While I was reading Chapter 5 (Dollarhide & Saginak, 2012) and after last week's group meeting, I started thinking a lot more about school counselor's experience with ASCA. Just hearing from classmates and some of the cast studies in our book it seems that many school counselors have a difficult time following ASCA and getting support from their school. This has started to become a worry of mine that when I am looking for a job I will end up at a school that has "no place" for a school counselor or doesn't take their job seriously. The reason I wanted to go into this field was so that I could provide support to all the students who get overlooked. The more I learn the less likely this seems to be. Last week while our group was meeting we tried to look up different school counseling sites and there are so many schools in the area that put no focus on educating about their program. It frustrates me a lot because I believe that communicating with the community and the school staff are important in having a successful school counseling program.
Friday, I went to interview my first school counselor for our class assignment. Because of all the negative experiences and stories we have been hearing about, I was hoping for the best but expecting the worst. The school counselor I interviewed is from my hometown school district and works at one of the five elementary schools. Her website describes her entire program and relates it to the ASCA model which was the most we had seen so far. She has been a school counselor for 13 years now and was the last PSCA president. Knowing all of this made me feel hopeful that she would be able to successfully use the ASCA model. While talking with her, I got to hear about how she implements the program and everyone who is involved in making sure the program runs well. She told me about how she has the support of the administrators, parents, teachers and all of the counselors in the district. All five elementary school counselors meet on a regular basis to discuss the program and other related topics. Each summer they also spend time together updating and making changes to the program in place and the core curriculum being used. I found this to be so helpful because the district is all on the same page and therefore no matter which school a child is going to within the district they will be receiving the same counseling education and support. She also was able to tell me all about the National Model and how well it works when it is being used. Her involvement with both the national and state organizations has greatly benefited her counseling career and the support that she gains from her school. Another thing she mentioned to me was the great relationship that she has formed with her principal. Each year they create a contract on what her responsibilities will be as a counselor in the school. She told me this really helps to focus her energies where they are needed so she has little to no non-counseling related duties.
I thought everyone in the class would appreciate hearing about this positive experience. It may be hard to reach that point but there are school districts willing to commit and support ASCA. I know that this gave me hope that as a new generation of school counselors are being born, we can create positive change in a twisted system. Relating this back to the chapter, I can appreciate the National Model better knowing that it can be implemented well. "They must remain current with their profession, and this means being committed enough to the profession to be an active, involved member of the professional association" (Dollarhide & Saginak, p. 75, 2012). This quote stuck out to me because I feel it is really important to be involved in the organization that should be supporting you. I want to make sure that I thoroughly understand the program and keep up to date with professional development within the organization.
Dollarhide, C. & Saginak, K. (2012). Comprehensive school counseling programs: K-12 delivery systems in action (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.
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