The Counselor's Role: Supporting Students
Today's young people are living in an exciting time, with an increasingly diverse and mobile society, new technologies, and expanding opportunities. To help ensure that they are prepared to become the next generation of parents, workers, leaders, and citizens, every student needs support, guidance, and opportunities during a time of rapid growth and change.
Meeting the Challenge
School counselors are professional educators with a mental health perspective who understand and respond to the challenges presented by today's diverse student population. School counselors do not work in isolation; rather they are integral to the total educational program. They provide proactive leadership that engages all stakeholders in the delivery of programs and services to help the student achieve success in school. Professional school counselors align and work with the school's mission to support the academic achievement of all students as they prepare for the ever-changing world of the 21st century. This mission is accomplished through the design, development, implementation, and evaluation of a comprehensive, developmental, and systematic school-counseling program. The ASCA National Standards in the academic, career, and personal/social domains and the Pennsylvania Career Education and Works Standards are the foundation for this work.
ASCA Student Standards guide the development of effective school counseling programs around three domains: academic, career and personal/social development.
- Academic Advising: This includes using data and collaboration with teachers to help students define and develop educational plans through course selection, advising students on high school programs and academic curriculum, and using resources to help students identify and access academic supports.
- Personal/Social Counseling: This includes stress management, conflict resolution, crisis intervention, substance use counseling, grief counseling or any other direct services designed to meet students' immediate needs and concerns.
- Career/College Counseling: This includes using career interest and personality style inventories to help students identify strengths, providing opportunities to learn about post high school options and providing support for the college application process.
Pennsylvania Career Education and Work Standards address four areas of knowledge:
- Career Awareness and Preparation
- Career Acquisition
- Career Retention and Advancement
- Entrepreneurship
School Counselors Implement the Counseling Program by Providing:
Classroom Lessons:
- Organizational, study and test-taking skills
- Mental health education, coping strategies, emotional regulation
- Friendship skills and conflict resolution
- Post-secondary planning and application process
Individual and Small group Student Planning:
- Goal setting
- Academic plans
- Career plans, Career interest Inventories
- Education in understanding of self, including strengths and weaknesses
- Communication, problem-solving, decision-making, conflict resolution
- Transition plans
Responsive Services
- Individual and small-group counseling
- Individual/family/school crisis intervention
- Peer facilitation
- Consultation/collaboration
- Referrals
System Support
- Professional development
- Consultation, collaboration and teaming
- Program management and operation