Amber Branecky

Welcome back to school, Mountain Lions! I have truly missed each of you this summer and can't wait for the year to come.

I am so happy to be returning for my second year serving as school counselor at Meeker Elementary. There is no other career I'd rather have, and nowhere else I'd rather be! My education career began 20 years ago as an elementary teacher in my hometown area of southeast Texas, left Texas for one year to teach English in Budapest, Hungary, and then returned to live and teach in the Austin area for a while. After marrying my husband there, we decided to try someplace new and landed in northern Colorado in 2012. I worked as a sixth grade science teacher in District 6 for five years, and then started a new role as school counselor in the fall of 2017! My husband Chris and I have two elementary-age daughters, Julia and Fiona, and a little dog named Ollie. We are avid campers and travelers, and I like to read, cook, and do yoga, crafts, and hand embroidery.

Being an elementary counselor is, in my opinion, the best job out there, because it provides lots of opportunities for early intervention, for teaching social-emotional skills at an early age, and for having SO much fun in class lessons, small groups, and one-on-one with students. I love to regularly learn more and more about school counseling, and I'm nearly always in the middle of some type of professional learning opportunity.

Our mental health team provides services to every single student enrolled at Meeker. As the school counselor, I provide twice-monthly lessons to each class, and as a team we support individuals through small groups and one-on-one sessions. While my individual services are only intended to be short-term, I can provide referrals to long-term therapy providers upon request. Parents and guardians are always welcome to contact me at abranecky@greeleyschools.org with any questions they have about our counseling program, support for their child, or anything else. I can't say I have all the answers, but I might know someone who does!