Ethical, professional, and engagement are the three words that I believe describe my philosophy as a school psychologist. I believe students achieve their best selves when they’re surrounded by a community that is not only involved in their learning process, but also actively engaged in their social-emotional well-being. I strive to contribute to a school that is committed to student well-being, positive parent involvement, and a teaching community that is willing to communicate effectively with student welfare in mind.

Ethical- As a school psychologist, I strive to provide the utmost service and attention to my students while adhering to an ethical standard. It is my duty to provide evidence-based counseling practices. Making sure that I am keeping up to date with new research, assessments, and laws, holds me as a school psychologist to exemplary standards. Staying When my ethics are being compromised so is my work as a psychologist. I want to be able to stand up with integrity when I believe a situation with a student is being handled unethically. Direct student care is a challenging part as a school psychologist because the personal and sometimes unforeseen consequences of this care can be either effective or hurtful to the student and the parent if ethics are not taken into consideration when providing services.

Professional-It is essential to bridge that gap between professional, friend, and co-worker. When walking into a school building my psychologist hat turns on. I treat every single staff member with regard and respect and although each student is my “client”, I am able to still foster meaningful relationships with everyone. Relationships are based on emotional intelligence, the capability to want to know the views of others, along with the essential aptitude to build trust. Professionalism also entails the ability to asses, write, and submit reports in a timely manner and with meaningful findings. It is my duty to make sure students are able to get their meetings and services at an appropriate time and that entails that I manage my time appropriately.

Engagement- Students, teachers, and parents become engaged when they see a psychologist that cares. When I invest my time to show teacher’s behavioral strategies they can use in the classroom, academic interventions, talk to parents about ways to help refocus their child with homework will adhere to more involvement from all parties. With students, I enjoy keeping things relevant; talking about an experience they had and coming full circle on that, or relating current events to the counseling sessions. Students are motivated to share when they can visualize how the information provided can be used to comprehend something about who they are, have an explanation for something they are going through, explain a current state they are in, describe why things happened how it did, or to guess what behavior could occur in the future.

Overall, I want my ethics, professionalism, and engagement in the school to be a what describes me as a school psychologist. I have used these values and continue to use them every day in my line of work to ensure that my mission is met in creating a positive environment for students, teachers, and parents. In creating that environment, I foster excellence and exemplar practice in what I do