What is School Counseling in New Auburn?

School counseling is the process of helping students by assisting them in making decisions and changing behavior. School counseling is designed to be a preventive activity or intervention which meets the immediate needs and concerns of students. It addresses academic, personal/social, and/or career concerns and can take three forms: Classroom Lessons, Individual or Group.

Classroom Lessons

As part of my role as a school counselor, I teach classroom lessons to all students K-5. The class is usually called Guidance Class. In the classes that I teach, it is my goal to help all students develop the academic, personal/social, and vocational skills needed to experience school success. Just like math, reading, science, and social studies teachers, school counselors must help students meet specific learning benchmarks, mine are structured around the Wisconsin Social Emotional Learning Standards. Topics of focus include: emotional development, self-concept and social competence. Learning targets will include: self-awareness, self-management, focus/attention, social awareness, decision-making and relationship skills. 

The curriculum that I use in Guidance is called Character Strong. CharacterStrong is more than a set of lessons - it is a partnership between schools and families to create a place where students feel like they belong and learn skills that will help them be the best they can be! CharacterStrong has three main goals for students: Be Kind, Be Strong, and Be Well.

They do have a partnership site that families can access here: https://www.characterstrong.com/familystrong

Small Group Counseling/Social Emotional Learning Intervention and Support

These learning opportunities are available for students throughout the school year. Topics of focus may include social skills, managing emotions, family change, self-esteem, self-regulation and grief and loss. 

Individual Counseling

Students may be referred as need by parents/guardians and school staff.

At the high school level, the counseling focus is on preparing for the future. I work with mostly juniors, seniors and their parents to establish plans and goals to be successful. I assist students with college applications, scholarships, and looking at all the students’  options, so they make a decision that they are comfortable with. Also, I am available to help students with the ups and downs of high school.

Confidentiality

As a counselor, I believe it is important to provide every student with a safe and confidential environment. This helps to build trust between us and the students. This means that we will not discuss anything said by any student during counseling meetings unless we find out that the student has been hurt by someone or if the student desires to hurt someone or themselves. We can speak in general terms about the general nature of the counseling meetings. However, we will not discuss any specific conversation or activity that took place. We do encourage students to talk with their parents about discussions in the counseling environment at home.