Hi everyone.
I'm Frank Tiano, the superintendent of schools.
Thank you for joining us here for the second episode
of Lions Pride, the show that provides you
with a closer look into the Ludlow Public schools.
As you may recall, the focus
of Lions Pride will be on our students and staff
and brought to you in two separate segments.
In between each segment will be a video highlight of those
or other LPS students and staff.
But before we begin, I'd like to thank Mike Hill
and Amy Ollari of Ludlow Cable Television
for their work on producing the program during the taping
and for it's post-production efforts.
I think our first show came out really well
and I'd like also like to thank our music department
for providing us with a recording of the LHS fight song
Roar Lion performed by the LHS band that you will hear
during the opening credits.
We have a great show today as we are talking
with our school adjustment counselors
and learning about their role in impacting our students'
academic growth by supporting their social,
emotional, and behavioral learning.
In our first segment, we will see what
that support looks like at the secondary level
through a conversation with Amy Smith
and Nathan Zucco,
both school adjustment counselors at the Baird Middle School
and LHS respectively.
Later in the show we will have school adjustment counselors,
Maura Ricardi from East Street School
and Ashley Antoine from Harris Brook,
and we'll learn how they support students
and families at the elementary level.
Thank you again for being with us. We'll be right back.
Hi everyone, we are back.
And with us we have Amy Smith and Nate Zucco.
Thank you both for being on the show. Thank you.
We'll start with introductions.
Amy, you've been with us for the last 12 years
as a school adjustment counselor at the Vets school,
Harris Brook, and now the pride of Baird Middle School.
That's right. And prior to
that you were in the Springfield Public School Systems, also
as a school adjustment counselor
and you've also held roles as a mental health clinician.
Contracted out to Springfield Public Schools, I believe.
And just like your friend sitting next to you
two degrees from Springfield College.
Yeah, that's right Nate, go pride. Go pride.
Alright, and with us over here is Nate Zucco.
He's our school adjustment counselor
here at Ludlow High School.
Nate is a proud 2016 Ludlow High graduate.
Yes, two degrees, a bachelor's
and a master's degree from Springfield College.
And as well as doing your internship here,
while you are earning those degrees as well,
you're both doing great things
and we're glad that you're here.
Thank you. So again,
we're talking school adjustment counselors
and it, as most of us of a certain age,
remember our experience with school counselors,
we called them guidance counselors at the time,
and I, I saw my counselor and junior high
and high school related to my scheduling
and related to my life out
after high school, whether that be college work
and so forth, looking for references and things like that.
I don't know the exact timeline,
but over the years there's been increasing need
for school adjustment counselors in the services
that you provide with your additional set
of skills and training.
So just from the top, what is the difference
between a school adjustment counselor
and a guidance counselor or a school counselor?
Our focus more is the mental health,
the social emotional needs of the students while also
working on the academic component.
Yeah, absolutely. It involves, you know, con consulting
with a bunch of different, you know, team members
of the team, whether it's home, family, counselors, outside,
you know, clinicians as well
to best support the student here in the school in that with
through our counseling interventions.
So it seems like you work with the entire staff.
Absolutely, yes. Yeah,
Absolutely.
And do you work with the entire student body or, or,
or selected students?
So our primary focus are our IEP
and I, our 5 0 4 counseling and social skills children.
But we also support general edu education students.
We meet with all teachers, we support everyone,
but our main focus is the mental health
of our IEP and 5 0 4 students.
And, and for a student who's on a 5 0 4
or has special needs in their service grid
means specifically they would see Mr.
Zucco at a certain time. Right.
You know, once, one time, 30 per week or,
or something along those lines.
Yeah, we do. I do weekly, biweekly.
Some students I have for like monthly social skills,
but yeah, it's really based on the need
and whatever goal we're working on.
So each, each student on a IEP plan,
there is a specific goal focus with some benchmarks as well
to help us reach that goal in the IEP period.
But then similarly to 504s as well as, you know,
504s is an, is an identified, you know, concern as
to why we are attached to that student.
And then any, you know, students in the general,
in the general ed program too, you know, they always,
things come up and they, they need access to someone
as well, so we're there for them as well.
That's right. And not to be confused
with an outside therapist.
Absolutely, yeah. Or an outside social worker.
Your main focus is,
and what we do here in school is the students to learn
and grow a academically
and you provide support for them so
that they can access the curriculum.
Absolutely. It's very school focused.
We wanna make sure that they're able
to access the curriculum
and the social emotional components of school.
