Kindness with Ms Jessica

Hello! I am Jessica Alcantar, the school counselor, and I have the honor of working with your young learners! The kids know me as Ms. Jessica, or "the puppet lady" and if asked they usually say I teach kindness and how to be a friend. Although that it true, I also provide group counseling, individual counseling and provide referrals to community resources. This will be my 4th year as a school counselor, but my 20th in the mental health field. I am also a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and I have worked in our community for the entire time. In fact, during my MFT program, as a trainee, I was assigned to Covillaud, back in 2003!

My goal for the 2022/23 school year is to continue to provide social and emotional lessons (SEL) to you children but to expand the lessons and skills into the home. These last couple of years have been ROUGH! It seems like children are struggling with so much right now. I can only assume some of the behavioral issues (struggles with friendships, increased anxiety and decreased attention span to name a few) are happening in the home as well. This website will provide resources and activities for home and will also keep you updated on the activities we are learning each week.

I have 2 pieces of advice as we start this new school year:

1. Kids process, decompress and heal through play. Sunlight and Vitamin D can improve concentration, improve mood, and strengthen the immune system. Decrease time in front of a screen and let them play outside! Every single day if possible.

2. I have been working with children and adolescents for 20 years and they all say the same thing; "my parents don't listen!" For whatever reason, this translates to "my parents don't care about me." In the Resources Page, you will find ways to get your chlld to talk and open up. In my lessons we do "High, Low, Haha" which we borrowed from one of Little Spot books. They tell you their high of the day, low of the day, and something funny (haha) from the day.