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The Counseling Department
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Counseling Staff
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School Counseling Department Mission Statement:
The school counseling program at Brentwood Middle School empowers students to grow academically, socially, emotionally, and independently as they move toward a college or career path. By regularly assessing these areas of growth, a foundation is being built for lifelong success. Through stakeholder collaboration, students will engage in individual and larger group learning and crisis management. When identifying barriers to learning in a supportive environment, students will problem solve and collaborate and continue to pursue success.

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Please feel free to contact them for any questions or concerns. When you select their name, the contact information will appear below at the left margin.
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Jane Allison Crewse
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Connor East
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Deanna Harry
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Venessa Jeris
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Allison Keener
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Shannon Meadows
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Kendall Ryan
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Brooke Scanlon
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The Counseling Department Supports:
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ACADEMICS
Middle school is a time when students are learning and practicing their executive functioning skills, such as organization, time management, and task initiation. At BMS, we offer Homework Club on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This is a great resource that provides a quiet place to complete homework and a BMS teacher to answer questions. Each grade level counselor offers a missing work THRIVE session at least once a week, to help students who were absent from school. If your student is struggling academically, reach out to their teachers or counselor sooner rather than later.
Various factors, from brain development to petty drama, may leave you wondering why your middle school student is experiencing intense emotions. This period of life can really test a child's emotional regulation skills. If you feel that your student needs additional support developing these skills, reach out to a BMS counselor.
As students move into middle school, friendships and social status often become their top priority. Navigating this as a parent can be frustrating and time consuming. Listen to your student and initiate important conversations about topics like peer pressure, healthy friendships, or navigating social media. Our counseling team can also provide support in this area through peer mediation or talking one on one with your student.
WELLNESS
The counseling department promotes mental and emotional wellness through classroom lessons, small groups, and individual counseling. Students are able to see the counselors during non-academic periods such as focus, related arts, lunch, connections, and passing periods. A student may see a counselor during an academic class if they are experiencing a crisis.
ADJUSTING TO A NEW SCHOOL
Being the new kid can be really tough. Our school wide counselor, Ms. Ryan, works closely with new students to monitor their adjustment to BMS. Every new student receives a student ambassador buddy to check in with during their first month of school. Additionally, we have a morning in the summer that new families can join us for an introduction to our school. On this day, parents will hear all about the ins and outs of BMS and students will get to tour the building.
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Other BMS Counseling Services
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Student Supports
Missing work support, academic and social emotional check ins, homework club, organization office hours, new student check ins, conflict resolution and peer mediation, small groups, classroom lessons, and Counseling THRIVE sessions are available to students.
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504 Plan Eligibility
Counselors work with parents, students and school staff to provide 504 Plans for any student that meets eligibility requirements. Contact BMS 504 Coordinator for more information on eligibility and 504 support.
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RTI
If your child is having difficulty succeeding in the classroom, reach out to his or her teachers. It may be helpful to set up a conference with them to discuss concerns and talk about ways to address the problem. If your child continues to struggle, you should contact your child’s counselor to discuss your concerns and consider a referral to RTI (Response to Intervention).
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STARS (Students Taking A Right Stand)
This Student Assistance Program (SAP) is an award-winning, evidence-based program from STARS that addresses social and emotional barriers for youth, such as substance misuse, violence, and bullying. The SAP assists students in achieving academic and social success by promoting healthy development, reducing barriers to learning and building upon strengths. In 2016, the STARS Enhanced Student Assistance Program (ESAP) was created to serve the needs of students who require a higher level of support than we typically have provided through our traditional SAP. Through this enhanced program, students are able to access confidential mental health services onsite in their own school environment, during school hours. Students can be self referred for support to STARS; or family, friends, and school staff can refer students that might need extra support to succeed in school. These services are provided in their own school environment, during school hours.
The STARS Leadership Team is a group of 6th-8th students who desire to make Brentwood Middle School a better place. STARS leaders are committed to the health, wellness, and safety of the students at the school. These students serve as role models as they plan and implement STARS activities related to mental health and awareness throughout the school and community. STARS leaders create awareness campaigns, wellness activities, and prevention initiatives each month to help promote the well-being of all students within the community. STARS leaders collaborate on and participate in various charity projects and events. Some charity projects that students participate in may range from Red Ribbon Week to Self Esteem Building to Anti-Bullying, while charity events may include food or clothing drives, toy collections, etc
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Social Work Supports
School Social Worker, Allison Keener, provides support and assistance to students and families through consultation and connection to community resources outside of school. These resources can center on many types of needs, such as medical, mental health, social and emotional, holiday assistance and basic needs.
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School Psychological Services
Every school in Williamson County has the services of a school psychologist.
School psychologists are highly trained in both psychology and education and are members of the school team. Their training emphasizes preparation in mental health and educational interventions, child development, learning, behavior, motivation, curriculum and instruction, assessment, consultation, collaboration, school law and systems.
School psychologists must be certified and licensed by the Tennessee Department of Education. The National Association of School Psychologists sets ethical and training standards for practice and service delivery.
School Psychologists work with students to:
- Provide counseling, instruction and mentoring for those struggling with social, emotional and behavioral problems
- Increase achievement by assessing barriers and determining the best instructional strategies to improve learning
- Promote wellness and resilience by reinforcing communication and social skills, problem-solving, anger management, self-regulation, self-determination and optimism
School Psychologists work with students and their families to:
- Identify and address learning and behavior problems that interfere with school success
- Evaluate eligibility for special education services within a multidisciplinary team
- Support students’ social, emotional and behavioral health
School Psychologists work with teachers to:
- Identify and resolve academic barriers to learning
- Design and implement student progress monitoring systems
- Design and implement academic and behavioral interventions
- Support effective individualized instruction
- Create positive classroom environments
- Motivate all students to engage in learning
School Psychologists work with administrators to:
- Collect and analyze data related to school improvement, student outcomes and accountability requirements
- Implement school-wide prevention programs to help maintain positive school climates conducive to learning
- Promote school policies and practices ensuring the safety of all students by reducing school violence, bullying and harassment
- Respond to crises by providing leadership, direct services and coordination with needed community services