If it's bigger than that, then we absolutely make
referrals into the community.
Okay. And and by referrals into the community.
So do you folks work with not only people here in school,
but do you work with outside agencies as well?
Absolutely. We have a wonderful district case manager here
that we refer some of our families to.
And then we have great connections within the community
through DPH and everything that we
get those services in place for them.
And, and and that's Cara. That's Cara.
Yeah, Absolutely.
A lot of times we, once we, you know, have them outside,
you know, with outside sources collaborate immensely with
outside therapists, you know, doctors, things like that
for recommendations that they might have
for the student here at school that we could implement
and you know, and some of them are just access
to the counseling office as needed,
but some of them are a little bit more structured too based
on what, you know, that that provider is identified
as their, as their need.
So it's definitely a case management Yeah.
Case management component here.
Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely.
And, and, and we know, you know, for children no matter
what their age, that when the adults in their lives are on
the same page and working on the same skills,
you know, that's vitally important.
And you mentioned outside agencies as well
as talk about your work with parents and,
and how you provide support
for families to support their child.
Yeah, so a lot of students, a lot
of times I'm on the phones with the families
and we're working on, you know, this has worked really well
with the student, can this follow
through on, on the way home?
You know, and sometimes it's just double checking that,
that this is getting done
or hey, did you do your, your, your mental check of the day
and just making sure that those are
also followed through on at home.
A lot of it is just really having, having the patience
to learn new things and the,
and the really the, the just caring for your child, which,
you know, we know all of our parents do.
So it's really just being there
and being open to a lot of this newness that's come up
because like we said before, you know,
the school counseling role has kind of changed over time
and everything and we've identified more needs,
but then it's just being open to what are those needs
and how can we support them
and that's, you know, a very team approach.
You know, me collaborating with the, the families as well
as the outside and all of us just working together.
Right. There's definitely a lot of collaboration.
Like the students trust us, they confide in us
and just being able to be that connection between home about
how to help them with their, the academics,
whether it's organization piece
or if they're struggling socially mental health wise
and just being able to kind of carry
that information over to the families.
Yeah, that's important too.
And you know, especially for children to be able
to internalize some of those, you know,
compensatory strategies as well.
And, and that's, you'll see that gradual release as
as they move through our system.
And so oftentimes we work
with students or we, you folks work with students
in your role that children are referred
to us or they're struggling.
Can you tell us a little bit about what you do
or maybe what the schools do proactively
to help build those skills so that, you know,
the entire student body is accessing those skills as well?
Absolutely. So at the middle school I do
teach an SEL class.
I have a sixth grade group and I have a seventh
and an eighth grade group together.
And I meet with them week, weekly every single day.
So we talk about just check-ins, having
that trusted adult organizational skills.
So just being a face and just being there
for the children, just making sure that you're present.
That's great. I think similarly at the high school is,
is kind of is making those connections between buildings.
You know, as the students, a lot of my, my freshmen,
you know, were transitioning from eighth grade middle
school, you know, over to the high school.
So it's making sure that similar supports are in place
or bef you know, at the start of the school year,
touching base with them and saying, Hey,
I know this was something that worked for you
or this is something that you access in the past here,
let's, let's try this as well.
Or here's where you go in in case of you know,
you need anything really.
And then as well as just keeping up
with those weekly check-ins, some students biweekly
and really just whatever their need might be
and whatever their area of improvement might be.
Sure. Just identifying, okay, what's the consistency
that we need to, to meet on,
what do we wanna work on together when we are meeting so
that it is a productive use of, you know, your time
and all of our time
and making sure that, you know, we have that growth mindset,
you are able to achieve that.
So a lot of times it's just identifying where are some areas
of concern and then focusing on those to make sure
that they're being, you know,
addressed throughout the school year
In, in developing that level of confidence.
Absolutely. And confidence building is one of the biggest,
one of the biggest pieces with
It.
And with anyone, somebody wants to have a connection,
they wanna feel connected to an adult in the building,
someone in their family.
So just making sure we're making
those positive connections all around.
Oh, that's great. And and you'd mentioned too, just the
communication between buildings, right?
You know, in the second segment you we'll have Ashley
and Maura with us and we have such a strong SAC group,
you know, really enjoy working with you folks
and just to keep that communication for families,
consistency for students.
I just wanted to shout that out.
You guys are doing a great job with that. Thank, thank you.
I really appreciate it. While we still have about a minute
or two left, I know that I,
I get asked this a lot in terms of what, what skills.
