“Asa Sparks New Counselor of the Year” award

In December, I sent out a copy of the article about the winner of the “Asa Sparks New Counselor of the Year” award. This created a small flurry of responses. I have struggled personally about writing an answer. At the end, I decided that my perspective of the historical parts of the Alabama counseling story need to be told.

AsA
Cast your bread upon the water and it will get soggy.

The book, In His Steps, had a profound effect on my life. I resolved to live by that lofty motto. Naturally, I failed, but WWJD has always been a goal. It affected many of my decisions and actions – and still does. My failures in meeting the goal are legion. Yet, it is still up there.

After fifteen years in Decatur working with deeply troubled kids, the time came for me to seek new challenges and adventures. I was fortunate to be added to the team of six school counseling specialists: Jimmy, Frances, Sam, Marla, and Susan. Those were heady days. The State Board of Education had adopted the first state-wide School Counseling Plan. Strangely enough, the only opposition came from people in the course of study section. They had been unable to get their anal-compulsive hands on the development of the plan. That lack of understanding and opposition continues to this day.

The legislature required and funded a program for adding school counselors to every school in the state. Some of the local superintendents did not understand the program and we cited them on monitoring visits. Only one superintendent of schools challenged my citations. After a hearing, he lost.

The seven of us planned the first New Counselor Academy. Excitement was in the air as the school counseling trailblazers met for the first time. I wrote a new hand-out for the counselors each year. The Academies continued in the summer for several years and were later connected with the Fall Workshop of the Alabama Counseling Association. Remnants remain in the various sessions today.

Attrition from winning a gender discrimination suit, retirements, and transfers dwindled our numbers down to just me. Since the internal opposition to school counseling continued, I received no help for a couple years. During that period I worked with the committee that published the revised the School Counseling Plan. The team of seven are they who made the new counselor award possible.

My long-ago adopted motto really came in to play at the state. When Julia came to work with me, I told her that my goal was to never leave a counselor discouraged. Most of the time, I think I made it – except for a few counselors who needed discouraging. That always brings to mind those who sat in their office all day and another who counted out all the students’ pills, placed them in one ounce cups, and left them unattended.

My method of evaluating a counselor’s program and effectiveness was to ask her to walk and talk with me in the halls of their school. I watched the interactions between the counselor and the students and teachers. I asked just a few questions. By the time we had returned to the counseling office, I knew all I needed to write my report.

One of the parts I thoroughly enjoyed was serving as the state’s liaison to the Alabama Counseling Association’s Executive Council. That is where I think I personally made a difference for all counselors in the state. Our ListServ was in trouble! I met with ALCA President, Inge, and volunteered to assume responsibility and keep it focused. (This did not include my ever-changing sig lines which irritated some.) Our Executive Director, Chip, now handles the plethora of messages to counselors.

The goal is still up there. Maybe someday I will reach it. AsA