Auckland Counselor Summit 31 July - 2 August, 2013

"I Will Go, I Will Do, I Will Accomplish..."

Because With the Lord, Nothing is Impossible.

The counselors from the 15 LDS Church Schools in the South Pacific gathered in Auckland last week for the second Counselor Summit. Two years ago they met each other for the first time when many of them were newly hired counselors. The Comprehensive Counseling and Guidance program in the church schools was only a year old at the time and the counselors were the first to implement a school counseling  program in their countries.  There are no other CCGP programs that currently exist. They have worked miracles in the short time they have been implementing this important program in their schools. The theme of the Summit this year was about assisting students to: Plan (I Will), Do (I Will Go - Acting on the Plan), and Accomplish (to Graduate prepared for post-secondary or tertiary education and/or employment).

Pacific Area LDS Church Schools Counselors 

Missionaries and Leadership Team

Back Row, Left to Right: Debbie Brunton, Elder Osborne, Lokeni Fafai, Sila Fonua, Talia'uli Langaoi, Wayne Maurer, Folau Kioa, Bruce Yerman, Jarod Hester, Michael Carthew, Elder Jacobsen, Sister Taylor, Kent Bills.

Front Row, Left to Right: Peggy Haleck, Sister Osborne, Moana Kupu, Mereoni Vuidreketi, Queenah Faifili, Mary Taitai, Elder Kevin W. Pearson (First Quorum of the Seventy), Lei Lesa, Vika Kivalu, Vika Kaufusi, Sister Jacobsen, Anne Bills.

The three days of meetings were wonderful! Below is the agenda and lots of pictures of the people who make such a difference in the lives of their students. I am appreciative for the efforts of so many people in making this conference happen. The counselors all contributed a session and the other speakers and presenters also added great insight to all those attending the conference.

A beautiful July day in Auckland.




Elder Jacobsen and Bruce Yerman, Director of Church Schools, coordinate final arrangements in the lobby of the Pacific Area office as the counselors arrived on Tuesday evening.

Kent and Anne Bills greeted the counselors as they arrived. The Bills had just completed a month working with the counselors and teachers at Liahona High School in Tonga. In that time they have become the best of friends. From the left: Counselors Moana Kupu (Tonga Middle Schools), Vika Kivalu (Liahona High School), Anne and Kent Bills, and counselors Vika Kaufusi (Liahona High School), Mary Taitai (Moroni High School in Kiribati), and Mereoni Vuidreketi (LDS Church College in Fiji).



Our dinner on Tuesday evening was a delicious Mongolian Barbeque at the Gengis Khan restaurant.

Michael Carthew (Manager of Evaluation, Assessment and Training), Sila Fonua (counselor at Liahona High School) Mary Taitai, and Kent Bills wait for their dinner selections to be cooked.



The counselor posse is on the lose!

DAY ONE

Wednesday morning Bruce Yerman welcomes everyone to the Counselor Summit. He was also the first Keynote speaker of the conference.



The Tonga Counselors conduct the first devotional Wednesday morning.

Sila Fonua gives the spiritual thought.

Everyone has arrived and we are ready to learn and share. The meetings all took place in the conference room on the ground floor of the Pacific Area Office.

Michael Carthew presents on using the new student information system (Power School) and how to use the new electronic SSEOP on Power School.

Mereoni Vuidreketi presents a session on Child Abuse and how child abuse is reported in Fiji.

Lokeni Fafai, the counselor at Vaiola College in Samoa presented on how to build positive relationships with students.

Vika Kaufusi (above) and Sila Fonua (below) are counselors at Liahona High School in Tonga. They presented on how to provide Group and Individual Counseling in the church schools using the Savior as the model and the scriptures as a resource.

Wednesday night dinner was at the Bruce Yerman home. We are standing in front of the ocean in the picture. I promise it is there. :) We wanted a picture in front of the ocean but it is winter in Auckland now and it gets dark around 5:30 p.m.. We still took the picture even though we could only hear the waves crashing on to the shore. 

Inside the Yerman home for dinner Folau Kioa (Assistant Manager of Church Schools who lives in Tonga) kept on his hat and coat to stay warm.



Talia'uli, counselor from Saineha High School in Vava'u, Tonga and Lokeni, counselor at Vaiola College in Samoa waited for the party to start.

This cute lady is Sarah Yerman, wife of Bruce, the Director of Church Schools. She made us a delicious Mexican dinner with home-made tortilla's and yummy fillings. The Yerman home is always ready to welcome people from all over the world.

Anahi Yerman and her Mom

Anahi and Indi Yerman are great hostesses to all of the visitors that come to their home.

Bruce and Anahi start off the talent show portion of the evening.

The counselors from Samoa show their talent. Lokeni gets the people excited and involved first by yelling things for them to say.




The Tonga counselors dance for us in the midst of the laughter.

Michael Carthew, the Australian, sings the famous"Tie Me Kangaroo Down" for the group.

Sarah outdid herself with four desserts to finish the evening. Two delicious Flan recipes, an apple spice cake and a chocolate cake. Too yummy for words!


DAY TWO

Lei Lesa, counselor from Pesega High School in Samoa, presented in the afternoon of the second day of the conference on Harassment, what it is and what to do about it.



Anne Bills is a teacher and administrative intern at a charter school in Utah. For the last two years she and her husband, Kent, have donated a month of their summer vacation to come to the Pacific and provide training to the teachers and counselors in the church schools. They spent the month of July at Liahona High School and the prinicipal considered them to be "a miracle" to the school. They finished their service by presenting a four hour session on Responsive Services and Group and Individual Counseling at the Summit.  The Bills are top notch educators and presenters and provided some great instruction for the counselors.