We know that there's a youth mental health crisis out there
and we know kids are struggling more than they ever
have or in recent years.
I, I should say if I'm a young parent, what,
what skills do I want to develop or,
or should I emphasize with my child?
Just curious.
I think a lot of patience,
but also remembering that whether they're in middle school
or high school, they're still children
and they do need that, those eyes on them,
whether it's on social media
or in the community, that they still are looking for
that guidance on how to make those positive choices
and just to be present and aware. Yeah,
Absolutely.
I would say communication is one of the,
the most beneficial things
and just having that open line of communication.
So if a student is online or something
and something comes up of concern, knowing that I can bring
that to, to, to my parent
and not get, you know, in trouble necessarily
for just coming across it
but having that productive conversation with it.
And again, with that, having that growth mindset,
alright, what, what can we work on?
How can we get to where we wanna be
And students are, or children are going to make mistakes.
Absolutely. Absolutely. And to have that communication so
that they can help process and help learn.
Good, great advice. Thank you so much for being here.
See, thanks for having us. Thank you.
Yeah, I told you it would go quickly, right? No.
And so when we come back we will have Maura Ricardi
and Ashley Antoine to talk about
what a school adjustment counselor does
at the elementary level.
Stick around, we'll be right back. So
At least three things that you have in common with
that person that you don't talk to a lot.
What is SEL?
It's social emotional learning
and I genuinely enjoy
teaching it at Harris Brook Elementary.
We really use it as a time to get to know each other
for students to get to know one another, even
with the students that who aren't necessarily comfortable
with each other or have a hard time going out
of their comfort zone to connect
with students within the class that they
typically wouldn't connect with.
I really take it as an opportunity to be inclusive
of everybody in welcoming and open.
And so we all build a really positive environment
within those SEL lessons.
We open each lesson with a mindful minute
and students have a chance to just sit quietly
and become aware of their surroundings
and aware of what's going on with them.
To really be able to focus themselves to do their best
learning and engaging during our
social emotional learning lesson.
It's really just amazing to be able to be in all the second
and fourth grade classrooms to get
to know all the students at Harris Brook
and pass on a common language
and a common theme so we all have a greater purpose
and understanding of why we're at Harris Brook
and how we can do our best to engage with one another.
Hi everyone. We are back
and as promised I have our elementary
school adjustment counselors.
With us we have Ashley Antoine from the Harris Brook School
and Maura Ricardi from East Street School.
Now the background on on these two wonderful
counselors, Maura, we'll start with you.
You went to Westfield State
where you get a bachelor's degree in criminal justice
as well as a master's degree in social work.
And you've interned at the Springfield Superior Court.
You're a residential caseworker,
a behavioral health specialist for CBH,
and you work with the Department of Children
and Families for six years
before you decided to make the jump into public education.
You were in Monson for four years
as a school adjustment counselor
and you've been with us ever since.
So glad you're on the show. Thank you so much. Thank you.
And Ashley, this is your 10th year at Ludlow Public Schools.
Yeah, 2013. My how time flies.
And so you've worked at basically all
of our elementary schools, East Chapin and Harris Brook
now. You also worked for the Department of Public Health.
Yeah, as a case load manager for families in shelters.
pre-K behavior consultant for outpatient clinician.
You also worked at DCF, your research assistant,
direct care professional.
You did your undergrad at Assumption College,
master's in social work from Boston College
and a certificate of advanced graduate studies from AIC.
Welcome to the show again. Thank you.
And just before we start, I want
to know why I don't have a T-shirt like yours.
We'll get you on the list. You can
Definitely join our counselor crew.
I wanna be on the counselor crew. They're outta stock, right?
Oh, okay. I'm gonna write that. I'll put you on the list.
Alright, so as you folks are in our conversation with Nate
and Amy, just a few minutes ago,
we talked about the difference
between the school adjustment counselor
and the school counselor guidance counselor that a lot
of us remember from from our childhood
and the focus of the SACS being more the mental health
and mental wellbeing of our students.
Another difference is in the training,
and you folks are both
have your master's degree in social work
and the DESE license
for school adjustment counselors actually
slash social worker.
So my question is, working in the public schools
and working with children today,
what experience have you had prior to coming to the schools
that helps you now in your work with children and families?
Yeah, I'll start. So as you had mentioned, kind
of just going over like our history
before we came here, I got my master's in social work,
which was a 66 credit program.
And then part of that program is choosing, you know,
if you want a special licensure.
And so I knew I wanted to be a school adjustment counselor.
