Elizabeth V's Senior Project Blog

Project Title: Title: Exploring the Effects of Different Therapeutic Techniques within School Counseling
BASIS Advisor: Aj Feffer
Internship Location: Ridge Zeller Therapy
Onsite Mentor: Kelly Hernandez-Villarreal



Project Abstract

This project compares and contrasts the different therapeutic methods that counselors use on students within high schools. I plan on researching different therapeutic tools and methods to gain a better understanding of this area of psychology. Then I will compile past studies as well as interviews with high school counselors to measure the effectiveness of these different techniques on student wellbeing. I aim to answer the question “which therapeutic techniques are most effective when it comes to improving student mental health in high schools?” By working on this project, I hope to improve my knowledge on therapeutic techniques and spread awareness about the importance of access to different mental health resources within school systems, as well as to encourage high schools to consider putting more focus on these resources.

    My Posts:

  • Conclusion & My Letter

    This is the last blog post for my project. I have my presentation on Friday and although I’m sad it’s coming to an end, I’m so grateful that I had this opportunity. I spent last week working on my final project which is a letter to Arizona state legislators and Arizona boards of education outlining... Read More

  • Advocacy in School Counseling

    A part of my project that surprised me was realizing that school counseling is a political subject. When I started the project, it was my assumption that individual schools had control of the choice of whether or not to hire school counselors, school psychologists, and social workers. I also thought individual schools chose not to... Read More

  • What I Got Out Of This Project

    In this post I want to talk about the different things I got out of this project. Going into this project, my main goal was just to learn about school counseling but I ended up with so much more than that. One of the biggest things I got out of this project is connections with... Read More

  • Senior Projects at BASIS

    As I’m wrapping up my project, I wanted to take my last few blog posts to reflect on what this project has brought me. For this post, I want to highlight why I’m so glad that I chose to do a senior project. Early on into this project, before I’d even committed to doing, I... Read More

  • Week 7: Finding more Interviewees

    Hi everyone! I hope you’re all doing well. Last week and this week I’ve worked on finding more school counselors and school psychologists to interview. Right now I have five possible interviewees but I’ll update you all on how many end up being able to work with me. To prepare for the next interviews, this... Read More

  • Week 6: Catching Up on my Literary Review

    Hi everyone! I don’t have any exciting updates this week but I’ve been working on finding studies I can use for the literary portion of my project and I finished setting up the student surveys to send out soon. I’m also going back to my advisor’s school tomorrow to help out so I’m looking forward... Read More

  • Week 5: Working Independently

    Hi everyone, my project took a pause last week for spring break but I’m getting back into my project now. Since my last post, I had my first interview and I went in-person to volunteer at my mentor’s school for the first time. My mentor’s school has an extra week of spring break so this... Read More

  • My Project’s Cause

    For my blog post today I’m taking a break from updates since I just posted those. Instead I’ll be sharing more about the cause that I hope this project ends up helping.  The broader goal of my project is to spread awareness regarding the importance of mental health resources in schools and the significance of... Read More

  • Weeks 3 and 4 Updates

    Hi readers! I hope everyone’s doing well. This week my project feels like it’s really starting. Today I have my first interview with a school psychologist. Along with my literary review, the other half of my project is a series of interviews with school counselors and school psychologists in Arizona. I’ll be learning about different... Read More

  • Counseling Games & Literary Reviews & Student Surveys, oh my!

    Hi everyone! It’s week two of my project and I have a few updates. The first is that the Valentine's craft  from last week went super well! I met with my on-site advisor on Thursday and she talked about how great her students did. This week I’ve focused on three things: my week two activity... Read More

  • Getting Started!

    Happy Valentine's Day everyone! My project only officially started two days ago, so as far as updates go I don’t have a ton. I’m waiting for a volunteer packet to be cleared so my on-site volunteering likely won’t start until next week but I’ve found projects to work on at home for this week. This... Read More

  • Introduction

    Hi everyone! My name is Libby Ventura and I’m a senior at BASIS Phoenix. I plan on studying psychology and child development in college and hope to become a therapist for children after college. These goals are my motivation behind my senior project titled “Exploring the Effects of Different Therapeutic Techniques within School Counseling.” I’m... Read More