Counseling Office

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The School Counselor's Role

School counselors focus their efforts on designing and implementing school counseling programs that promote academic, career and social/emotional success for all students. School counselors acknowledge they may be the only counseling professional available to students and their families. Thus, school counselors:

• Deliver instruction that proactively enhances awareness of mental health; promotes positive, healthy behaviors; and seeks to remove the stigma associated with mental health issues

• Provide students with appraisal and advisement addressing their academic, career and social/emotional needs

• Recognize mental health warning signs including

  • changes in school performance and attendance

  • mood changes

  • complaints of illness before school

  • increased disciplinary problems at school

  • problems at home or with the family situation (e.g., stress, trauma, divorce, substance abuse, exposure to poverty conditions, domestic violence) 

  • communication from teachers about problems at school

  • dealing with existing mental health concerns

• Provide short-term counseling and crisis intervention focused on mental health or situational concerns such as grief or difficult transitions

• Provide referrals to school and community resources that treat mental health issues (suicidal ideation, violence, abuse and depression) with the intent of removing barriers to learning and helping the student return to the classroom

• Educate teachers, administrators, families and community stakeholders about the mental health concerns of students, including recognition of the role environmental factors have in causing or exacerbating mental health issues, and provide resources and information

• Advocate, collaborate and coordinate with school and community stakeholders to meet the needs of the whole child and to ensure students and their families have access to mental health services

• Recognize and address barriers to accessing mental health services and the associated stigma, including cultural beliefs and linguistic impediments

• Adhere to appropriate guidelines regarding confidentiality, the distinction between public and private information and consultation

• Help identify and address students’ mental health issues while working within the:

  • ASCA Ethical Standards for School Counselors

  • ASCA Professional Standards & Competencies for School Counselors

  • National, state and local legislation, which guides school counselors’ informed decision-making and standardizes professional practice to protect both the student and school counselor

• Seek to continually update their professional knowledge regarding the students’ social/emotional needs, including best practices in universal screening for mental health risk

• Advocate for ethical use of valid and reliable universal screening instruments with concerns for cultural sensitivity and bias if state legislation or school board policy requires universal screening programs for mental health risk factors (ASCA, 2022)