The Roles of a School Counselor

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The Roles of a School Counselor
Original Created by Dawne Gibson
Revised and Adapted by Trish Curcuru
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What does a school counselor do?

• Maybe you would like to be a school counselor. Or
  maybe you are just curious about the roles a
  counselor plays in your school. This slide show
  should give you a good understanding.
• Curcuru, T.

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What are the many roles of a counselor?

• Consultant
• Teacher
• Personal Counselor
• Crisis Counselor
• Peer Facilitator
• Group Counselor
• School Test Coordinator
• Career Counselor
• Chairperson for the Intervention Referral
  Services Team Grades 3-5 and Bilingual K-5
• Anti-Bullying Specialist
• Advisor
• Program Manager
• Researcher
• Public Relations Consultant
• Heroes Mentorship Program Coordinator
• Program Evaluator
• Child Study Team Liaison
• Lunchroom Supervisor Parents Parking Lot
  Supervisor
• School Safety Team Chairperson PBIS Committee
  Member

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Consultant

• We serve as student advocates by consulting with
  students, parents, teachers, and others regarding
  strategies to help students and their families.
• Gibson, D.

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Teacher

• We have a set curriculum, just as teachers do,
  that is mandated by the state. We teach from
  these standards to all classes during our
  Classroom Guided Instruction.
• Gibson, D.

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Personal Counselor

• We serve as mentors, role models, and a
  confidante to students and faculty members who
  need someone to share their burdens with during
  various times of their lives.
• Gibson, D.

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Crisis Counselor

• We serve students and the faculty with critical
  issues that may arise unexpectedly, such as a
  death, fire, tornado, etc.
• http//www.fema.gov/kids/
• The Center for the Prevention of School Violence
• Gibson, D.

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Peer Facilitator

• Counselors can train students as peer mediators,
  conflict managers, tutors, and mentors.
• http//www.peerprograms.org/
• Gibson, D.

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Group Counselor

• A counselor will conduct group counseling as
  needed on such topics as anger management,
  bullying, friendship, feelings, etc. The
  counselor will only conduct group counseling with
  parental permission.
• School Violence Prevention School Safety Guide
• Safe Communities Safe Schools Bullying
  Prevention
• Gibson, D.
• Revised by T. Curcuru

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School Test Coordinator

• Counselors serve as school test coordinators for
  the Department of Educations testing program for
  grades 3, 4, and 5. In this critical role,
  counselors ensure that all aspects of testing are
  smooth from the early stages of planning and
  staff training to the final stages of test
  administration and make-ups. Our involvement in
  this year-long process extends well beyond actual
  testing weeks. Counselors spend months preparing
  and learning about the needs of the students and
  staff. Counselors conscientiously study IEPs and
  504 Plans to make certain testing accommodations
  are met. After the school year ends, often in
  July, counselors are still at work on testing
  during the records review process. All student
  information must be accurate as this impacts
  state and federal progress reports.
• Once scores arrive in the fall, counselors also
  ensure individual score reports are disseminated,
  filed and forwarded.
• As parents and staff receive reports, the
  counselor serves as a resource for interpretation
  of the data.
• Curcuru, T.

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Career Counselor

• Counselors help students investigate the world of
  work as well as their personal interests, develop
  job skills, apply for jobs, write resumes, and
  seek employment.
• Gibson, D.

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IRST Chairperson

• The school counselor serves as the chairperson
  for the IRST for grades 3, 4, and 5 and for
  bilingual grades K-5. In this role, she meets
  twice a month with a team of professionals who
  develop plans for students in need of an
  educational plan that includes interventions
  and/or referrals.
• The school counselor prepares the agenda for the
  meetings and maintains the end-of-the-year
  report.
• Curcuru, T.

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Anti-Bullying Specialist

• Counselors serve as the Anti-Bullying Specialist
  to prevent and assist with the investigation of
  alleged incidents of harassment, intimidation and
  bullying. In this role, counselors work closely
  with the administration and staff to prevent
  incidents and to create and implement action
  plans to remediate incidents once they occur .
• Counselors receive training in HIB prevention
  every year and write reports which are submitted
  several times a year to the district
  Anti-Bullying Coordinator.
• Curcuru. T.

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Advisor

• A counselor is an advisor to students as they
  enroll in school, prepare to leave school, and as
  they enter the work field. A counselor may also
  serve as an advisor to the community, seeking
  ways to better their school and generate support
  for their program.
• Gibson, D.

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Program Manager

• A counselor must be organized and up-to date on
  the latest curriculum and standards given by the
  state and local systems in order to develop a
  well rounded program.
• Gibson, D.

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Researcher

• Counselors must analyze their individual schools
  data results from testing. We also must evaluate
  our program regularly and make necessary changes.
  We must research the latest data and update our
  resources periodically.
• Gibson, D.

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Public Relations Consultant

• In this role, the counselor helps others in the
  school understand the counseling program. The
  counselor may promote the program through various
  activities such as the creation of a website,
  blog, or newsletter. She may also reach out to
  the community and its resources to benefit the
  school and/or students.
• Gibson, D. Curcuru, T.

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Heroes Mentorship Program Coordinator

• The counselor seeks to pair staff mentors, Big
  Heroes, with students or Little Heroes.
• The counselor oversees the program by organizing,
  mentoring and encouraging as well as celebrating
  the special bonds formed between the Heroes.
• Curcuru, T.

