LETTER FROM ALYSSA HALL
BA SCHOOL COUNSELOR
"I am excited to share with you what school counseling looks like at Brentwood Academy. My goal is to support students emotionally and socially as they experience the ups and downs of the middle school and upper school years. I have the privilege to work collaboratively with Brentwood Academy teachers, coaches, and administrators to provide this.
My role provides solution-focused individual counseling, character development lessons, and connections to local mental health professionals who can provide on-going care if that is needed. When working with students individually, I provide a trained listening ear, teach self-care wellness tools when appropriate, and refer to outside resources when extra support is needed. BA’s ParentEd and Advisory programs are areas that I organize in hopes of providing helpful parent education and opportunity for students to belong and be known at BA.
Lastly, I have the amazing job of caring for BA’s Facility Dog, Winston. His presence on campus positively impacts so many of our students. It is a joy to see him work."
HERE FOR STUDENTS
The School Counselor at Brentwood Academy works collaboratively with BA teachers, coaches, and administrators to give emotional and social support to BA students and faculty.
In addition, student and parent resources are available for BA families to provide a collective approach for meeting the needs of each whole student. Adolescents are faced with many challenges on a daily basis. Proactive psycho-educational learning provides an opportunity for BA students to become resourceful, resilient young men and women when faced with these challenges. BA's school counselor is available and ready to respond as our students have needs. She is committed and passionate about offering assistance to BA students and families, alongside her trusty side-kick, Winston, the BA Facility Dog.
MEET WINSTON: Perhaps the most beloved "faculty member" at Brentwood Academy is Winston. As BA's facility dog, he is an active member of our community. He can be seen around campus greeting with high-fives in the hallway, participating in daily cleanup, helping out in advisory groups, and offering additional emotional support to students visiting Mrs. Hall.
PARENTED
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As part of BA’s dedicated commitment to supporting our families, we aim to provide educational content that complements and contributes to the parenting journey. Recognizing that parenting looks different for individual students, family environments, and stages of life, we have created "ParentEd." ParentEd is a video series of experts speaking directly to BA parents as their audience, addressing a wide range of relevant topics to help develop each whole person. While many of these videos coincide with live events held on campus, all of this content is exclusive to BA families. We know that families are busy, and the ParentEd video platform ensures that parents have access to this resource at any time. |
JOHN 13:34-35
A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.
ADVISORY
Every student at BA has an assigned advisory group that meets weekly and serves as a space for students to grow individually while building meaningful relationships with peers and faculty. The three main goals of advisory time are group bonding, faith-building, and character development. The faith-building piece often takes the form of discussing what was talked about in chapel, offering prayer requests, or sharing testimonies. Character development is accomplished through a curriculum designed to provide opportunities for students to learn about social and emotional topics. Lastly, advisory groups function as a place for students to have fun while getting to know each other better.
In middle school, advisory groups are made up of all-boy or all-girl students who are in the same grade. Every year, middle school students will receive a new advisory group placement. This allows students to have the opportunity to form relationships with more people in their grade as they move through these foundational years.
Once students move into upper school, the advisory experience will shift. Upper school advisory groups are still divided by boys and girls, but are comprised of students from each grade, 9th-12th. Students keep the same general group and advisor for their life-cycle in the upper school. We believe this allows for the crucial elements of leadership, discipleship, and mentorship to organically arise between students. It also gives each student an advisor that will follow and support them throughout their upper school experience at BA.
Advisory groups are a long-standing tradition that are vital to our mission of nurturing and challenging each whole person – body, mind, and spirit – to the glory of God.
