Today’s school counselors are professional educators with a mental health perspective who have a minimum of a master’s degree in counseling and are trained to remove barriers to learning. They provide education, prevention, early identification and intervention services to address the academic, social/emotional and career development needs of all students.

• Core Counseling Curriculum- Systematic delivery of lessons or activities that promote knowledge, attitudes, and skills of student competencies through instruction and/or planned activities outside the classroom.

• Individual Counseling- Planned, goal-focused, short-term counseling sessions to assist students in overcoming issues impeding success or expressing difficulties dealing with developmental tasks.

• Small Group Counseling- Ongoing group counseling sessions provided to students with similar developmental or situational challenges with the goal of achieving healthy personal adjustment and coping with the stress of changing/complex environments.

• Crisis Response- Supporting and assisting students as they navigate critical and emergency situations. This includes recognizing and responding to student mental health crises and offering crisis and short-term intervention, referral & follow-up.

• Individual Student Planning- Analyzing and evaluating students’ abilities, interests, skills, and achievement as the basis for helping students make decisions and develop immediate and long-range educational, career and personal plans.

• Collaboration- Teaming/partnering with other stakeholders to support student achievement, advocate for student programs & facilitate workshops about student developmental issues for parents/guardians.

• Consultation- Working with professionals inside and outside of the school building to share support, strategies, and information to assist in identifying and addressing barriers to student achievement.

• Referrals- Providing students and parents to school or community resources as needed. Staying connected with these resources to wrap support services around students across all environments.

Adapted from the American School Counseling Association’s National Model: A framework for school counseling programs (3rd ed.)

Additional Information

• School Counselors may be contacted at their individual school sites.