Motto: Helping students create an anchor for life.

Mission: The MISD counselors are a diverse group of service oriented professionals who believe in connecting our students, parents, schools and community with tools and resources for academic, social, and emotional success.
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Beliefs: MISD Counselors champion the core beliefs of MISD through a focus on: Individualized success, Social connections, Respect & Responsibility, Emotional well-being and personal growth, Academic achievement and planning for the future.

Our mission at MISD DAEP is to help our students improve not only academically but behaviorally.  We are grateful to have the opportunity to invest in young adults in training. The counseling program at DAEP adheres to all state laws concerning guidance and throughout the school year instructs students in the following areas:

• Healthy relationships

• Suicide prevention

• Substance abuse prevention

• College and career readiness

• Character education

DAEP is a Trauma Informed campus that practices community building, Restorative Discipline and campus wide stress reduction strategies. Teachers and students are engaged in meaningful community building discussions daily during Circles.  During that time we discuss the 8 to Great Program for success, current events and relationship building skills. A brief list and explanation of our 8 to Great Program can be found here. Restorative discipline conversations and Circles invite students to consider their off task behaviors and are regularly utilized by administration.

Under the counseling program at DAEP Mrs. McGhee facilitates weekly Mindful Stretching and Resilience Building groups for students.  Mindful Stretching encourages a mind and body connection that can contribute to a decrease in stress and anxiety while increasing self control and focus. 

We implement scientifically supported interventions to support our students’ growth into the best version of themselves.  The practices listed above are an invitation for students to shed unhelpful and even harmful habits, behaviors and attitudes that are getting in the way of their education and successful future. We hope you will encourage your student to take full advantage of their time with us in this regard.
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For those not familiar with Circles or Restorative Practices:
The Circle format is a very structured community building conversation.  The Circle Keeper guides participants in rounds of discussion covering a variety of topics employing the use of a talking piece. This gives each participant a chance to share and a time to listen to the opinions of others without interrupting. This format teaches empathy, active listening, turn taking and using your reasoning voice to share your perspective with respect.  All students and staff are invited to the circles and sharing is optional.

Our DAEP counselor works to support your student’s academic goals in cooperation with their home campus counselor.  All schedule changes, add/drop requests, e-high enrollment and graduation planning is directed by home campus house counselors.  Please email them directly to inquire about any of these concerns.
Every student in grades 8 - 12, upon arriving to DAEP, will conduct a transcript review with Mrs. Dewey within the first week to review goals, verify credits and confirm their endorsement choice.  Our goal is to encourage students to take 100% accountability for their academic progress and graduate with their class. 

• Mission Credit Presentation

Our seminars occur on select Thursday evenings from 5:30 - 7pm when we have at least 5 interested families.   
Follow the link to Mrs. McGhee counseling page for current information

McKinney ISD is proud to partner with Naviance to offer a college and career planning portal to all middle and high school students. Naviance helps students and families to connect what students do in the classroom to their life goals, including finding colleges and careers based on their personal skills and areas of interest. Naviance helps students plan a course of action to reach their goals, to find resources to prepare academically, and to discover their own path.
Naviance enables students to:

• Assess strengths with a suite of career and learning style assessments

• Explore career options based on interests

• Search for colleges and maintain lists of potential college matches

• Set personalized goals and keep notes on the 4 Year Plan

• Review credits earned and view GPA and rank

• Research scholarships and other financial planning information

• Order transcripts and track their submission

• Apply to schools that use the Common Application

Each student has a personalized login. Please contact your campus counseling department for login information. If your child knows his or her login, you access the campus directory site here. Instructional videos are available here.