Seine River School Division 1960-2010

1960s

In this decade guidance counsellors were present in high schools only and were primarily from the Roman Catholic Church (brothers or priests). Their actual time in schools was very limited. Jean-Paul Isabelle is fondly remembered by teachers in our division that were students in St. Norbert during the 60s. He remains an active contributor in the community.

1970s

This decade saw an increased awareness of the importance of counselling for young people and the advent of career focused aptitude tests school wide in high schools for all grade nine students. A course called “Human Reflections” was introduced to students and taught by guidance counsellors. Many fondly remember these days as the start of group discussions/counselling in these courses. Students sat in circles and shared experiences with group members. Claude Laurin was guidance counsellor in the Ste. Anne High School and was very highly regarded for his assistance to students in times of trouble. He was a strong advocate for students whose educational functioning was negatively impacted by social and emotional concerns.

1980s

The 1980s saw an increased profile and recognition of the importance of an Inclusive Model of Education for our Special Needs students. Special Education Coordinator, Marielle Wiebe, worked diligently to increase the number of funded students in the division to enable provision of educational supports in the classrooms across the Division. Marielle recalls when she started as Coordinator there was only a $4000.00 budget for this Department. There were resource programs in every school, however, and guidance counsellors in all high schools. In the mid 80s the Division began to fund guidance counsellors in our Elementary Schools and emphasized the importance of prevention and identification. Classroom programs began to unfold, and programs and units such as “The Care Kit“, “Talk About Touching“, and “Second Step” were widely used. In January 1989, the first Social Work clinician in the province was hired part time by the school division to address mental health needs of students in the Eastern part of our School Division. Brian Dixon (just recently retired) and Terri Mowchun (still a counsellor in our division) led the charge in the West out of the St. Norbert high school and are acknowledged by many as having heightened the awareness of social and emotional needs for our student populations. Programs such as Big Brother/Sisters, Peer Counselling/Support, group counselling, and individualized counselling were the emphasis. Personal Growth and development began to be the focus of interventions.

1990s

This period was characterized by an increased awareness of the impact of crisis, trauma and mental health issues on our student populations. Crisis protocols were developed to assist counsellors and schools deal with the impact of traumatic events on the school community. Guidance curriculum began to include social skills training and career emphasis was extended to elementary classrooms. In the mid 90s Child Care Development Branch was disbanded and clinicians were hired by Division directly to support student services teams and special needs students. A Consultative/Collaborative model was emphasized. Guidance Counsellors began to practice brief solution focused therapies and positive peer support and student training to assist in the increased needs for supports to the population. Cognitive Behavioral therapies began to take hold in assisting students to take charge of their goals for intervention and treatment. Courses like Family Life began to be shared with classroom teachers with an emphasis on the importance of student teacher relationships in the classroom. Seine River had a solid team of counsellors based in all of our schools. This decade also saw the beginnings of our Alternative High School Programs with Bruce North (counsellor) coordinating our first one out of St. Norbert Collegiate called the GROW program (Generating Real Opportunities in our World: named by students themselves). This is a model that continues to be supported by all of our high schools and the Division based on the positive impact it continues to have on dropout rates for our high school populations.

2000s

New Programs became the focus of attention that were applied Division wide. Guidance counsellors were trained across the Division to Facilitate the Roots of Empathy Program, Kids in the Know, Restitution Programs and Philosophy, Positive Behavior Intervention systems to name a few. All of our counsellors are universally trained in Applied Suicide Intervention Skills training as well as other programs. A new model was introduced in the Division (Itinerant Model of Counselling) and with that a drastic reduction of counselling positions. Guidance Counsellors worked in up to 4 buildings both Elementary and High School. The importance of formalized counsellor training for all Division counsellors became the emphasis. As the decade unfolded, increases to counsellor positions began and we now have a full complement of trained counsellors in all of our buildings. No counsellor works more than two schools and all of our high schools now have a full time counsellor.