National School Counseling Week – Celebrating School Counselors
This week (February 3rd – 7th, 2020) is National School Counseling Week. We know we have a number of school counselors, or those who take on the work of school counselors, in our community. We wanted to take a minute to share some of the top reasons we love school counselors.
1. They bring balance to our school communities.
A lot of times as teachers and administrators we can get so focused on what we’re seeing on the surface – a student’s behavior, a student’s test scores, what a student has said. School counselors dig underneath the surface to understand the why.
- Why is a student behaving as they are?
- Why are their scores what they are?
- Why are they saying what they are saying?
2. They are turbo multi-taskers.
In a lot of schools counselors take on a lot more than supporting the emotional, scheduling, and college preparation of kids. They often take care of the emotional needs of the school staff and become a safe space for the whole school. School counselors support parents, faculty, and students. They help run IEP meetings, organize school events, run student groups, call parents, call social services, visit students who are hospitalized.
3. They bring resources to the table.
School counselors are able to find resources from all sorts of places to help meet the needs of students and families. Whether it’s guest speakers, sponsors for special events, or volunteers, they bring in people resources, financial resources, and social resources to support parents, students and the school.
4. They facilitate and empower students relationships.
Many school counselors facilitate groups as part of their work with students. This helps students know each other, know themselves, and know their school better. Instead of having to center themselves, school counselors center students. Instead of working to solve students’ problems, they help students solve their own.
5. They hear the hardest things and still stay optimistic.
I am from a family of counselors. My mom was a counselor for years with the juvenile detention center. My sister is a counselor. The things they listen to, intervene in, and work through in a day are a lifetime’s worth. Yet they stay optimistic – about people and the future.
School counselors are the hard place when students need, holding students accountable, keeping them on track to meeting deadlines, and setting boundaries with them.
They are also the soft place when students need, a safe place to cry, a calm and relaxing room when the pressures around them are too much.
This week and all through the year we celebrate and honor them.
Visit here to learn more about this special week: https://www.schoolcounselor.org/
