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Building Champions: A Small-Group Counseling Curriculum for Boys
A fun-filled game plan to help boys of upper elementary and middle-school age build trust, respect, and peer connections, Building Champions covers the topics boys most want and need to become better friends, classmates, and citizens.
Numerous hands-on and interactive experiences maintain group members’ interest and allow them to practice targeted skills while learning.
Eight group lessons cover the following topics:
- Introduction to Building Champions
- Breaking a Sweat (Goal Setting)
- In the Huddle (Integrity and Respect)
- Hands In (Relationships)
- Game Time (Leadership and Teamwork)
- Sitting on the Bench (Self-Control)
- The Last Play (Confidence)
- Shake Hands, Game Over (Being a Good Sport)
Each lesson after the first includes three teaching options to address the needs of different types of groups. Downloadable reproducible items include lesson “exit slips,” student handouts, and program organization and progress tracking forms. More Building Champions
Empowered to Flourish: A Curriculum Promoting Well-Being and Resilience in Adolescent Girls
Empowered to Flourish offers a transformative path to resilience, confidence, and well-being in a world where adolescent girls face increasing pressures and challenges.
This comprehensive, research-informed curriculum supports girls aged 14 to 17 as they navigate one of the most critical periods of their lives.
The 14-session, strengths-based program suitable for small groups in a clinical setting as well as classroom instruction helps girls build healthy habits, manage emotional challenges, foster meaningful relationships, and develop a positive self-image. The curriculum addresses real-world issues girls face today, such as social media pressure, gender stereotypes, and body image, while creating space for them to explore their values, goals, and voices.
“Girls today receive many conflicting messages from media and pop culture about femininity, relationships, and self-worth,” says author Elena Savina, “We wanted to develop a curriculum that empowers them to find their voice and flourish, rather than lose connection with themselves or others.”
Empowered to Flourish is organized into five domains:
- Healthy habits and body image
- Emotional well-being
- Healthy relationships
- Purpose, values, and identity
- Mastery, coping, and resilience
“Each domain addresses a key area of development,” explains co-author Jennifer Moran. “Together, they offer girls a toolkit for navigating adolescence with greater confidence and clarity.”
Delivered through experiential learning, creative expression, group discussion, role-play, and self-reflection, Empowered to Flourish encourages interpersonal connection and personal growth.
Whether used in high schools, counseling clinics, or behavioral health settings, the curriculum is flexible and adaptable to meet the needs of a diverse group.
By equipping girls with knowledge, skills, and a sense of agency, Empowered to Flourish helps the next generation of young women to be seen, heard, and supported as they grow into confident, resilient individuals. More Empowered to Flourish
This set is only available at Research Press.
Building Champions
“Carol Miller’s book Building Champions is absolutely the best group curriculum for boys out there. The activities, themes, handouts, and materials are easily laid out for school counselors to follow and implement in their school counseling programs. Additionally, the curriculum is aligned with the ASCA Mindsets and Behaviors, which is an extra bonus! I would highly recommend Building Champions to every school counselor. —Malti Tuttle, PhD Assistant Professor, Auburn University
“Who better than a school counselor to design a curriculum for champions? Carol Miller has focused on how boys can improve their academic, social/emotional, and career goals to become champions. I love how she has used a variety of learning styles to focus on each student’s strength. See for yourself how this resource can improve your program.”—Lisa Koenecke, MS, MCC, Middle School Counselor, River Bluff, Wisconsin Past President, Wisconsin School Counselor Association
“This is the book you’ve been waiting for. It is a comprehensive and effective program, and it is filled with everything you need to run a group for middle school boys. It is also easily adaptable for high school and upper elementary students. The activities are appealing, straightforward, easily implemented, and fill the requirements for any developmental guidance program. This should be in any good counselor’s library.”—Gaye Dunn, MSMiddle School Counselor, East Moline, Illinois
“As a middle school counselor, I often see boys as an underserved population in the school environment. In Building Champions, Carol Miller provides a much-needed and hard-to-find resource that helps boys develop self-leadership skills while also addressing the external arenas of relationships, leadership, teamwork, and sportsmanship. This small-group curriculum fills an obvious gap in the growth of boys, providing a path to self-development and maturity. Kudos to Carol Miller for creating a user-friendly resource benefiting boys in their development.”—Jan Desmarais-Morse, MEd, Middle School Counselor and Counselor Educator, Goshen, Indiana
“Carol Miller truly understands the nature of boys! Being a mother of three boys and a school counselor to hundreds more, I appreciate the hands-on activities and analogies that she uses throughout Building Champions.”—Mindy Willard, MA, High School Counselor, Franklin, Wisconsin 2013 American School Counselor of the Year
Empowered to Flourish
“The authors provide an engaging and activity-packed curriculum designed uniquely for adolescent girls. Each of the 14 group sessions includes an easy-to-follow guide, along with worksheets and handouts, for mental health professionals who aim to support older girls in developing healthy life habits. The relevant and timely topics include physical and emotional health, social media use, and relationships with others. The latter sessions provide psychoeducation and tools for girls to use as they develop their growth mindset, personal agency, and future goals. I look forward to sharing this curriculum with my school psychology graduate students as an excellent resource for running an adolescent girls’ group.”– Joan Simon, Ph.D., Director of School Psychology Program at University of Central Arkansas
“Empowered to Flourish is a tremendous resource for mental-health providers working with adolescent girls! Utilizing an integrated model of well-being, this curriculum effectively addresses the multi-faceted nature of well-being and thoughtfully applies it to the everyday experiences, challenges, and interactions of adolescent girls. Lessons utilize timely and relevant examples that are sure to spark rich conversations and reflection. Through practical coping skills embedded throughout the curriculum, participants can develop new means for self-soothing in the face of hardships and stressors. In addition to learning skills, this curriculum offers an important opportunity to practice interpersonal skills in real time as participants practice, share, and reflect together. The easy-to-follow format, well-designed lessons, and useful handouts make this curriculum easy to implement and perfect for busy professionals.” – Caroline Fulton, PsyD., Psychologist with Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital, Winfield, IL
Building Champions – Reproducible forms and handouts for this title are available on our downloads page.
Empowered to Flourish – All Reproducibles (6MB)
