Guidance
Counseling Provides:
*
Individual Counseling
* Group Counseling
* Group Guidance
* Consultation
* Referrals
Works
alongside Principal, Teachers, and Staff:
* Classroom Observation
* Exchange of Information
* Consultation and Evaluation of Students' Abilities
and Needs
* Referral Assistance
* Communication with Parents/Caretakers
Supports
Parents:
* Shares Thoughts about Child's Abilities, Goals,
Behavior,
__ Likes and Dislikes
* Encourages Working with Teacher
* Share Strategies to Help Your Child at School and/or
Home
* Provide Information about Community Resources
"Emergency"
Counseling:
* Assist Teachers, Administrators, and Staff in Managing
Student Crisis
__ and/or Behavior Problems
* Students are Allowed to See Counselor Once Without
__ Parental Permission
Coordinate
Administration of Standardized Tests:
* Attending Orientation Meetings Regarding Administration
__ of Standardized Tests
* Provides Guidelines and Facilitating Administration
and
__ Interpretation for
Teachers and Families
* Coordinating Materials
Guidance
counseling is for everyone. Every student
within our Catholic community can benefit from counseling.
Guidance counseling is not a means to "correct"
problems, but instead, a pro-active way to
help prevent problems. The counselor's role
is to be an active listener, not an advice giver.
Rather than giving advice and direction or adding
forces, the counselor tries to get a child to give
up whatever coping skills that are not effective--therefore,
reducing forces to find more successful ways to deal
with life. Our counseling program is both developmental
and preventive, and meant to be integrated
within the entire school program.
The guidance counseling program is meant to address
topics related to self esteem, friendship, family
dynamics, self-expression/communication, cultural
enrichment, positive school attitudes, and grief and
loss. Some processes counselors use for group counseling
are art projects and games (for self-expression),
role playing (understanding other perspectives).discussion
(expressing listening skills), literature and reading
(to provoke discussion), and body awareness (physical,
sensory activities, body language games). Integration
of many types of sessions works best as students get
to experience a variety of ways of expressing themselves.
After self, parent, or school personnel referral,
the student might be seen once, and the parent is
contacted for permission, and must sign a formal consent
form. Upon the approval of the principal, the student
is assigned a counselor and is seen on an individual
basis for approximately six weeks. An individual counseling
session lasts approximately 20-30 minutes. Students
who attend group counseling (parental permission also
required) are placed according to their grade level
and needs. There are usually about six students in
each group, and groups also meet approximately six
weeks, once a week. Counseling takes place during
the regular school day and emphasis is made on minimizing
distractions from curriculum instruction. Groups help
build peer encouragement and social skills. Students
usually benefit from this friendship building, however,
if more issues arise or any are left unresolved, individual
counseling or referral is an option.
Children have the right to confidentiality with these
exceptions: abuse, harm to self or others, a legal
subpoena, or referral to a medical doctor or care
professional. Children are told about confidentiality
and asked to keep private what is discussed among
themselves, their peers, and the counselor. Students
can share with others what they share during counseling,
but revealing other students' information is explained
as a violation to the confidentiality of the counseling
process. Confidentiality is imperative in promoting
disclosure among groups and individual counseling
sessions.
If you have any concerns about a particular student,
issue, or idea in general, we would like to know.
The guidance office would like to think of parents,
teachers, and counselors as a team throughout this
entire program. Through collaboration, we can work
together to assist every child with concerns.
