School Counselor

I believe the next important ingredient for multicultural competence is cultural skills. A skilled counselor utilizes the interventions that are client based and which serve clients needs. A positive reaction would be to be connected to those different cultures communication is the key. In multicultural counseling the counselor needs to be more aware his or her limitations in counseling skills. I feel it’s vital to have cultural skills in order to serve multicultural populations in the most productive way to facilitate. By being culturally aware and recognizing how culture will affect the counseling process, this cultural awareness will support the counselor in developing an empathic understanding towards clients. In chapter one we talk about personal qualities of a school counselor. I feel a good counselor can relate if they can understand and communicate within each other. Training in cultural competence can facilitate self awareness.

Cultural encapsulation puts counselors at risk of using stereotypes, becoming judgmental, and imposing their values on their students and parents. Courage and beliefs are what school counselors are challenged about everyday in others and themselves. Counselors have a commitment to diversity and social justice that is discussed in chapter one along with passion. Another goal of the session was to help participants gain new insights into how multicultural social justice affects participants‟ professions and communities. Participants indicated that they gained insight into what it means to be a multiculturally competent counselor and how to put that understanding into action.

Becoming an effective school is being there and being seen by High school students they look to guidance counselors for help in making smart choices, and counselors can assist them in finding the right fit where they will best achieve success. From filling out applications, to getting transcripts and recommendations, the whole process can be overwhelming. Our kids must be taught how to navigate all of the challenges associated with going on to college. Being positive and trustworthy is what can make an effective school. It helps with state test scores, attendance, interaction within the school in clubs and sports. Low self-esteem and students who simply want to drop out of high school all together with the trust of a good counselor it’s still tough even though counselors typically encourage higher education, counselors recognize that not every student is on the trajectory to complete college, so they must also prepare these students for the future by showing them how to acquire the necessary skills and training to sustain a promising career. Much of our students don’t get help at home with any prepping for college. Trust is the key to an effective school.

People develop their values through a complex evolution of personal experiences, world views, culture and interactions with others. As adults, we have had the opportunity to develop our values based on a lifetime’s worth of experiences. However, our students have had fewer life experiences. Their vulnerability alone makes them easily susceptible to outside influences, whether bad or good. As counselors, we must be careful not to force our values on those malleable students but guide them toward making their own decisions. I do feel the moral vision and values is very important for counselors. Most school counselors who enter this profession with the intention of honoring the preamble of the ASCA Ethical Standards for School Counselors, which states that the students have the right to be respected, treated with dignity and gain access to a comprehensive school counseling program for all students. Unfortunately, we may sometimes allow our personal values to take over when working with students, which can then becomes an ethical concern. The ethics of the profession is tough it’s faced with some tough decisions.

Students do have rights. And as counselors we have code of ethics that must be followed. School Counselors job isn’t to teach students moral rules and values or to prevent students from making their own choices based on their values. Admittedly, it can be a fine line to walk between not imposing our values yet helping students develop social skills and self- understanding that will enhance their efforts to become successful adults. In the leadership role it’s not up to the counselor to fix all problems. All through the years the role the school counselors play in using information uniquely available to them to examine and change current policy and practice. Whether it be course-taking patterns, student placements, or student success and failure rates, school counselors are poised to be key change agents within the school. That is a big job that I feel school counselors don’t get credit for enough. Many times, school counselors are told what to do by administrators who fail to understand the contribution the school counselor can make to the school. If anything that I feel I disagree is that credit that the counselors don’t get.

Some of the duties that have historically been assigned to the school counselor are data entry; clerical record keeping; registration and scheduling of all new students; coordinating or administering cognitive, aptitude and achievement tests; responsibility for signing excuses for students who are tardy or absent; performing disciplinary actions; sending students home who are not appropriately dressed; teaching classes when teachers are absent; and computing grade-point averages. I feel with all these extra duties are counselors really able to do what they used to 30 years ago in school? Answer is no. Our school counselors that are secondary school counselors reported more involvement with activities such as student scheduling, including responsibilities associated with the master schedule. The future of school counseling holds much promise. Thanks in part or in whole to the ASCA National Model, there is a new energy and excitement around the important role that school counselors play in the development of students. Additionally, there is little argument that the profession’s past is partially responsible for shaping what school counseling looks like in the 21st century.