School Counselling

at

St. Agnes Junior High and Halifax Central Junior High

The school counselling program is designed to support the personal, academic, social/emotional and career development of each student. The structure of support may include whole class instruction, small group intervention or one-on-one counselling.

Students are able to access the support of a counsellor by a referral system. Students may ask to see the counsellor directly or they may be referred to counselling by a staff member, a parent, or another student. Counselling conversations are confidential. Students struggling with stress, conflict, anxiety, depression, family concerns, grief/loss, transitions are able to receive direct support from the school counsellor or may choose to be referred to another agency/support service.

School counsellors work in collaboration with the school planning team as well as other student support team members such as the school social worker, psychologist, community outreach worker and other part-time support services provided by HRCE. Counsellors also bridge connections with community partners such as IWK, ISANS, YMCA, Halifax Youth Project, Big Brothers and Sisters, The Learning Partnership, Phoenix Youth etc.

The school counsellor guides students from their entry into elementary school to their transition into high school. New students may receive support with organization and the challenges of coping with changes in routines, schedules, peer interactions etc. Elementary classes may participate in programs such as Roots of Empathy. Grade 9 students may receive support with beginning career exploration activities such as Take Our Kids to Work Day, career fairs, financial awareness workshop as well as support through the course selection process for Grade 10.

School counsellors in the Halifax Regional Centre for Education must possess: A valid Nova Scotia teaching certificate, a Masters degree in counselling or equivalent and a minimum of 2 years teaching experience. School counsellors engage in continuing education and professional development on a regular basis to maintain their counselling skills and to keep current with new studies and trends in the field of counselling.

Ms. Manning-Ryan started her career with HRSB 1993 as a resource teacher. She was a grade 5 teacher for the second phase of her career then she became a school counsellor in 2011. She is a Certified Canadian Counsellor (CCC) and a Registered Counselling Therapist (RCT) with the province of Nova Scotia.

Contact Information:

Phone: (902) 493-5132 ext. 4

Fax: (902) 493-5140

email: rmanning-ryan@hrce.ca