Phoenix-Talent board hears multi-level report on comprehensive school counseling, suicide-prevention lessons and career planning

Phoenix-Talent School District counselors and outside partners presented a districtwide update April 3 on the district’s comprehensive school counseling program, describing work at elementary, middle and high school levels and sharing pre/post assessment data showing improved student knowledge, skills and help-seeking after classroom lessons.

The presentation, introduced by district staff, explained that counseling work follows Division 22 standards and the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) national model and that the district is implementing evidence-based suicide-prevention curriculum in compliance with the ADDIEs/“Addies” Act. Counselors and specialist staff described tiered supports ranging from lessons delivered to all students (tier 1) to targeted small-group and individual interventions (tiers 2–3).

Talent Middle School counselors Bree Bates and Liz Fletcher described a district-adopted Signs of Suicide (SOS) lesson they delivered to sixth-through-eighth graders and said the instruction used the ACT model—“acknowledge, care, and tell a person”—to teach students how to respond if a peer shows warning signs.…