Counseling and Support Services
Mission Statement
The mission of the Old Saybrook Public Schools is to educate and prepare students to achieve their highest aspirations, care for others and the environment, and contribute to a global society by working in partnership with families and the community, and by engaging each learner in a rigorous, personalized, and meaningful educational program.
The mission of the Counseling and Support Services Program is to empower students with the knowledge, skills, and resources necessary to achieve their highest aspirations towards contributing to a global society across academic, social-emotional, and college/career domains. Working in partnership with our parents, caregivers, and community we strive to support each student in developing a strong sense of self-awareness through personalized and meaningful educational programming.
Confidentiality
Confidentiality is an ethical term that refers to a professional school counselor/school psychologist/school social worker's promise to a student that they will respect a student's right to privacy by not disclosing the information revealed to the support service staff to a third party, except when:
The student explicitly authorizes or requests it.
Any individual is in danger of harm, such as due to suicidal ideation, child abuse, or neglect and/or;
Disclosure is mandated by law, such as in the instance of a subpoena or court order.
For questions or concerns regarding support service ethics or limits to confidentiality, please contact a member of the support services team.
Meet the Support Team Staff
Lisa Castro
School Counselor
Class of 2029 & 2030
Susan Diaz
School Psychologist
All Grades
Lisa Larson
School Social Worker
All Grades
Jennifer Taylor
School Counselor
Class of 2028 & 2031
Karen van der Horst
School Nurse
My nursing career began many years ago at YNHH on an orthopedic trauma and ENT floor before moving to the Emergency Department as a staff nurse and then as a clinical manager in charge of daily operations. After almost 18 years at YNHH, I moved into hospice care, spending another 20 years working with CT Hospice of the Greater New Haven area. While I was working at Hospice, I began working at the Daisy Ingraham School in Westbrook for 4 years before joining the staff as the school nurse here at OSMS in the winter of 2006. I work very closely with all staff, students, and parents. I am very fortunate to have amazing colleagues from the Student Support Team to share a hall with and work closely with on a daily basis. We work together as a team to maintain the health, safety, and well-being of all of our students and staff.