Find out how a School Counselor can help you or your child improve academically and socially through a variety of strategies and services.
What is a School Counselor?
A School Counselor is an educator who specializes in working with students to help solve problems. They are good listeners and they have lots of strategies to suggest for different issues. Whether it’s a problem at school or at home, a problem with your friends, or a personal issue that you’re dealing with, they can help.
How Can a School Counselor Help Me?
You may have a particular concern or worry about something going on right now that is stressing you out. Maybe you are fighting with your parents a lot, maybe you’re friends are pressuring you to do stuff you aren’t comfortable with, or maybe you are having trouble paying attention in class. Whatever the problem is, it’s probably starting to interfere with your school work. School Counselors are trained to help kids work through these and many other problems. They will work with you to try to find solutions and to develop emotional skills (like managing your anger or coping with stress) that can prevent other problems in the future.
Do School Counselors Talk to my Teachers and Parents, too?
In addition to working with kids, School Counselors also work to help parents and teachers solve problems, too. For example, they might help parents set up outside counseling for their child, or offer suggestions for problems that are happening at home. They might work with teachers to set up behavior plans for students who are having trouble behaving in class, or work with them to brainstorm different strategies to help a student get the most out of their classes.
What Else do School Counselors do?
Lots of stuff. They consult with teachers and administrators about issues that effect kids and the best ways to meet their needs. School Counselors might help coordinate projects and activities like Student Orientation or High School Course Selection. Counselors often serve on school or district committees that work to make things better for students.
Counselors sometimes run support groups for students. These kinds of groups are usually short-term (6-8 weeks long) and focus on specific topics, like dealing with family changes, coping with grief, or developing social skills. Counselors also visit classrooms to provide lessons on topics that are important to all students, like school success, bullying prevention, and peer pressure. These are sometimes referred to as Developmental Guidance lessons, because they address an issue that most kids face at this point in their development. The purpose of these groups and lessons is to help students learn information and skills that will promote healthy academic and emotional development.
