When I originally created the Thriving School Psychologist Collective online course and community in 2017, it was because I was on the brink of quitting.
I was tired of being and overworked and underutilized.
That was only 3 years ago, and now I have a virtual community of over 400+ school psychologists who have joined me in the course on a quest to answer the question–how can I be more than a testing machine?
The groundwork for this transformation from “testing machine” to serving in a more comprehensive role has has already been laid in the course. Many of our members have already streamlined their assessment workflow and expanded their roles to spend more time with kids than with kids’ paperwork.
Now, all the TSP members are meeting this Sunday on Zoom to solve our next problem–how can we be virtual school psychologists and stay connected with our school communities and each other during the COVID-19 crisis?
I kind of feel like the whole world has been sent to our rooms to think about what we’ve done—to our education system, to our planet, to each other—everything.
Let’s take this time to make the most of it re-evaluate our priorities and take stock.
We have a real chance to reinvent how our schools view school psychologists.
With little access to kids for testing during COVID-19, can we use this opportunity to expand our roles be the mental health and learning consultants that we’ve always wanted to be?
Is this our moment?
Thankfully, when all this went down, I had my TSP family to connect with right away. We all met on Zoom and in our private forum and I felt a sense of hope.
We SIMPLIFIED what needs to be done right now by each sharing one high-quality SEL program that can be done virtually right away.
We jumped into problem solving and action plans to SERVE our students.
We CONNECTED in a time of isolation and we rebooted and revised our self-care action plans that we already had developed being a part of the TSP course.
And I am filled with gratitude, even in these uncertain times.
This is a long way of saying that I invite you to simplify, serve, and connect with us in the TSP, if you want to seize this opportunity to expand your role from a “tester” to a school psychologist using your full skill set.
While testing is a critical function we all share and kids need, they also need us to serve them in a different way right now.
And maybe, when we return to our buildings, we will have a “new normal,” where we can do both. We can serve our students who need assessment for special education AND be a consultant and prevention and intervention specialist to all our students as well.
If you want to learn more about joining our just opened Spring 2020 cohort of the TSP, check out this video and information here (enrollment ends soon…and I ‘d love for your to join before Sunday, March 29th to be a part of our next mastermind Zoom call with the entire TSP and alumni.)
Click here to watch the video.
With deep gratitude for all you are holding right now for your school communities,
🧡Rebecca
p.s. If it’s not in budget to join the TSP right now, I totally get it. Please stay connected by clicking here to join my email newsletter, where I send periodic free resources and trainings.