Our comprehensive program is built around four core components established by the State of Texas to ensure all students receive well-rounded support:

1. Guidance Curriculum (Supporting All Students)

• What it is: Our counselors deliver developmental, age-appropriate lessons directly to students in classroom or group settings.

• How it helps: This curriculum serves as a "Tier I" support, helping students build key competencies in areas like goal-setting, stress management, wellness promotion, social skills, and suicide prevention. Lessons are planned in collaboration with teachers and are designed to meet students' developmental needs.

2. Individual Student Planning (Mapping the Future)

• What it is: A structured system to help students monitor and manage their own learning and personal growth.

• How it helps: Counselors collaborate with other educators to guide students in setting educational and career goals, understanding academic pathways, and starting to map out their post-secondary aspirations.

3. Responsive Services (Immediate & Crisis Support)

• What it is: Targeted interventions for students experiencing immediate personal, emotional, or social difficulties that could impact their education.

• How it helps: If a student is facing a stressful situation, a personal crisis, or a recurring challenge, counselors provide short-term individual counseling, small support groups, or crisis response.

4. System Support (The Program's Foundation)

• What it is: Behind-the-scenes management that keeps our program running effectively.

• How it helps: Counselors continuously evaluate and refine the counseling program to ensure it meets high standards of efficiency and efficacy. They also coordinate with a broad network of school, district, and community resource providers to connect families with specialized support when needed.

(Note: Under Texas law, our counselors protect their scheduled time so that the vast majority of their workday is spent directly serving students and families through these components) Please visit the link below for more information!

Parents as Partners

In Texas, parental rights are paramount. Our counseling program is designed to reinforce your role in making decisions regarding the upbringing and control of your child.

Here is what you need to know about parental consent and notification under Texas Education Agency (TEA) rules:

• Annual Notice of Services: Before the first day of school each year, you will receive a written list of all health-related and health-care services available on our campus. This notice allows you to choose which services you wish to permit or decline for your child. These can be reviewed in Skyward Family Access at any time.

• Understanding "Opt-Out" Services (Health-Related Services): Standard school counseling services (which focus on mental/emotional wellbeing but do not rise to the level of clinical therapy) are classified as "health-related services". Under Texas rules, parents have the right to opt out of any of these services at any time.

• Understanding "Opt-In" Services (Requires Prior Written Consent): You must actively provide written consent before your child can receive:

  • Clinical health-care services (except in emergencies).

  • Psychological or psychiatric examinations, tests, or treatments designed to evaluate mental health, traits, or behaviors.

  • Student well-being questionnaires or health screening forms (which we will always provide to you for review before administering).

• Notice of Changes in Services: If we propose a change in the health-related services provided to your student, we will notify you.

  • For ongoing, regular counseling, you will be notified when the service first begins for the school year.

  • For sporadic, occasional counseling (irregular check-ins), we will notify you within three school days of each occurrence.

• Promoting Family Communication: Our counselors are required to encourage students to discuss their well-being and concerns with you directly, and we are always happy to help facilitate these family conversations.

• Prompt Notification of Health and Safety Concerns: If a student discloses information about behaviors representing an adverse change in their physical, emotional, or mental well-being—such as disclosures involving violence, suicidal ideation, unlawful substance use, sexual behaviors, or body modifications—school personnel must notify you within one school day or as soon as feasible.