Role of the School Counselor

Through a series of planned classroom learning experiences, counselors assist teachers with meaningful activities targeting the personal, social, academic and career development of all students.

• Individual: In a *confidential setting, students are assisted in understanding their feelings, attitudes, concerns, and behaviors using evidenced-based counseling techniques that are relevant to the school setting and its limitations. School-based counseling is largely on a short-term basis, and where a problem becomes outside the school counseling scope, students and families may be referred to outside agencies.

• Small Groups: Group counseling may assist students experiencing commonly shared concerns and/or developmental difficulties in areas such as interpersonal relationships with peers, school attendance, academic achievement, or coping with life changes such as grief and loss.

School counselors work closely with teachers, parents, administrators and other helping professionals to support students in the school setting. In this role, the goal is to implement effective strategies to help students become more successful in all aspects of their lives that pertain to their education.

Counselors are responsible for the coordination of various services and activities in the school and school counseling program. Examples of these activities include crisis intervention, parent/student orientation, school transition, and/or conflict resolution and anti-bullying programs. Counselors also coordinate referrals to various school and community agencies when appropriate.

Confidential means that anything students tell me will only stay with me, UNLESS I learn:

• someone is hurting them

• they want to hurt someone else

• they want to hurt themselves, or

• they give me permission to share with a trusted adult.

Student safety and well-being are my top priorities.

To read more about the American School Counselor Association's position on confidentiality, click here.

Here is a list of common topics I discuss with students:

• friendship

• social skills

• anxiety

• school skills, like organization

• changing families

• coping strategies and resiliency skills

• controlling emotions

• grief

• self-esteem

• many more

*School counseling support is not a substitute for in-depth therapy.