Building effective and significant practices based on enduring trust and their practical understanding of counseling theory, strategies, and instruments, school counselors play a crucial role in both the welfare of students and the functioning of schools.
Although school counselors must adhere to regulations, job descriptions, and school policies, they are motivated to define their roles based on their professionalism and the welfare of their pupils.
This article offers programs to support school counselors in their work with students as well as strategies to assist them in carrying out their essential functions.
Five Counseling Programs You Must Know
School counselors must be optimists who have faith in both their abilities and the potential of their pupils to advance. Like all mental health and wellness providers, school counselors gain from having access to valuable, well-considered resources.
The programs listed below are helpful for counselors of all experience levels:
1. Bright Futures’ Elementary Counseling Curriculum
Are you trying to find one of the best school counseling programs that adhere to best practices based on research? This primary school counseling curriculum is low prep and simple to implement, for it will take the guesswork out of planning and provide you with all the tools you need to conduct successful individual sessions, small group sessions, and classroom counseling teachings.
With the curriculum map provided, you may spend more time counseling and less time planning, as it outlines exactly what needs to be done at each stage each month.
2. School-Counselor.org
For people at whatever level of their career—from those thinking about becoming school counselors to those looking for resources to assist them in succeeding in their current roles—School-Counselor.org offers a wealth of information and programs. Besides, these resources include worksheets, career counseling, communication strategies, and anxiety and anger control.
3. Elementary School Counseling
An American elementary school counselor founded Elementary School Counseling to offer materials and equipment needed to administer successful counseling programs. A list of blogs and internet resources is provided, which counselors will find extremely helpful, in addition to strategies and ideas for counseling individuals, small groups, and classroom settings.
4. Counseling in Elementary Schools
This website, which Ohio elementary school counselor Marissa Rex developed, gives school counselors the tools and assistance they require to manage successful counseling programs. School counselors can find beneficial book reviews and lesson and activity ideas to address particular problems, like bullying.
In addition, she provides forms and templates that are helpful in keeping counselors organized. These forms and templates include informal observation forms, weekly counseling schedule planners, and individual counseling forms.
5. Teachers Pay Teachers
Teachers Get Paid The “first and largest open marketplace where teachers share, sell, and buy original educational resources” is what instructors bill themselves as. Imagine it as a teacher-only version of Pinterest and Etsy, where educators share the programs and techniques that have been successful for them. Access to thousands, if not hundreds, of printing tools and ideas—many of which are free—is granted to members.
Along with a plethora of additional printable packages, forms, and templates, school counselors can locate behavior charts, feelings, and emotion cards. This clever website aims to instantly make the ideas and knowledge of educators worldwide available to everyone, wherever.
Techniques for Counseling Students
To improve the “development of children and youth and in averting maladjustment for individuals at risk of mental disorders or other negative outcomes,” school counselors—or teachers acting in that capacity—rely on a variety of counseling skills and strategies.
Among other things, the following are beneficial counseling strategies to employ with students:
1. Creative reframing
Schoolchildren’s self-confidence and self-esteem can be severely impacted by making mistakes in class or being excluded by their peers. By changing their perspective, you can get them to view the issue differently, even more favorably. Offering psychological safety to reinterpret what has happened more positively might be achieved by asking the youngster to consider what advice they would give to a friend in a similar situation.
2. Open-ended questions
Building trust and a more authentic connection involves genuinely curious and interested in the other person, asking open-ended questions, and working together to solve problems.
3. Establishing goals
Setting and achieving goals can inspire motivation. Larger objectives should be divided into smaller ones to provide the learner with a continuous sense of accomplishment.
4. Classifying emotions
It’s possible for students to feel uneasy or unprepared to label their feelings. Acknowledging and labeling their emotions, embracing the bad ones, and motivating them to concentrate on and relish the good ones could all be beneficial.
5. Confirming
Validating a student’s ideas, even if you disagree, demonstrates empathy and understanding and encourages problem-solving.
6. Intense and thoughtful listening
Active listening can be enhanced by matching body language, focusing, maintaining eye contact, and coordinating verbal and nonverbal cues. Openness, honesty, and consistency create more robust, more dependable relationships that provide favorable results.
7. Gradual exposure
While trying to completely eradicate stress from a student’s life is impractical, reducing triggers and allowing them greater control over the circumstances is feasible. For instance, individuals could feel more at ease near the exam room’s edge or have access to a quiet area prior to the start of the test.
Ultimately!
For students, school can often be a stressful environment. Children navigate the school curriculum while learning about the highs and lows of social connections during this significant physical and psychological growth period. Throughout the academic year, a school counselor can offer insightful counsel. In times of crisis, they can also provide prompt interventions and support. Depending on the demands of the students and the circumstances they find themselves in, such counseling programs can offer different services.