White Pine Elementary Counseling:  Ms. Handy, M.S., School Guidance Counselor K-12

A little about me:

I grew up in Cache Valley and love living here!  Before being a school counselor, I was a math teacher for 11 years.  I enjoy being a mom, baking homemade rolls and goodies, walking, reading, spending time with my family, meeting new people and working with children. 

School counseling at an elementary school is very similar to school counseling at other grade levels, but more time is focused on teaching kids early on about life skills and providing supports for all students based on various needs at school, grade, classroom, and individual levels.  The counseling program wants to help identify student strengths and empower students to apply these strengths daily.  As part of White Pine Elementary faculty, I look forward to working with you to help create resilient kids that solve problems and create change.  Students will be given various opportunities to identify, develop and practice numerous social and life skills.

Goals of Counseling:                     

-          Work with students, parents, and teachers to monitor personal growth, identify strengths and weaknesses, and help plan and set goals for the future.

-          Teach prevention for bullying and drug use, academic skills for classroom success, social skills for interaction with peers and adults, character education for self-awareness and personal development.

-          Provide individual support (anger, friendship, academics, fears, etc.), family support (family death, divorce, abuse, transition), and school support (school death, accident, or natural disaster).

-          Partner with parents, community, and others to find and provide supports for student success and need (identify, develop, work, and evaluate).

These school counseling services are available to all students for support of student growth and development. Please feel free to contact me with ideas or concerns. My email address is: Teresa.handy@ccsdut.org.   I am at White Pine every Thursday and rotate time between Lewiston and White Pine on Mondays and Fridays depending upon need.