And so you get your initial license for three years
and then you move on to your professional once
you've hit your five year mark.
This is my 10 year mark as a school adjustment counselor.
And how I came to wanting to be here was from
that previous experience of, you know,
I worked in residential programs with youth who were placed
outside of their homes.
So it felt like being, you know, a mom on that shift to all
of the boys or the girls program that I would be at.
And then working for DCF, the Department
of Children Families, really opening my eyes to the needs
of our family and our community that was in Springfield.
A lot of hardships, a lot of challenging things
DCF doesn't have, you know, the greatest reputation always.
But I had so much pride
as a social worker going into these homes
and these families opening their door to me to a stranger
where we're talking about some really difficult things.
And I loved working with those families and those children
and sporadically through IEP meetings, I'd be in the school.
And then that really gave me the drive to like, I want to be
that person that's there for these children in this school,
in this role because it can be really
hard on the other side.
And so that was kind of my, you know,
getting over the bridge to the next part of my career.
And I absolutely love this job
and I love every day is a new day as a school counselor,
I know we're gonna get into that,
but being part
of this child's life in their learning environment,
but also connecting with their families
and being compassionate to those families of like,
I hear you, this is hard.
I am the school counselor. Like, how can I help you?
So I am thankful for, you know, having
that foundational work with families
to bringing it into my role
as the school counselor here in the district.
So you're able to see it from both sides. Yes.
And you folks both still connect with outside agencies
and that's something that our, you know,
people watching this may not know that.
Yeah. Right. So that's great that you have that. Sure. Yeah.
And, and Ashley, how about you?
So my trajectory is somewhat similar to Mauras actually.
I started in residential
and undergrad when I was at Assumption
and when you're seeing, when you're in a residential program
as essentially a child, I was like just 18, right?
Sure. And were like helping raise these children.
That's really where it started for me.
I was also working in the school there at the residential
facility as I was an undergrad.
And it, I, it was, for me it was really eyeopening
and connecting to be able to make an impact with these
children at such a young age in the educational setting.
From there, I actually was, as you said, I worked
with preschoolers, but I also did outpatient.
I was an outpatient clinician
and that as well, I would see a child for an hour
a week in my office
and they would have, you know, issues at home
or things that they struggled with at school.
And it was really hard to get to the point
of really understanding the whole child
within an hour a week.
Right. And so I, I would say connecting with families
and being a part of that outside agency
and connecting obviously with
that child really gave me the passion
and the drive to wanna be in a school to be able
to support the whole child, the family.
And then from there I worked
with the Department of Public Health.
I mean, really everything I've,
I've done has given me experience.
I've always worked with children.
That's always been my trajectory since
I, I was able to babysit.
But I would say being in that small setting
and then transitioning to the school
and being able to see the whole child has been really
empowering and, and very similar to Maura.
I love coming to work every day.
So it is difficult
and as more so we'll get into it can be very difficult.
There can be a huge workload on us,
but really working with children,
understanding the development of children, my coursework
and my experience has really given me a lot of education in
that and information in that.
One thing I will add is I'm independently licensed
and I, I have a small private practice now
where I still see kids that hour a week.
And that really does also help me with the clinical aspect
of things, supporting students
with mental health issues within the school.
You know, as young as second grade,
we see students coming in with these issues.
And my experience with that has really given me
and my education and that has really given me more
of a strong suit to be able
to support these, these students. So
You still have a hand in the outside work.
Yeah. Which helps to inform Yeah.
You know, what you're doing. And it, it, it's amazing to me.
You know, I've been in education a long time
and I've seen the progression of needs of students
and families and,
and last month we were at the school committee
and we had a panel presenting on the mental health crisis,
youth mental health crisis, and Maura, you were part of
that. Great discussion.
Wonderful job. I, you know, when you talk about workload,
you know, I think one of the showstoppers was Nikki Reed,
your principal at Harris Brook.
Yeah. Talking about what you do on a daily basis and,
and that overwhelmed a lot of people.
And could you just kinda walk us through
what one of your days or, or weeks look like?
I, I mean, in a good two minute, you know?
Yeah. I mean summary. Sorry, that's a loaded
Question.
No, it changes really every day, right?
So we service students on IEPs
and it's, it, you need to decide, you know,
what takes priority and obviously safety is a priority
and connection is a priority in relationships.
And so for me, I start my morning every day as, as much
as I can outside of my office.
There's unfortunately sometimes, you know,
consultations with teachers.
