Project Summary:
The conference goal is to strengthen school counselor skills through high-quality professional learning focused on student mental health, trauma-responsive practices, suicide prevention, school belonging, and equitable systems of support. School counselors are federally recognized school-based mental health professionals and a critical part of Wisconsin’s mental health and prevention workforce, often serving as the first professionals to identify concerns, respond to crises, and connect students to supports.
School counselors provide prevention, early intervention, crisis response, and student support services that strengthen students' mental health, academic success, school engagement, and social/emotional development. Unlike teachers, whose professional development is embedded in staff training days, counselors often have limited access to training tailored to their unique roles.
The conference learning objectives include strengthening counselors’ ability to implement practical school-based interventions, use student needs data to guide supports, improve collaboration and referral practices, and apply prevention-focused strategies that improve student well-being.
The conference includes keynote speakers and breakout sessions focused on practical strategies that counselors can implement to strengthen school-based mental health systems across Wisconsin. Organizers anticipate approximately 1,200 attendees for the 2026 Hope Heroes Conference. The conference serves school counselors and student support professionals representing public, charter, and private schools across Wisconsin urban, suburban, and rural communities. Attendees include elementary, middle, and high school counselors; pupil services and student services leaders; school mental health professionals; counselor educators; graduate students and interns; and school administrators supporting student wellness initiatives.
School counselors are master’s-level, DPI-licensed professionals trained in counseling skills, child and adolescent development, crisis response, career development, ethics, data-informed practice, comprehensive school counseling programs, and supervised K-12 practicum experience.
School counseling and clinical mental health students often share foundational coursework before moving into role-specific preparation. Both pathways include advanced preparation in counseling, ethics, crisis intervention, supervised practice, and mental health support, with school counseling focused specifically on serving students within educational settings.
Conference programming includes keynote presentations, sectional learning sessions, networking opportunities, and implementation-focused preconference workshops related to student mental health, prevention, resilience, trauma-responsive practices, school belonging, crisis response, neurodiversity, and equitable systems of support.