Student/Parent Handbook
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Counseling & Students Services
Philosophy
The Counseling Department has a holistic philosophy of education, and is dedicated to trying to meet the multifaceted needs of our students. Our goals deal with student development, self worth and self esteem, preparation for career and college opportunities, intelligent decision making, and parental involvement. We seek to help all students through an integrated, unified effort with administration, faculty, and parents, and work within a developmental framework.
We are “child centered” – which is a philosophy that can sometimes get lost at the secondary level. Our counselors are personally involved with their students. The opportunity for counselors to spend quality time with students to praise, cajole, or encourage them is in large part due to our reasonable caseloads. As counselors, we know the great role praise can play in the growth and development of young women. And we hope that we enhance our own image when we work to help students and teachers gain the proper recognition for their achievements.
Our academic counseling permeates almost everything we do. Our advising time is sometimes spent trying to “show the way” toward completion of homework assignments. At times we place the underachieving student under contract, a process whereby student, parent, and counselor agree on certain short-term improvement goals. Another significant aspect of academic counseling is assisting students with subject choice issues and placing students in appropriate courses according to abilities, interests, and career/college aspirations. As counselors we also work along with teachers, and act as mediators when academic or behavioral issues cause conflict between our students and teachers.
In career and college counseling, we counsel for the future. We work with each student to jointly develop probable goals and help our students work through them to completion. We emphasize that career planning is a lifelong process. Our pre-college counseling is for every student. We support, encourage, and give concrete advice on how to further explore all college options. We orient our students to all of our many available planning resources, such as the internet, CDs, DVDs, guide books and catalogues, and workshops. It is our aim to include students and their families in this planning. We provide workshops for financial planning for parents, and use the expertise an independent financial consultant. Our Juniors and Seniors are exposed to our own mini college fair, where representatives of private colleges from the tri-state area are invited to meet with them. In addition, students are encouraged to attend the Westchester County College Fair. Much of the college application process is cut and dried factual information, but our one on one involvement with students helps them to personalize the experience and eases this difficult time of transition.
As school counselors we always have to deal with crises. The main thrust of our crisis intervention is to uncover alternatives that will assist our students in taking greater charge of their lives. The demand for personal counseling, and especially for early intervention, has grown in part because of social, economic, and demographic changes within our society. Our counselors are involved day to day in more personal counseling and family intervention.
Developmental issues are often heightened by parents' lack of understanding of the many changes their children are undergoing. Parenting styles often have to be adjusted to match given situations, or else parents may experience serious problems with their children. We know that parents profit from professional help. Many of our parents face their greatest challenges during the adolescent years of their children. We as counselors help parents to effectively encourage and promote proper growth by counseling with them individually and in groups. We as counselors emphasize the need for mutual respect between both parties, and stress the importance of allowing teenagers to assume increasing responsibility for their own behavior as they mature.
More and more as counselors we are using our “human relations skills” in working with teachers and parents, as we view this communication as essential for student growth, both academic and personal. Our weekly peer mentoring sessions within our department help us to evaluate our roles and reflect on our counseling goals, and also to challenge each other with regard to our own professional growth as counselors.