Kent Bills is a school counselor at Lehi High School. He also is involved with  pre-service counselor education at the University of Phoenix. Thank you Kent and Anne for your presentation at the Counselor Summit and for your willingness to share your knowledge with the educators and counselors in the Pacific.

The counselors discussed how to have a group set norms (rules) for itself. Talia'uli, Lokeni, and Vika set norms regarding Group Behavior.

Bruce, Michael and Mereoni discussed possible norms for Group Participation.

Queenah made up the chart of norms for Group Attendance

Folau and Lei give Moana ideas for the norms for Group Confidentiality

Mary Taitai, Kiribati, shares some possible norms or rules her group developed for Attendance.

The possible rules for Group Behavior were shared with the other counselors.



Norms/Rules for Group Participation were shared with the other counselors. Bruce was proud of the picture he drew of a "badge of courage" students might need in order to share their thoughts and feelings with others.

Lei Lesa shares suggestions for norms for Group Confidentiality (with excellent sign-holding skills being exhibited by Folau).

Given the task to draw an animal that best represents your personal qualities Lei is having a chuckle at her drawing skills. :)

Lokeni is drawing a fale' (home) when asked to draw a place that best represents him.

Talia'uli displayed some actual artistic talent in his picture of an animal that best represents his qualities!

We were thrilled to have Sister Peggy Haleck join us for our Counselor Summit. Sister Haleck's husband, Elder O. Vincent Haleck, a member of the Second Quorum of the Seventy, was recently assigned to the Pacific Area Presidency. Sister Haleck has a PhD  in Education from the University of Hawaii and has a keen interest in the Church schools. With only one week's notice she was invited to be the closing keynote speaker for the Counselor Summit and she happily accepted. Not only did she provide the closing keynote address, she also attended all of the conference. We are grateful for her support of education and school counseling. Thank you Sister Haleck!

Debbie Brunton is the Support Specialist for Seminaries and Institutes in the Pacific Area Office. Without Debbie there would have been no visa's to enter New Zealand, no food, nor places to sleep this conference. She played a critical role in the success of the conference. Debbie is always there, always ready to help, and always pleasant. I don't know how she juggles so many things at once but I have seen her in action and she is amazing! Thanks Debbie!

What is going on here? Does everyone have a headache or something?

Nope....they are just doing a little exercise that demonstrates the power of positive thinking. :)



Next, a few experiential activities using Solution-Focused Brief Therapy as a way of processing the activity. This one is called Inhuman Knot. I learned these activities at the American School Counselor Conference in Seattle a couple of years ago.

Making the Knot

Working together to make a knot.

Working together to untie the knot.

Cooperation

On a scale of 1 to 10 how did you do? How well was your group progressing? When did you start to work together to get to your goal? What was different when you were moving forward better?
A few questions the counselor can ask students when they are going through this activity
called, " Trolleys".

Queenah Faifili, counselor at Pesega Church College in Samoa, presented on Harassment and Bullying.

Lei Lesa, counselor at Pesega College in Samoa, spoke to the group on Confidentiality.



President James J. Hamula had just returned from the U.S two days before the Counselor Summit but he still made time in his schedule to speak to the counselors. Elder Hamula is the spiritual leader for the Pacific Area and ministers to all of the stake presidents, missionaries, and members. To members of the church he is considered to be a "General Authority". He is a brilliant man and an incredible teacher. He told the counselors that they are engaged in a holy and sacred work. He counseled to be aligned in our work with the Lord's servants.

DAY THREE

Mary Taitai, counselor at Moroni High School in Kiribati, presented the Devotional Thought on Friday morning.

Elder Kevin W. Pearson, First Counselor in the Area Presidency, was the morning keynote speaker on the last day of the conference. His powerful message was that through the Gospel of Jesus Christ, whatever man can conceive and believe--he can achieve. As we help people come unto Christ they understand that "Anything is Possible".



Moana Kupu, the counselor for five Tonga Middle Schools, presented on the topic of "Dream Big" and how to develop Guidance Curriculum lessons. 

Elder and Sister Taylor and Sister Haleck listen intently to the presentations. Elder Taylor is the Mental Health Missionary for the Pacific Area. He is a retired Clinical Psychologist and primarily works with missionaries in need of emotional support.

Vika Kivalu, counselor at Liahona High School in Tonga, presented on the Comprehensive Counseling and Guidance program at Liahona High School.

Talia'uli, counselor at Saineha High School in Tonga, presents on Anger Management.

Folau Kioa helped us to summarize all that we had learned in the past three days. He taught us about the Tongan word Kai and Kaito'o. When the Tongan people are invited to a feast, they eat the food that is prepared plus they make a plate of food to "take away".  It is a part of the culture of Tonga that there should always be plenty of food so that people will be well fed and also have plenty to take away. When you have plenty to take away you have kaito'o. Folau explained that this conference was like a feast and it had kaito'o, with plenty to take-away with us to our schools. It was a great lesson in culture and a perfect analogy to the close of the feast of ideas and learning. 

Wayne Maurer, Area Director of Seminaries and Institutes, spoke to the counselors at the end of the conference. 

As the closing Keynote speaker Sister Haleck reinforced the theme of the conference and encouraged the counselors to follow-up with their goals for implementing the ideas gained at the conference. She spoke of self-reliance and thanked the counselors for helping students to be self-reliant emotionally, physically, and spiritually. 


Thank you to all who contributed to making this conference a success. It was great to have counselors from four countries come together with a common purpose...to help students! There has been tremendous professional growth over the past two years since the first Counselor Summit. Over the next two years the counselors of the South Pacific will continue to develop professionally as they implement the Comprehensive Counseling and Guidance Program in each of the Church Schools.