Family Resource Packs

About ten years ago I attended a session at the Virginia School Counselor Association Annual Conference by an elementary counselor who took duplicate and donated books on some common topics and created Parent Packs that were like a folder with two books. She tried to find one book for parents and one book for children.  I brought that idea back and expanded upon it to include a binder with an overview of the topic, lists of books, websites/bogs, and later added Apps and other resources like DVDs to some of the Pack. We try to include a couple of books for children (spreading them out usually by developmental level or variations of the issue).  We have found tote bags work well to contain the binders and books. The packs used to hand on racks in my office but they took up valuable space and the weight of the books frequently weakened the bags. Now they are in 6 large tubs in our Teachers Lounge. Each pack contains a simple evaluation form for parents and another one for the child to complete before the pack is returned. The packs are checked out by the counselor and generally returned to the front office. They are signed out in a book and if they don't come back in 3 weeks we send an email. Parents LOVE these packs and sometimes end up ordering the books so they can keep them. Many families have borrowed 3 or more of the packs. They save the counselors lots of time sharing information and resources about topics we encounter in parent consultation.  This year we created 11 new packs including ones on Grief (Suicide), ASD - high functioning, and Gender Identity. We also add new books on topics as we find ones that are more up to date or helpful.