My Job at School

As an Elementary School Counselor, there are many things I do to help children at school:

• Working with students who have emotional, social, and/or behavioral barriers negatively impacting their education.
• Collaborating with teachers, parents, and administration on supporting the needs of students.   
• Connecting families with resources and agencies that provide additional support to meet individual student needs. 
• Supporting students who experience significant life changes, challenges, or even crisis situations. 
• Teaching classroom lessons about bullying prevention, career education, character education, conflict resolution, and/or academic skills.

Throughout my career, I have helped children who have experienced the following: anxiety/depression at school, bullying concerns, conflict resolution with peers, unexpected family/guardianship changes, grief/loss of a loved one, lack of motivation in the classroom, behavior challenges in the classroom, self-harm and suicide struggles, history of abuse and trauma, truancy concerns, and many other personal struggles.

As a school counselor, my role is to help provide students with strategies to overcome these barriers at school, while collaborating with parents, teachers, and administration on supporting the child at school. If a child needs more extensive support, there are many local community agencies to consider. Although school counselors do not provide therapy or other outpatient services to students, we work closely with our district mental health liaison and many local agencies to connect families with a list of resource options in our community. For more information regarding local therapy and/or agency supports, click on "Community Agencies."