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"My role as a school counselor is to support the students, faculty, staff, community, and parents. There is not a typical day in counseling and I love it! No two days have been alike since I have started. One hour you might have a student that is suicidal, the next hour you might have an irate parent, and the next hour you might just be doing schedule changes. You just never know! I am still learning how to make decisions about allocating time with many demands. I have had to learn how to say no. You will figure out what real emergencies are. When most people come into guidance, they think that their issue is automatically an emergency but in the grand scheme of things some issues can wait until later in the day or until the next day. I try my best to prioritize by level of urgency. I feel like my position as a school counselor is an important one. It has been an adjustment from being in the classroom, teaching English just last year. There are a lot of things in the counseling position that you are asked to look at from a leadership or administrative standpoint. However, I am fresh out of the classroom so I see things from a teacher's standpoint too. For example, when it comes to scheduling, I will see that there are 34 students in one class and from a teacher's standpoint, I hate that but from an administrative standpoint, I see there there is no other option. In my current school setting, strategies for career development, individual counseling, assessments of students, and large group guidance are most frequently used. Group counseling is something that is least frequently used in my current school setting. However, I know at our elementary schools group counseling is something that is used quite frequently. In my current school setting, academic failure and peer relationships are problems of greatest concern, especially with the ninth graders, which is who I deal with the most. The counselors at our school promote the school counseling program by resources on our website and pamphlets that have been designed to demonstrate all the services that are offered. We receive a lot of money from our military populations and grants to fund the program. We keep records for the program through copies of letters that are sent home, RTI folders, college and career spreadsheets, and documentation through emails." (Wills, 2015)
I see the role and function of the school counselor as a vital asset to every school. I believe that students would have a harder time being successful without a school counselor present at their school. The school counselor is the only person that can provide classroom guidance, individual student planning, responsive services, and system support.
The only concern that I have as I think of myself in the process of becoming a school counselor is being able to balance everything. School counselors have so many responsibilities and every responsibility is so important to the success of the students and the school. I will want to make sure that I am completing every task at the highest level possible.
My values play a role in everything I do in my life so I know that my values will play a role in the counseling process. I am confident that I will be able to separate my personal beliefs from the counseling process when it is necessary. Being a teacher, I have been faced with situations where I knew I could not let my personal beliefs get in the way of counseling a student. Before anything, I will value the Ethical Standards for School Counselors while I am counseling students.
I think I relate most to the cognitive-behavioral theory. "Cognitive-behaviorist believe in the role of social learning in childhood development, and the ideas of modeling and reinforcement. People's personalities come from these experiences in which they are involved in critical learning, identification of appropriate (and inappropriate) thoughts and feelings, and imitation of these behaviors, thoughts, and feelings. So, in other words, if your parents act like snooty, uptight individuals all their lives, and treat other people with little dignity or respect, you, as a child, would learn to do much of the same thing. If your parents don't cry when they're emotional, you may also learn to hide your feelings and not cry when you're emotional. Children learn by observing and imitating. This is social learning theory." (Grohol, 2015)
I tend to react in a way that is always agreeable with students to make them feel comfortable opening up to me. I know that this is something I am going to have to become better with because there are so many times that I am going to have to disagree with a student and provide them with specific feedback to guide them to make right decisions. I know I will be able to work on this through my practicum hours and my internship. I always want to give students the best advice and guidance, even if it is not necessarily the advice they want to hear.
Being a teacher for the past six years, I have felt like I was already a counselor in many ways. Once you have created a rapport with students, they confide in you and want your advice and guidance. This is where my desire to become a school counselor began. I will love when I can have official sessions with students to help guide them through their issues and situations. Also, I am the oldest of five children and my instincts have always been to help guide young ones throughout their life.
What is hard for me is to disagree with a student when they are clearly in the wrong. I have realized that I have a fault of telling people what they want to hear. Although this gains their trust and helps them continue to open up to me, sometimes people need to hear the honest truth and that is something I need to work on. I know I am good at clarifying comments made by a student but giving really beneficial feedback is something that I would like to come more natural for me. I know that giving specific feedback would help a student expand on a thought and give me more information so this is something I definitely need to improve.
A situation that I know I will probably face if I become a secondary school counselor is a pregnant student coming to me for help and advice. Although I have my own beliefs about abortion, I know that I will need to provide the student with every possible option and support that student in any decision the student makes. It is not my job to try to convince a student to make a certain decision based on my personal beliefs. My job will be to provide support and guidance and help a student get through this difficult situation. I look forward to being able to help all students in various situations regardless of my personal values or beliefs.
I believe that a person's cultural background, cultural values, and life experiences will impact them in everything they do in life. Therefore, I know that my background, values, and experiences will have an impact on my counseling sessions with clients that are different from me. I think that a lot of the time I will be dealing with students that either have a different background than me, different values than me, or different life experiences than me. I am fully confident that I will be able to provide every student with the same level of guidance and advice regardless of their background, values, or life experiences. I grew up in a military family so I have always been exposed to people with different backgrounds, values, and life experiences. I know this will play a role in me being successful in dealing with students from different backgrounds, values, and life experiences.
1. Define the problem emotionally and intellectually
2. Apply the ASCA Ethical Standards and the law
3. Consider the students' chronological and developmental levels
4. Consider the setting, parental rights and minors' rights
5. Apply the moral principles
6. Determine Your potential courses of action and their consequences
7. Evaluate the selected action
8. Consult
9. Implement the course of action (Legal, 2015)
What does a school counselor do?
What is the need for a school counselor?
What are the duties of a school counselor?
Grohol, John. "Types of Therapies." Psych Central.com. 15 Apr. 2015. Web. 4 Nov. 2015.
Legal & Ethical | American School Counselor Association (ASCA). (n.d.). Retrieved November 2, 2015, from https://www.schoolcounselor.org/school-counselors-members/legal-ethical
Why Secondary School Counselors | American School Counselor Association (ASCA). (n.d.). Retrieved November 2, 2015, from https://www.schoolcounselor.org/school-counselors- members/careers-roles/why-secondary-school-counselors
Wills, J. (2015, November 5). Meeting Justina Wills [Personal interview].