Information I provide to staff at the beginning of each year.
I had the privilege of speaking with School Counseling Graduate Students last night via phone conference from Arkansas! They had many fantastic questions for me and I couldn't be happier to answer each and every one! Anything I can do to support fellow school counselors (and future school counselors) makes me feel honored!
I had many questions about how I manage my time and how I set boundaries as far as my role as a Professional School Counselor . First of all...if you refer to yourself, or your school refers to you as a Guidance Counselor...STOP IT! We are not your grandma's guidance counselor! :) Our profession has changed drastically in the last 10 years with the advent of the ASCA National Model. If your job description is the same as it was in 1995, it is time for an update! While we do "guidance" we do so much more. You would not refer to a Math teacher as a "subtraction teacher."
One of the best ways to educate others about your role is by providing them with knowledge. Take time at the beginning of the year to inform your staff and admin about the role of a Professional School Counselor. There are many great resources on the American School Counselor's Association Website to aid you with that.
Annually, at the beginning of the year, I provide my teachers with a Counseling Folder and arm it with information that they need to know about me, my role and my program. Teachers who have worked with me for many years have a pretty solid understanding of my role at our school, however, we have new teachers each year who come from schools with no school counselor or a counselor still operating in 1995 (at no fault of their own!). Below are a few attachments of documents that I share with them during the first week of school. Feel free to take these and make them your own or email me if you have any questions!
Forms included in Counseling Folder for each teacher.
Letter to Teachers
letter_to_teachers_14.15.pdf | |
File Size: | 267 kb |
File Type: |
Counseling Request Forms
Information about how students can request to see the School Counselor. I give teachers at least 30 copies each of this form inside of the Counseling Folder along with the Procedures for Seeing the School Counselor. I also review this information with all students during my first counseling lesson. These Requests can then be placed in a mailbox outside of my office. This allows me to cipher through them and pull students based on my time and based on their need. (idea borrowed from Pinterest)
student_requst_for_counseling_services.pdf | |
File Size: | 23 kb |
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School Counseling Program Brochure
I provide one copy of this brochure for each of my teachers to help them understand my role at our school. I keep many copies in the Front Office and in my own office. I use this not only for Advocacy but also for Counseling Permission. This saves me so much time! I'm not creating a new permission slip for each group or student that I see. This brochure also helps the families understand that I am not a therapist and that School Counseling is much more than "guidance".
Counseling Lessons Q and A
This form was to help clarify that school counseling lessons are not optional. ALL students receive the Counseling Program (thankfully I have been blessed with very supportive administrators over the years!). Teachers could determine the best time for me to come but understood that I would be in their classroom at least once a month. Ideally, I would go over this information in a staff meeting but our teachers were fried from staff meetings at the beginning of the year so I would usually just include this in their Counseling Folders.