Listen to the full episode below: 

Books are an incredibly powerful tool, especially when it comes to counseling. They allow for students to relate to the characters, help them to find solutions to problems, and so much more! Our guest today, Laura Filtness is a self-proclaimed book nerd who has found amazing ways to incorporate books into her counseling to help students be more engaged and excited about her lessons.

Laura Filtness is a School Counselor in Knoxville, TN and was the 2017 TSCA Elementary School Counselor of the Year. She loves to creatively infuse my love of dogs and books into my counseling program. The best way to sum up her obsessions is that she proudly once won a crazy dog mom contest and her office contains over 300 books. Her dog, Boss, was a certified therapy dog.

Laura’s love of books and passion for school counseling has helped her to make a huge impact on so many students! In this episode, she is sharing how she got into books, the benefits of using books in your school counseling program, how she uses books in her program, how to choose which books to pick, and ideas for companion activities. Laura is giving us so much incredible information and you are sure to walk away from this episode feeling so inspired to incorporate more books into your program!

If you loved hearing from Laura, be sure to get your ticket for the IMPACT Summer Summit. She’ll be presenting along with 14 other specialists that will cover a variety of topics from behavior specialists and therapists, to trauma and inclusion experts. This two day event includes presentations, Q&As, and giveaways! The summit starts June 20, 2023 so grab your ticket now to help get you ready for an awesome school year!

Some topics covered in this episode are:

  • Laura’s background and how she got into using books with her students

  • The benefits of using books in school counseling programs

  • Why you should be collaborating with your school librarian 

  • How Laura uses books across all 3 tiers in her school counseling program

  • How to choose which books to use

  • Laura’s favorite companion activity to use with books in her lessons

  • Laura’s top 3 favorite books to use in lessons

  • What she is personally reading and her favorite nonfiction books

Resources Mentioned:

Connect with Laura:

Connect with Rachel on Social Media:

More About School Counseling Simplified:

School Counseling Simplified is a podcast offering easy to implement strategies for busy school counselors. The host, Rachel Davis from Bright Futures Counseling, shares tips and tricks she has learned from her years of experience as a school counselor both in the US and at an international school in Costa Rica.

You can listen to School Counseling Simplified on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and more!

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