Oakland Counseling Association

February 2023 Newsletter

The Oakland Counseling Association is a non-profit, professional and educational organization that is dedicated to the growth and enhancement of the counseling profession.

Mission

The mission of the Oakland Counseling Association is to enhance the quality of life in

Oakland County by promoting the development of professional counselors, advancing the

counseling profession and using the profession and practice of counseling to promote respect for human dignity and diversity.

Welcome Message

To all of our school counselor OCA members, the OCA board would like to wish you a Happy National School Counseling Week!

School counselors currently make up a very significant majority of OCA membership. The OCA board also consists of a majority of practicing school counselors. We, more than most, truly appreciate the work that goes into serving a school community everyday in this unique and seldom recognized role.

We hope you take some time this week to reflect on the profound impact you have on students, parents, and the school community:

What are you proud of in your school counseling program?
What ambitions or dreams do you have for your school counseling program?
How can you engage others in the work your school counseling program is doing?

We are grateful for all of our school counselor members! You are amazing!

~ OCA Board

Each year the Oakland Counseling Association recognizes a few of our members for outstanding work in the field of counseling.

Deadline for nominations is March 3, 2023

Counselor of the Year

The Counselor of the Year award is intended to celebrate one of our exemplary counselors who has made a positive impact in their community.

Counselor of the Year Award - Nomination Google Form
PDF copy of full nomination form to review ahead of submission

Terry Hood Lifetime Achievement

The Terry Hood Lifetime Achievement award is intended to celebrate a retiring or recently retired counselor who has contributed to their community and the counseling profession.

Terry Hood Lifetime Achievement Award - Nomination Google Form
PDF copy of full nomination form to review ahead of submission

Both of this newsletter's featured resources were provided by Selina Abraham, secretary for OCA and school counselor at University High School Academy in Southfield.

What is ChatGPT and why does it matter?

ChatGPT, developed by OpenAI, is a large language model that can be used for various natural language processing (NLP) tasks. ChatGPT is incredibly easy to use and can write in conversational English. Educators need to be aware that this tool is now available to students.

Some tasks ChatGPT can do include:

Chatbots: ChatGPT can be used to build conversational AI chatbots for customer service, personal assistance, and other applications.
Question answering: ChatGPT can be used to answer questions in a wide range of subjects, providing relevant information and context.
Text generation: ChatGPT can be used to generate text, such as news articles, stories, or poetry, based on a prompt or seed text.
Language translation: ChatGPT can be used to translate text between different languages.
Sentiment analysis: ChatGPT can be used to analyze the sentiment of text, such as determining whether a piece of text is positive, negative, or neutral.
Summarization: ChatGPT can be used to summarize long pieces of text into shorter, more concise versions.
Text classification: ChatGPT can be used to classify text into different categories, such as spam/not spam or positive/negative sentiment.

These are just a few examples of what ChatGPT can be used for. The versatility and capabilities of the model make it a useful tool for a wide range of NLP applications.

By the way, the majority of this article was written by ChatGPT.

Want to check it out? Go to: https://openai.com/blog/chatgpt/

Bullying: What is it?

As school counselors, we often have conversations with parents that begin with, “My child is being bullied…” when the issue is really mean behavior. The word bullying has been used so often, it’s synonymous with any inappropriate behavior.

Therefore, we need to share the difference between bullying, harassment, and mean behavior with our students and parents so they will use it correctly. As we properly explain these words, students will learn whether what they are experiencing is bullying or something else.

Bullying, harassment, and mean behavior are all negative actions that can cause harm to others, but they have distinct differences:

Bullying is intentional, repeated aggressive behavior that involves an imbalance of power or strength. It can take many forms such as physical, verbal, or online.
Harassment is unwanted behavior that is based on a protected characteristic such as race, gender, sexual orientation, etc. It is a form of discrimination and can be physical, verbal, or nonverbal.
Mean behavior refers to actions that are intentionally hurtful or intended to make others feel bad. It can be a one-time occurrence and doesn't necessarily involve an imbalance of power like bullying.

