The School Counselor at Southern Middle School is:
The Counseling Department is open during normal school hours (8:15am to 3:45pm) and by appointment. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions please call (336) 570-6500.
Middle School Counselors seek to prepare our students to enter a culturally diverse world through collaboration, advocacy, and leadership. We seek to foster the academic, social, and career skills and achievements of our students by providing opportunities for individual, group, and classroom counseling activities. The school counselor will provide developmentally appropriate and comprehensive services to all students while also working with faculty and parents to prepare students to make positive contributions as productive members of society.
School counselors are called on to carry out a number of functions in schools aimed at creating a positive school environment where all students can reach their full potential. These functions include: counseling, consulting, program planning, coordinating, and student appraisal.
School counselors at SMS subscribe to the following basic tenets of the counseling process as outlined in the American School Counselor's Code of Ethics:
Each student has the right to respect and dignity as a human being and to counseling services, without prejudice as to person, character, belief or practice.
Each student has the right to self-direction and self-development.
Each student has the right of choice and the responsibility for decisions reached
The counselor assists in the growth and development of each individual and uses his/her highly specialized skills to insure that the rights of the counselee are properly protected within the structure of the school program.
The counselor-client relationship is private and thereby requires compliance with all laws, policies, and ethical standards pertaining to confidentiality.
Some of the special programs available for students at SMS may include:
Alcohol / Drug Intervention & Prevention Services
Assistance Team (Referrals from administrators, parents & teachers)
Pregnancy & Intervention for "At-Risk" Students
Suicide and Crisis Intervention Services
Character Education Activities & Classroom Guidance
Individual and group counseling
As counselors we keep things discussed confidential, unless someone is in danger. We do encourage students to have open communication with parents.