Washington Middle School Counseling

Representatives from the Dartington Social Research Unit in Great Britain, plus other high-ranking educational and children’s social service agencies, as well as a member of Pariliament, met with WMS counselors David Bilides and Corey Goldstein, Health teacher Amy Miller, and principal Jon Halfaker as part of a U.S. study tour on prevention and intervention. They were specifically interested in our bullying prevention program.

We discussed not only the Olweus Anti-bullying program, but also our Health Education classes, Peer Mediation Program, Equity Committee, and other prevention efforts.The director thanked us, writing, “Our group has been inspired, informed and challenged in equal measure.” She also posted an interesting article about their visit to WMS on their web site.

I found the visit to be refreshing, to take a few moments during the school day to sit and describe what we’re trying to do and what we’re actually doing to help children. I also enjoyed hearing what was happening in Britain, and answering non-trivial questions about our work. These were intelligent, thoughtful policy makers and researchers, who found something at value at WMS and in Seattle in general.

Although most middle school parents focus on their student’s grades, their students spend an enormous amount of energy on social relationships, interactions, and dramas. This is often the most important part of a middle schooler’s life. Inevitably, conflicts arise, just like in the adult real world. These could be between relative strangers, close friends, or somewhere in between.

Washington Middle School has had a Peer Mediation Program for many years. Each fall, 7th and 8th graders who apply and are accepted are trained in the art of mediating conflicts. The trainings are done by the CRU institute, with the help of the WMS Counseling Department and the YMCA’s Yvette Tolson, Director of Youth Development at WMS. The training would not be possible with the financial support of the PTSA, to whom we owe many thanks.

This year, forty students received 12 hours of training. They participated in role plays as they learned a structured method for proceeding through the conflict resolution. Not only will these skills help them resolve conflicts brought to them by their peers through a referral process at the school, supervised by the counselors and Ms. Tolson, but they will also serve them well in their day-to-day lives.