A Summary Of School Counseling

We make decisions early in our lives that have a massive impact on our future. It has always been a passion of mine to touch the lives of the youth in a great and positive manner. What better way to live out this passion than being an advocate for the generation to come. It is my goal, to inspire and aide a generation of students in achieving their goals. I believe that School Counseling will give me the opportunity to do so. My personal and work experiences influenced my motivation to become a School Counselor. Through my years of experience I have overcame many challenging obstacles but they all worked together in the end for the better. In example, the first university that I attended after high school was Valdosta State University. When I attended VSU, my approach of learning was extremely nonchalant. After some life struggles I decided to relocate to Atlanta. Upon moving, I made a promise to myself that I had to finish what I stated back in Valdosta. My outlook on learning had become more meaningful. I enrolled in Atlanta Technical College and this is where my hungry for an over average GPA began. Once I began this journey, deciding to focus in Early Childhood and Education, like any other college student, I faced difficulties adjusting myself to university’s requirements. Eventually I became more confident and showed much more interest in the change. I worked harder, and received high grades, which boosted my ambition to perform better. In my last quarter at Atlanta

It takes a special person to become a school counselor and in doing so it is important to take those life skills, knowledge, dispositions, and background experiences to help along the way. In the counseling field there are some guidelines and theories that will help, but nothing that prepares you for what may happen at any moment or any time during the day. It is clear that life definitely throws some unexpected curve balls and that is the same for situations in the field of school counseling. You never know what situation you will run into and in order to dodge those curve balls it is those life experiences that often time influence the direction in which we take both personally and professionally. It is important to compile all the knowledge and experiences that we have gained throughout life and apply them in a way that will help others to be successful. It is key to reflect on the past and those skills that I have that will lead me to become an effective professional school counselors.

The Comprehensive School Counseling Program Notebook which follows the ASCA National Model third edition was created in School Counseling Programs. This notebook is divided into four components as directed by the comprehensive school counseling program: foundation, delivery, management, and accountability. The Foundation section includes my core beliefs, my vision, my mission, rationale, description, and goals of the program at Mountain Home Junior School. Delivery, Management, and Accountability (AR 1.2).

In schools all over the world today, School Counselors are crucial to assisting students, parents, school administrations, and the community. I believe that creating an effective counseling program that supports the counselors’ role in education will foster a close interaction between students and counselor to achieve success in their personal/social lives, academic achievements, and college readiness careers.

The role of a school counselor is an intriguing one because they do not work with a specific type of client. While they will always be working with young children or teenagers, the problems their clients come to them with can be so different from client to client. One session might be dealing with questions about career choices. Another might be about dealing with bullying. Some days a school counselor may even have to be there for a child who was a victim of sexual or physical abuse. It is because of this wide range of demands that a school counselor should be well-versed in many types of counseling theories.

Choosing a technique to use throughout the therapeutic process is essential to the client as well as the therapist. By choosing a particular therapeutic approach the therapist is simply implementing a tool to help navigate through the counseling phase. Therefore, without the necessary tools needed for therapy counseling would be extremely difficult for both the client and the clinician. The ability to use different techniques is also useful for those who choose a career in school counseling. Those who choose to go into the school counseling field are disposed to using techniques that help to quickly resolve a solution or one that has the ability to change a child’s thought process or behavior. Hence, many of the practices used in conventional therapy would not be practical to use as a school counselor because they may be deemed as inappropriate or ineffective to use when counseling children. Take for instance; Psychoanalysis many of the techniques used throughout Freudian therapy would not be useful for school counselors.

The process of writing this paper has given me the opportunity to reflect on my beliefs about school counseling. As I am just beginning the school counseling program and my beliefs are still evolving, I have a foundation to build upon as I learn more through my coursework and experiences as a practicing school

As a school counselor in practice, my philosophy of the role of the school counselor is that school counselors play a tremendous role in the life of their student and is very important for us, school counselors to be aware of our role in the students’ life. We play a big role in their development of different areas such as personal development, career/academic development, and social development. Therefore, what guide me to this career is that I want to be able to advocate for my students, and to help student succeed not only academically but also mentally, socially and to provide them with the tools that they need to be successful in life.

I enjoyed reading your post. You provided relevant and important members that you would include in your group. I agree that teachers are essential for the school counselor to collaborate with as they are with the students most of the day (American School Counselor Association, 2012). I like how you would collaborate with the school or district psychologist in order to create the school counseling program. Is this something that your school or district psychologists do in your school district? I think that would be a great resource. An important addition to group would be the students. Students are the ones that are receiving the services that the school counseling program is providing. They have direct information about themselves

It is human nature to take the easy way when given a choice between an easy option and a difficult one. However, the easy way is not always the best way to grow and progress. Growth occurs when adversity is present, not when there is an absence of adversity and everything is easy. The Roman poet Horace observed, "Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents which in prosperous circumstances would have lain dormant." Horace's contention examines the role that adversity plays in the development of one’s character and understanding difficulty and suffering. It is in times of trouble, when adversities thrusts itself upon one that true character is make known. I am an optimist and believe that people are fundamentally good

A school counselor’s role is vital in many schools across America. Many students see their counselor, to work on any emotional stressors, academic changes and challenges. This may include, interventions, group therapy and changes in class schedule, but sometimes with all the implementations given, students do not succeed in school. Perhaps one needs to take a closer look at the programs being implemented and its success rate. In addition, a counselor should guide itself using the ASCA (American School Counselor Association) to provide evidence based practices in schools.

School counselors in California were surveyed about their student assessment practices and their perceptions about the adequacy of their training. National school counselor certification examinations and state credentialing standards require knowledge of and skill development in assessment. The ASCA National Model outlines for school counselors the ethical standards to be used in selecting, administering, and interpreting assessment measures. Despite the training that school counselors receive in their preparation programs and the links between educational testing and counseling, it is not certain whether counselors in the schools use the assessment skills they were required to learn, know which types of assessment to utilize, and feel adequately

Nazanin Alavi M.D. contributed to several articles discussing the effects of bullying. “Relationship between Bullying and Suicidal Behaviour in Youth Presenting to the Emergency Department” discusses the relationship between the patients who came in that were bullied and their suicide “risk”. Nazanin Alavi research showed, “77% of the adolescents had experienced bullying, while 68.9% had suicide ideation at presentation. “ Of those in the research group 77% reported they were bullied and of that percentage 68.9% had suicidal tensions. Which is over half and displays bullying can lead to suicidal tendencies if one is not careful. The tendencies or thoughts are due to a buildup of depression, self-esteem, and anxiety.”

This week I had the opportunity to fulfill my practicum hours at two different locations. The locations that I observed were Columbia Elementary School’s summer care program and a Mad City Money Event located at Members 1st Credit Union. Both experiences opened my eyes to see a wide range of situations and behaviors among kindergarten through high school. Each observation provided two very different outlooks and each contributed to my knowledge in some way.

In schools all over the world today, School Counselors are crucial to assisting students, parents, school administrations, and the community. I believe that creating an effective counseling program that supports the counselors’ role in education will foster a close interaction between students and counselor to achieve success in their personal/social lives, academic achievements, and college readiness careers.