Sure. Not unfortunately, but like the unfortunate piece is
we can't be there to, you know, sit,
greet the children in the morning.
But I try to on a daily basis,
greet the children in the morning.
And if I have a meeting, then I go
to the hall as they're transitioning up.
That's really important to me to be able
to that piece of it.
And then we, you know, I have a schedule where I,
where I provide services to students who are on IEPs
for counseling 504s for counseling.
So depending on the day I am doing that,
I'm teaching an SEL lesson just about every day.
We just got some more support.
So it's not necessarily every day sure.
That I'm teaching the SEL lessons to kids.
I'm supporting at recess
and lunch in those unstructured times.
Because I, I really take that as a serious part of my job.
It's really important to me that I'm not
necessarily providing services,
but I'm just available to students in those unstructured
times to help with their social
And that's what they need you most emotional.
Exactly. Yeah. And it's been awesome.
We, I do lunch bunches.
We have like a little side room in the new building.
So I do that just about every day,
the lunch bunch piece of things.
And then providing support to teachers
and observations within the classroom
so I can then offer some suggestions and,
and support to teachers.
So basically that's, you know, the trajectory
of my day. Right.
And and you provide support for children, for families,
for teachers, for the principals and
Yeah, we have IEP meetings.
We have the admin council meeting.
Yeah, there's a lot. Yeah,
A lot filling in. A lot of
Filling In.
Yeah. Yes, there is. And reaching
Out to parents. Yeah. Yeah.
And Maura, you have the little ones.
So I do, I call them my little nuggets.
Preschool to first grade. Yeah.
I feel very fortunate that well and pressure,
but very fortunate that
I am the face when these children are starting their public
school education and coming in.
This is their first experience.
Sometimes the little ones aren't even in preschool,
so they're just coming in kindergarten full day.
Here's the curriculum, here's the expectations.
And, you know, it's overwhelming thinking
about that for a 5-year-old.
So my role, again,
like every school counselor in this district,
we are wearing many hats.
Lots of different hats. And so every day
as we know can look differently.
But at the core of my work every day
piggybacking on what Ashley said is
connections and relationships.
And those children know that Mrs.
Ricardi loves them and is there for them
and do everything I can to help them.
And so what that might look like is 9:30
to 10 every day I'm in the classroom doing
social emotional learning.
So I'm explicitly working with these students on
specific social skills.
You know, we follow life is good.
And so we have our superpowers.
And then we also are following the CASEL
competencies every single month.
And so I might be bringing in self-awareness this month was,
we're wrapping up responsible decision making.
And so it's really fun
to like get on the floor with the kids.
I often like, whether I have props or I'm reading a book
or I'm doing an activity to reinforce kind of what
that means and breaking it down for them at home
and at school and, you know,
what does it look like when your parent asks
you to clean your room?
You know, what do you do? And so we're, we're roleplaying
and talking about where it means to be responsible
and taking responsibility, you know, for yourself
and the choices that you make.
And they all laugh. 'cause I, I say to the teacher,
can you get into Johnny's head and make a choice for him?
And they're like, no, that'd be a superpower.
So we talk about how only you are responsible
for making these good choices and we're not all perfect.
And yeah. So anyways, I could go on forever,
but that's SEL lessons, IEP students who have social,
emotional or behavioral goals.
I'm working with them. The autism kiddos.
We also do social groups for them.
Lunch bunches, one-to-one counseling.
No matter what your status is at East street school,
whether you're special ed, you have a 5 0 4, you are just,
you know, an average student coming in
and you might come check in with Mrs.
Ricardi. So I am available to all students,
which goes along with all of the many hats.
And that looks like, you know, very different things.
But every day you'll see us high fiving,
elbow bumping. I've
High, high fived you both. No, I get it.
And students, yes. I
Think we have 367 at East Street kiddos.
And I,
getting in the classroom also helps me connect
with everybody learning their names.
They know me, I know them having bus duty,
which isn't the best, but at bus duty I have
to call everyone's name
and check it off on the computer until they get on the bus.
So it just is empowering to be part of a culture where
we're on a first name basis.
And you know, some of the kids
and now their teachers are teaching, are talking about how
not everybody likes hugs.
And so a lot of the little kids at East Street are like,
can I give you a hug Mrs.
Ricardi? And they know I love hugs.
So all the time it is a yes. Yeah.
But it is a very special place to be
and I love being their school counselor.
It, it's, it's obvious.
And you know, for both of you just, you know,
we have about a few minutes left,
but one of the things I just wanted to hit on is
when you think of your roles, sometimes it's reactionary
in terms of, you know, students in crisis and so forth.
