Role of the School Counselor
by Michaela Campbell
A school counselor is a certified professional who supports students academically, socially, emotionally, and behaviorally. The counselor interacts with students, teachers, administrators, and parents on a daily basis to ensure that students’ needs are being met. As middle school counselor, I provide individual and group counseling to students in areas such as coping with grief, social skills, anger management, and daily life challenges of middle school students.
In health class, students are divided by gender to learn about making healthy choices for themselves throughout life. 7th grade students are exposed to “Game Plan”, a national curriculum focusing on abstaining from sexual activity until marriage. This curriculum also discusses setting goals for oneself, abstaining from drugs and alcohol, and setting boundaries and rules for oneself. It is a great program that we are very excited about!
Another program that is offered through the counseling department is called “Rainbows”. This is a small group counseling program that helps students to deal with grief. The grief may be due to a major change in life such as the death of a parent or recent divorce. Students in Rainbows meet weekly to complete the 12-week curriculum. This program is offered once each year to students.
I am also an active participant of the Student Support Team (SST). SSP members include the school principal, assistant principal social worker, SASED social worker, SASED psychologist, and the PBIS coach. We work together to analyze discipline data as well as academic data and provide support to students.
If you ever have any questions for me or would like for me to work with your son/daughter, please contact me at 629-6002, ext. 4, or mcampbell@rivertonschools.org.