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Program Evaluator

• Counselors continually assess the needs of their
  students, evaluate their programs, and make
  changes in the school counseling program to
  better meet the current, identified needs of
  students.
• From Millville K-8 Guidance Curriculum, p. 4,
  January 2013.

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Child Study Team Liaison

• The counselor keeps in contact with Child Study
  members throughout the year and at IRST meetings
  to discuss and review new referrals and the
  progress of current classified students.
• The counselor meets with the Special Services
  social worker weekly to discuss the counseling
  needs of classified students.

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Lunchroom/Drill/Parking Lot Supervisor

• The counselor supervises the lunchroom during
  kindergarten/first grade lunch every day.
• The counselor supervises the parents parking lot
  one week per month in the morning.
• The counselor supervises drills as requested and
  needed by the principal and vice principal.
• Curcuru, T.

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School Safety Team Member

• Counselors serve on the School Safety
  Committee/and or serve as chairperson.
• The counselor analyzes HIB data and trends and
  devises a plan with the team to reduce incidents
  and to take proactive measures.
• The counselor works with the team to develop
  activities for Respect Week in October.
• Counselors also serve as a member of the Positive
  Behavior Intervention and Support Team. We
  support PBIS team efforts and work with
  administration , staff, parents, and students to
  foster positive behavior.
• Curcuru, T.
• Curcuru, T.

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ADA/504 Plan Writer
Counselors receive 504 training from the Director
of Special Services and must follow 504 Law to
write plans for students who quality. Prior to
writing plans, counselors present 504 requests
to the IRST and if appropriate, schedule 504
eligibility determination meetings, and organize
paperwork/records. Counselors carefully assemble
a multi-disciplinary 504 Committee that includes
the students teacher, parents, administration,
and other individuals who can provide expertise
and have enough knowledge and information to make
a determination of eligibility or
non-eligibility. Once a plan is in place,
counselors and social workers make certain that
all teachers are aware of the 504 Plan and follow
the accommodations. Curcuru, T.
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Now that you know what your counselor does..

• What is important to your counselor?
• Riecks counselor, Mrs. Curcuru, believes in
  being student centered and solution focused.
  Students are central to her work and she likes to
  help them to find solutions to their problems.
  This gives Mrs. Curcuru much joy! Mrs. Curcuru
  likes working with people and she has lots of
  experience helping others.
• Curcuru, T.

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What else do you need to know?School
Counselors provide shortterm (brief) counseling
in the school. School counselors do not provide
therapy for children or families.Curcuru, T.
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What is the difference between counseling and
therapy?

• Counseling
• Addresses preventative and developmental
  concerns.
• Addresses conscious concerns related to school.
• Assists with educational, career, and
  decision-making problems.
• Uses teaching methods.
• Makes referrals to parents for students with
  serious problems to receive help from
  professionals with clinical training.
• Credit The School Counselors Book of Lists by
  Dorothy J. Blum. P. 47

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What is therapy?

• Addresses serious disorders and personality
  problems.
• Addresses unconscious concerns as well as
  conscious concerns.
• Assists with personality reconstruction and other
  serious problems.
• Uses healing methods.
• Provides ongoing therapy to students referred by
  school counselor to parents.
• Credit The School Counselors Book of Lists by
  Dorothy J. Blum. P. 47

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What is the counseling method provided by your
school counselor?

• Your school counselor provides solution-focused
  brief counseling.
• Method
• Listen attentively to the students description
  of the problem.
• Refocus toward solution of the problem and
  reframe with success terminology.
• Externalize the problem.
• Align with the student against the problem.
• Focus on the visible and the specific.
• Ask the student the miracle question If the
  problem were solved overnight, how would the
  student know it was solved? What would be
  different?
• Identify problem maintenance behaviors.
• Credit The School Counselors Book of Lists by
  Dorothy J. Blum. p. 46

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Solution-Focused Brief Counseling (cont.)

• Identify exceptions, times when the student has
  the problem under control.
• Encourage student to do the same thing(s) as he
  or she did during exceptions.
• Encourage adults in the school to see the student
  as competent and able to control the problem.
• Use a scale of 10 and ask the student to place
  control of the problem on that scale.
• Caution students to go slowly and focus on tasks
  that lead to success.
• Notice time and place when examining successes.
• Recognize student as expert and totally
  responsible for success.
• Credit The School Counselors Book of Lists by
  Dorothy J. Blum. p. 46

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What does confidentiality mean to your counselor?

• Counselor MUST keep students personal
  information and issues PERSONAL. We are NOT
  allowed to share this information unless one of
  the following guidelines occur
• Gibson, D.

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Reasons for breaking confidentiality

• They are in danger or they present a danger to
  someone or themselves.
• You are mandated by the courts.
• They give you permission to discuss it with
  someone else.
• They are in violation of a school policy that
  requires you to report it to a school
  administrator.
• You feel it necessary to consult with someone
  more experienced in the area of concern or need
  (with students permission).
• Gibson, D.

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Credits and Acknowledgements

• A very special thanks to super guidance counselor
  Dawne Gibson of Englewood Elementary School in
  Tuscaloosa, Alabama for sharing her original
  PowerPoint creation of The Roles of a
  Counselor. Reaching across many miles to share
  ideas has been a joy!
• With Dawns permission and kindness, Trish
  Curcuru, Rieck Avenue Schools guidance
  counselor, was able to revise the PowerPoint and
  to add and tailor slides as needed. Trish is very
  grateful to Dawn for her inspiration and
  collaboration!

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Thanks you for taking the time to understand the
roles and responsibilities of a counselor.
Curcuru, T.