But it's very proactive in what we're doing as a district is
to build those skills, those social and emotional skills.
And just like teaching math, you know,
you're teaching responsibility what that looks like
and be able for them to internalize that
because they're all coming from different places and,
but that's what responsibility looks like at East Street School
or, or Harris Brook.
And that's just so vital.
I just wanted to make sure that we highlighted that.
Yeah, sure. And, and doing a wonder.
And that's not just, just the counselors, that's all
of us have that responsibility.
I asked this question of Amy and Nate
and just advice for parents.
I mean, you know, my kids are in their twenties and so forth
and we all struggle raising kids,
but what, what,
what skills should parents
or adults talk to that you think we should have
and, and make a recommendation in terms of helping children,
Girl, mom over here.
So I would say for sure having an ability to
instill pause within yourself.
So just to be able to stop instead of react,
I think is extremely helpful.
And that will then come with that.
We'll, we'll be patience because unless we pause
and kind of check in and reflect with ourselves,
it's really hard to listen to a child.
'cause you know, the hustle and bustle of society,
we're just always on the go, go, go.
What sport are we bringing our kid to?
What are we doing next? Where are we going next?
And so I think I, this seems so simple and silly and cliche,
but I literally have a reminder in my phone at three 30
and then again at six 30 and then again at eight to pause
and calm and it goes off in my phone to remind myself,
okay, I, I'm here, I'm present.
I need to pause, check in with myself
and the visual reminder,
and then I can be more present for my children.
And I have it going off during the day when I'm at work
as well, so I can be more present
and available to the students.
Because if I'm constantly worrying about
what meeting I have next, what lesson I have next, planning
for that lesson, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
It's easy to get caught up and not be present
and really make that connection and listen.
And, and I think it would be very helpful
and beneficial if more of us could do that for,
for children, for our children
and ourselves. That's really good advice.
I'll take that. Okay.
Well it's like what she said, put it on
Here. I'll set an alarm.
It's What, it's, it's hard to be present.
It is when your brain is going a lot of different places
for our families.
You know, a a big part of my day is,
is consulting with parents.
It's in my schedule,
it's a certain color supporting them.
And so I think my advice is to
meet your child where they're at.
Every child is different as we know academically, socially,
behaviorally, strengths, weaknesses,
they all present in a different way.
And so however your child is, that is
who they are and that is great.
And they have strengths and they have
weaknesses just like we do.
So I think as a parent, you know, being a mom
and being a school counselor, recognizing that
and having these conversations be connected at home.
Everybody is busy.
There is not enough free time or minutes in our day.
But like, where are those moments where you
as the parent can make the connection that I am making
as the school counselor with them during the day.
And so, you know, maybe it is a five minute dinner,
maybe you're not sitting at the dinner table,
but you're in front of the TV
or you're getting ready for this.
We do something very simple at my house.
Like we, since my daughter was in kindergarten
and now she's in second grade,
but you know, she'll say at the table, mom, you start,
what's your rose and your thorn of the day?
So we talk about one good thing about our day
and our thorn is like, hmm, something
that might have not gone well for you.
And sometimes that really opens up some big conversations
of like something she saw at school or something she felt,
and we're talking about that, which is really powerful.
So I also would love to tell families
that it takes a village to raise our children as we know.
And no one can do it alone.
And so while we do have a spec specific role
as school counselors, we are always here
to connect families to what they need.
You know, it's, it's, it's really hard
and vulnerable to talk
to an employee like myself when a parent calls and be open
and honest about a struggle you might be having.
Sure. But like, I wanna help you
and I can connect you to this person.
Or if I don't know the answer,
I will tell you I don't know the answer.
But here's what you can do. And that the website we now have
the parents can access on our website under parent
information that Massachusetts for youth programming,
I might have said that wrong, but there, that parent
link has access to like grief resources, quick videos,
how do you talk to your child about this, anxiety,
So I really want our families to know that there is
support out there for you
And we're starting to build those resources.
Yeah. And you can find that on the
LPS wellness page, on our, on our website.
Ashley Antoine, thank you. Thank you. Maura Ricardi. Thank you.
You're welcome. Nate Zucco and Amy Smith.
Thank you for a great first segment.
We are over time as I'm getting the signal,
I'm just grateful that we are able to spend this time.
Thank you. Talking about the important roles that you play
in our schools and in our children and families lives.
Thank you so much for joining us.
Watch out for the next episode of Lions Pride.