Feel Good Story: TES Counselor Brings New High-Level Approach to Support Student Success

December 6, 2024
TES Counselor Brings New High-Level Approach to Support Student Success

School Counselors in Tomball ISD play a pivotal role in fostering a positive and supportive school environment and Tomball Elementary school counselor Tiffanie Toohey, in just her sixth year as a counselor and first in Tomball ISD, is one shining example that exemplifies combining data-driven insights with the timeless values of the Great Expectations’ framework to create a lasting impact on campus.

Ms. Toohey embodies innovation and a solution-focused mindset by integrating the Great Expectations’ life principles into her counseling approach. Using these principles as a foundation, she is able to guide students toward setting and achieving meaningful goals while fostering a positive school culture.

Her solution-focused approach to counseling not only aligns with the Tomball ISD appraisal system and the Texas Model for a Comprehensive Counseling Program but also nurtures character development, ensuring students are equipped to thrive both in school and beyond. 

Through a data-informed process, Tomball Elementary identifies key areas of support, such as behavior, academic growth, or social and personal needs - and designs counseling strategies that reflect core principles like respect, responsibility, and perseverance. By embedding these values into individualized counseling sessions, group activities, and family collaborations, Ms. Toohey helps students develop essential life skills while addressing their unique challenges.

Ms. Toohey leads supports that are centered around a goal to address an area of need. 

“Ms. Toohey has been an invaluable addition to the TISD Counseling Team this year,” Steven Shiels, TISD Director of Counseling said. “Her strategic, data-driven approach to supporting students is truly inspiring and impactful. She excels at helping students set meaningful individual goals and employs creative interventions to help them achieve success. Her energy and passion for school counseling are absolutely contagious!”

Initiatives that Ms. Toohey has put into place at TES include Tier I support of monthly guidance lessons, and Tier II supports including small groups that run once a week for 8-9 weeks and individualized counseling that takes place once a week for 4-6 sessions.

Since arriving in August, Ms. Toohey has facilitated 88 guidance lessons. These lessons directly align with GE Life Principles and cover scoped and sequenced learning objectives across grade levels and during the lessons, she covers one overarching GE Principle. In total, she has had 226 responsive counseling sessions between small group counseling and individual counseling. 

“This is the most guidance lessons, and direct responsive supports I’ve ever had the opportunity to implement at a time as a school counselor, all of which is attributed to the support staff on my campus including my principal, two assistant principals, a behavior coach, an advanced academic specialist, and a 504 coordinator,” Toohey said. “I’ve already been able to successfully implement a well-balanced comprehensive program this school year.”

Small group counseling sessions and individualized sessions are goal-oriented and work to support students in development of skills around the GE Life Principles resilience and problem solving.

In the end, through the use of Ms. Toohey’s Tier II approach to specific data-driven and goal-oriented counseling intervention and plans, she is able to directly support the District’s behavior framework to positively address challenging student behaviors and allow for transfer of skills back into the classroom for future Tier I success. 

“As a school counselor, I want to continue to bring both passion and innovative thinking to create and implement a strong and comprehensive school counseling program that supports success and resiliency in my community of students,” Toohey said.