This document serves as a supportive tool for school counselors and their programs. It focuses on counseling issues and ideas, and has a particular emphasis on ideas for best practice. It also serves an important role in promoting the school counseling profession. This issue includes the following articles: (1) "Effective Counseling Strategies To Cope with Violence in Schools" (Kan V. Chandras); (2) "School Counselors...Taking a Moment To Touch the Head, the Heart, and the Hand: A Model for Character Education" (Cheryl Love, Aime Hinton, and Vasanne Tinsley); (3) "Management vs. Control of Behavior of African-American Males in Elementary School (A Case for Reinforcing Appropriate Behavior)" (Alvin F. Anderson); (4) "A Proactive Approach to Conflict Resolution: A Model Peer Mediation Program" (Linda Youngblood and Jacquelyn Brown); (5) "FOCUS--Finding Opportunities for Coping and Understanding Self-Discipline" (Joanne Wells); (6) GSCEP...Georgia School Counselors' Effective Practices" (Fran Mullis); (7) "The Impact of Current Brain Research on School Reform and the Implications for School Counselors" (Barbara R. Jones); (8) "Language Dysfunction: A Key to Understanding and Counseling Students with Learning Disabilities" (Joyce Williams Bergin and James J. Bergin); (9) "Professional School Counseling: A New Vision at State University of West Georgia" (C. Marie Jackson, Brent M. Snow, Paul L. Phillips, Susan R. Boes, and George E. Rolle); and (10) "School Counselor Practice and Preparation: A Local Partnership for Change" (Pamela O. Paisley, Richard L. Hayes, and Deryl F. Bailey). (Contains 169 references.) (JDM)