The Anne & Max Tanenbaum Community Hebrew Academy of Toronto

האקדמיה העברית ע"ש טננבאום

 

The Guidance Department is a key component in the administration of  TanenbaumCHAT. Its major functions are twofold: to guide students with appropriate information about courses, credits, universities, etc. and to help students develop academically, socially and emotionally.

This is accomplished by providing the student body with the following services:

Counsellors are available to discuss any personal or academic difficulty. These discussions are always considered confidential. Counselling sessions may include issues such as:

• academic program choices
• university requirements
• career options
• personal, family and religious issues

The guidance counsellors, often together with other specialized personnel, run classes, small groups and workshops in the following areas:

• Grade 9 orientation
• course selection
• study skills
• post-secondary information
• leadership programs
• career education (JVS)
• university application procedures
• ad hoc social and guidance issues
• True Colors in the Careers course

The Guidance Department maintains computer programs, videos, booklets and pamphlets on a number of topics of interest and importance to our students.

• Career Cruising program
• videos on various universities and careers
• university and community college calendars and booklets
• bulletin board displays
• various materials and information about careers and career development
• career day; job shadowing
• meetings with university liaison personnel

In addition to our counselling staff, TanenbaumCHAT can provide other resources to further help our students.

• peer counsellors
• peer tutors
• referrals to social workers, psychologists, psychiatrists and other specialists (in consultation with parents)
• psycho educational assessments
• academic tutoring

A group of peer counsellors functions under the auspices of the Guidance Department. The Peer Counsellors are carefully selected volunteers from the student body whose natural skills have been enhanced through careful training to provide listening, support and other forms of practical assistance to their peers. They help to provide a caring environment within the school. A year long training program includes: talking about feelings, nonverbal behaviours, roadblocks to communication, listening skills, giving and receiving feedback, owning feelings, problem solving, values clarification and presentation skills.

The peer counsellors help with Grade 9 social integration programs and act as guides and ambassadors to the school. They are role models to the younger students and frequently act as a sounding board on school.  The senior peer counsellors are trained in conflict resolution.

We offer two programs that train students to lead younger students in discussions and activities that examine issues and decisions that affect teenagers' lives. These programs are based on the belief that students will listen to other students when they have something meaningful to say. Through videos, discussions, games and problem solving activities, students have an opportunity to explore their belief systems and learn how to make healthy choices. Each program requires students to participate in a 1-2 day training session, plus 2-3 half days to deliver the programs to younger students. The programs run at different times in the year.

This peer education program trains our students to lead small groups of Grade 8 students in discussion and activities that examine choices about the use of alcohol and other drugs during the teenage years.

This program trains our students to lead small groups of Grade 8 students in discussions and activities that examine issues such as self-esteem, relationships, body image and diets.

Each Wednesday, for twenty minutes, staff and students put aside their traditional roles of teachers and learners and spend time in informal discussion on a variety of topics. The main focus of the Staff Advisor Program is to provide an opportunity for teachers and students to work on establishing greater trust and more intimate relationships. Through discussions and projects, it is hoped that a comfort level will be achieved so that students may go to their particular Staff Advisor for advice and support.

In order to address issues that students may have, materials have been developed for implementation by the Staff Advisors during these sessions. These materials focus on grade specific skills - students move from gaining study and organizational skills in Grade 9, through decision-making skills in Grade 10, to interpersonal/leadership skills in Grade 11. The Grade 9 program is enhanced by the participation of the Peer Counsellors through the Buddy Program. At times the Staff Advisor session may be used to transmit important administrative information to our students. It is always understood that students' need to talk about a particular issue (i.e. current events, school issues, stress relief, etc.) takes precedence over any planned Staff Session. It is meant to be the students' time.

Each Spring, the TanenbaumCHAT Guidance Department organizes a Career Day for Grade 11 students. We have forty presenters who are CHAT graduates representing careers in ten different career areas.

Our goal is to offer students an opportunity to understand the world of work and find out more about various career areas.

Each year the Guidance Department produces the following publications for our students and their parents:

• University Application Process Booklet
• Scholarship Information
• Israel Opportunities Booklet
• Newsletters
• Disclosure of Special Needs Package

All publications are now on Edline, the web site through which we share information with parents and students. In addition to announcements in school, communication with students will also be through e-mail.