as clients. 

“Some issues respond better away from the school environment, such as family conflicts, parenting education issues, depression or a parent or grandparent who is dying,” said Johnson. “Kids come to school impacted by issues and we work with them, but parents and other family members need tools so they feel supported, which helps the kids do better.”