Bullying in schools is a social problem that continues to grow. Social workers need to be informed about it and prepared to address it in their practice. This study focused on behaviors students who are bullying and students who are victims of bullying demonstrate that get them referred to school‑based counseling. This is a quantitative study with qualitative aspects. A data extraction tool was used to collect secondary data from case files from Family Solutions Collaborative in the Ontario/Montclair School District of students who received counseling services. The data collected was coded, examined, interpreted, and described. Utilizing Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) statistics, frequency and cross‑tabulation analysis showed relationships between various behaviors and bullying status. The benefit from this research is an increased awareness of specific behaviors that will allow teachers, school staff, parents, and counselors to identify students who are bullying and students who are being bullied before the bullying evolves into something much greater.

This project discusses the effectiveness of disciplinary interventions in school-based counseling. Participants were selected from elementary and middle school sites in a school district in Southern California. Qualitative interviews were conducted to give this researcher additional knowledge in the field of school-based counseling. The audio of the interviews that were conducted were recorded, transcribed, and then analyzed by this researcher. The knowledge of the participants and their unique experiences operating with a wide range of students in many years of experience allowed for a more comprehensive understanding of what intervention strategies are most beneficial to students and where schools and counselors can improve in providing counseling services to students. The results consisted of the following eight themes: Defining Discipline, Measuring Success in Interventions, Strategies in Interventions, Theoretical Orientations, Commonalities between Frequently Counseled Students, Communication within the School, Communication between Counselors, and Areas Where Schools are Lacking. Contributions to social work practice in a micro and macro sense are discussed. Findings were given to California State University, San Bernardino and were provided to the school sites and counselors utilized for this study.

Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHS) is an intervention program for children with behavioral and emotional deficits, designed for use, and shown to be effective when used in the classroom a minimum of 3 times per week. However, in some settings, as in the current study, PATHS is being used just once per week. The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine whether PATHS was beneficial in helping elementary school aged children improve their behavioral and emotional health when implemented once per week in a group therapy setting. PATHS was developed based on cognitive behavioral theory, which focuses on improving internalizing symptoms of mental health disorders (thoughts) as well as the externalizing symptoms (behaviors). A one-way, repeated measures ANOVA was utilized to analyze archival data of 193 scores, collected over a single school year. Results indicated that elementary school aged children who received PATHS once per week in a group setting showed a decrease in aggression and disruptive behaviors, and an increase in concentration and attention as well as social and emotional competence. Social change implications could involve the results of the study informing how we might promote overall emotional and behavioral well-being in children. At the organizational level, the expansion of the use of PATHS at reduced costs and time within other settings will extend these benefits to more children with behavioral and emotional deficits. Future studies are suggested to examine further the effectiveness of PATHS when implemented in other programs and alternative ways.