Celebrating National School Psychology Week

November 8-12 is National School Psychology Week, and we thank all our school psychologists for the important work they do to help students thrive! This year’s theme is, Let’s get into GEAR!

G: grow personally and professionally

E: Engage in best practices

A: Advocate for children’s access to mental health

R: Rise implies resilience and renewal despite challenges of the past

Learn how three of our School Psychology alumni are making an impact every day and how they get into GEAR! 

Andrea Danielian

School Psychologist, Las Virgenes Unified School District

Andrea was finishing up her bachelor’s degree in Psychology at CSUN when she started thinking about her next step. She knew she wanted to stay in the field of psychology but research and experimental psychology wasn’t what she had in mind. She wanted to help and work closely with people while using what she learned in psychology. She started to do some research in other programs at CSUN and realized what she was looking for was in the College of Education in the M.S. School Psychology program. “The School Psychology program was the perfect mix. It had the psychology piece combined with helping people, specifically helping children.”

Andrea believes in the power of focusing on a growth mindset to promote mental wellness and resiliency. “It’s a simple tactic that really anyone can practice with any child and with themselves. At the most basic level, it is shifting from a fixed mindset: I’m not good at math; to a growth mindset: I’m not good at math yet. That yet is so powerful.” Andrea further explains that that we need to reinforce that it’s okay to struggle; “being challenged and struggling is part of the learning process, we should praise the process of how the student came to the answer just as much as we praise the right answer itself.” Andrea also believe that anyone can be an advocate for children’s mental health. “Parents and teachers who are successful advocating for children’s mental health do these three things: engage, connect, and foster trusting communication with their students and the earlier the better.” She further explains that the earlier and more frequently this engagement and connectedness is practiced, it opens up trust between that student and the adults around them to later be more comfortable to talk about serious issues in the future.

Andrea’s long-term plan is to continue her work with the district to and to stay in a school setting, especially because there is a shortage of school psychologists, “I love being here on a daily basis. This is my plan, this is where it all comes together for me.” Andrea hopes that as a society we start focusing on our strengths, “Instead of fixing our deficits, let’s look at our strengths. We spend years fixing deficits and then our strengths are underdeveloped. We need to realize that focusing on strengths will better prepare our children for life. Let’s use their strengths for learning and to harness their goals.” 

Susan Abraham

School Psychologist, Pre-school Assessment Team

Glendale Unified School District

Susan had a lot of interests, from journalism, to speech pathology, to wanting to help people. When she met someone in school psychology she realized that was the career she was looking for, “School psychology was the intersection of everything I liked. I wanted to help people and I loved that I could help children in a school setting rather than in a clinical setting. The idea of bringing different groups together to help a child find their strengths and be successful in school also intrigued me.” After finishing her M.S. in School Psychology at CSUN in 2008, she has worked as a school psychologist at Glendale Unified School District and for the last five years has been serving on the Pre-school Assessment Team. “I love my job, I love being able to hold a parent’s hand and guide them along their journey. I have to be very mindful that this is the first time they are being introduced to a school system, and they are coming in with great concerns about their child. It is my job to listen to their concerns, ask questions, observe their child and then share my findings.”

Susan believes that the biggest challenge, currently, for school psychologists is the mental health of our youngest children. She is especially concerned with what our young children have gone through in the last 18 months. “I am concerned how we sent our students back to school. We didn’t properly assess their condition, what they’ve been through, what they’ve been exposed to. We don’t know what their home conditions are like. It’s no longer solely about psycho metrics and assessments, this was a huge tidal wave and we need to address our children’s mental health needs.” Susan states that everyone involved needs to look out for warning signs and act when it comes to our children’s mental health. “There are simple warning signs, look for unusual behavior from that child, are they suddenly always sad, seem withdrawn, changes in personality, not thriving in a subject they once loved, etc. These behaviors could indicate a cry for help, and it’s everyone’s responsibility to get them help, early intervention is key.”

Susan’s long-term goal is to keep learning and developing so that she can continue to serve her young students and their families. “I hope to always be present with the parents of my students and never go on auto pilot, every situation is different and it’s important that I give every family their own personal attention.” Susan started her own YouTube channel, Growing Character to extend her reach with other parents. She knows that there are others that have questions about their children’s development and really don’t know where to go. Her hope is to continue to see what the common questions and needs are so that she can record the answers to provide a resource and to serve many more parents. 

Chris Morales

Regional School Psychologist,

Los Angeles County Office of Education

Chris Morales was an at-risk youth growing up in the San Fernando Valley.  He experienced the challenges of gang and DCFS involvement due to the family and environmental factors. He attended three different high schools due to school suspensions.  While being on a negative trajectory in life, he credits the many community counselors and professionals that offered support and didn’t give up on him to rise above and discover his strengths and direct him to resources. It was his experience with the counselors, social workers and other mental health professionals that led him to his career as a School Psychologist.

Chris initially worked as a probation officer in Los Angeles County Probation Department.  He worked in juvenile halls, probation camp, and school-based programs.  While working with probation involved youth and students he realized the need for school psychologist and mental health professionals in the juvenile court school system. In 2006, he earned his M.S. in School Psychology at CSUN while working full time as probation officer.  Chris is currently a Regional School Psychologist, at the Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE). He is responsible for social-emotional assessments and placement for students who require a Residential Treatment Center (RTC) due to their mental health and social-emotional needs. 

Chris shares that one of the most important things we can do to promote mental wellness for our youth is to simply change your perspective and attitude on how you perceive students with emotional concerns, “You have to reframe your thinking, instead of asking what is wrong with this youth ask what happened to this youth? We first have to understand the child as a whole.  This will include understanding their culture, environment, family structure, and their social-emotional development.  Secondly, as educators we need to earn student’s trust and safety to allow them to share their story to establish therapeutic relationships and start the real work of counseling and teaching new social-emotional skills to address their mental health needs.” 

Chris also states that the power of human connection is key to serving students, “Every interaction with a student is an opportunity to connect, teach, role-model and create a new positive experience.” Chris believes we need to re-engineer our traditional counseling approach.  He finds success in counseling student through music, art, poetry, sports, short clips from movies and then resonate those teachings to life. He operates under the framework of being innovative and creative when serving students in special education to provide hope, perseverance, and build on each child’s strength.