Bullying and mean behavior are similar in that they are intentional actions meant to harm others, but bullying involves repeated aggressive behavior and an imbalance of power, while mean behavior can be a single occurrence. Harassment is a form of discrimination and involves unwanted behavior based on protected characteristics.

For more information: https://www.pacer.org/bullying/info/questions-answered/bullying-harassment.asp

New OCA Board Members Needed for 2023-2024

Join a great group of passionate counselors in planning and delivering value to the Oakland Counseling Association community!

We are accepting applications to become an OCA Board Member. If you're interested, please visit this document for more information and complete the interest form:

2023-2024 Open Positions

Elementary School Counselor Representative
Middle School Counselor Representative
High School Counselor Representative
Private School Counselor Representative
Member-at-Large

Interested in Becoming a Board Member?

Membership Information

Please share with any counselor colleagues who may not be an OCA member yet!

Step 1: Complete the Membership Google Form [Every individual must complete this form, even if a group payment is made]

Step 2: Pay for Membership through PayPal (credit card accepted) or by mail

COST

Individual counselor - $25
Graduate school student - $10
Retired counselor - $10

**Please note that we no longer have department membership pricing. Only individual memberships. However, group payments for an entire department can be accepted by contacting Randy Maddock, OCA Treasurer.**

BENEFITS OF OCA MEMBERSHIP

FREE or reduced price professional learning opportunities
All online professional learning events are FREE for members
FREE SCECH processing for all events
Identify as a professional counselor (solidarity)
Opportunities to network and connect with other mental health professionals
Advocacy and support for counselors
Eligible for mini-grant opportunities
Monthly prize drawings

OTHER NOTES

Membership is valid from September 1 through August 31 each school year
Membership is open to all school and private practice counselors
Membership is welcome for counselors outside of Oakland County

2022 -23 Membership Form

Canceled: February HBCU Event 😭

We're sorry to report that the February 10th date for the Oakland Counseling Association Virtual College Event: Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) has been canceled. Unfortunately, OCA had some scheduling issues arise with presenters and logistics for the planned event.

Not to worry, we are rescheduling the HBCU content during a March 1st full-day virtual college and career event. More details and registration are available on the OCA Events Page.

Register! March Online College and Career Event 3/1

March 1st is now a full day online college and career event! Registration is now open on the OCA events page. This event will feature the HBCU content that was originally planned for the February 10th date.

Event Details

Date: March 1, 2023

Time: 8:00am-3:15pm

SCECHs: 3 College and 3 Career

Cost: Free for OCA members! $10 for non-members

Description: Participants will engage with information and discussion focusing on Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) as well as trade school programs available to students.

Register for March 1st Event!

Upcoming! Supervision-Focused Event - Date TBD

We're securing a date and location for an in-person event focused on supervision! This event will be for:

Established supervisors
Prospective supervisors
Counselors who anticipate needing supervision in the future

There will be content presented for both supervisor and supervisee audiences, lunch, and opportunities to network and make potential supervision connections.

As a bonus for current counseling graduate students: Included in the event registration cost for students will be OCA membership for the remainder of the 2022-2023 school year AND membership for the 2023-2024 school year!

General SCECHs will be offered.

Save the Date! End of Year Awards and Trauma Support Systems - April 28

We'll close out the 2022-2023 school year event calendar with an in-person event to celebrate our Counselor of the Year and Terry Hood Lifetime Achievement award recipients. There will also be content presented on trauma support systems and resources within our communities.

Save the Date!

April 28, 2023
In-Person
Full-Day Event
General SCECHs Offered

Each month the OCA conducts drawings for giveaways for current members as a small token of our appreciation for the important and challenging work you do as counselors. You must be a current OCA member in order to be eligible.