The goal of good school counseling programs is to provide benefit in a variety of venues to the greatest number of students possible. The American School Counseling Association (ASCA) has published specific guidelines to help school counselors reach that goal. ASCA's guidelines recommend services that address the prevention of a variety of issues as well as intervention after issues arise.
Based on ASCA guidelines, the counseling program at St. Raphael School for the 2007-2008 year has several components:
- Classroom Guidance
- Individual Counseling
- Small Groups
- Teacher Collaboration
- Parent Collaboration
- Special Programming
Classroom Guidance is primarily a prevention activity and takes different forms for different grade levels. Lessons and themes are based on curriculum guidelines from the North Carolina Standard Course of Study as they are appropriate for the specific needs of St. Raphael School. The School Counselor visits grades K-2 approximately once a month for about 30 minutes. In grades 3-5 the Guidance Seminar Program operates with small classroom groups every other week. This year we are growing Guidance Seminar into 6th grade through Study Skills and are presenting the 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens and some career counseling to 8th grade. Overall guidance themes this year include using manners, coping with loss, friendship, career exploration, Catholic Social Teaching, academic achievement and personal safety.
Individual Counseling is always available on-demand for children experiencing issues at school or at home. Often, children just need a few minutes with a sympathetic adult to help them work through a friendship issue or to help them get back on track when they are having a bad day. For children who are experiencing issues that cannot be addressed properly in a few sessions at school, the school counselor has referral information for out of school providers.
Small Groups help bridge the gap between individual counseling and classroom guidance. Since they are topical in nature, they can be designed to prevent problems (body image, violence in the media) or intervene after issues have arisen (divorce, grief, anger management). Small groups are formed based on needs that are identified at school, and participation is voluntary.
Teacher Collaboration seeks to strengthen the working realtionship between students and faculty. Faculty will work with the school counselor to determine effective strategies for classroom success and behavior when students are having a difficult time. In addition, the school counselor may provide information to teachers if testing and assessment is required for a student.
Parent Collaboration works to strengthen the bond between parent and child. Parenting requires the ongoing development of new skills and also requires different skills for different children. The school counselor has information to help parents develop and modify parenting skills as their children require. If an issue becomes too complicated or difficult for parents to handle alone, or if additional assessment of a situation is required, the school counselor maintains a listing of many private out of school service providers in the local area. You can find the majority of this listing by clicking on Referral Information on the Home Page of this website.
Special Programming and events occur when it the most efficient (or fun!) way to handle a specific topic or issue. Examples of special programming in the 07-08 school year include Safety Day on October 24th and the Career Conference for the middle school on November 20th.
The school counseling program at St. Raphael School is driven by the specific needs of our learning community. If you see an issue that you feel needs to be addressed, please let me know! I am always looking for parent input and feedback.
Thank you!
Mrs. Seymour