St. Angela Merici School offers the services of one full-time school counselor to assist within our school. The school counseling program’s primary goal is to help students achieve in school and in life. This may be achieved by various methods such as responsive services, preventive services, developmental activities, and remedial assistance. The counselor helps to identify, assess, and resolve social, emotional, behavioral, and academic difficulties that may interfere with achievement and adjustment in school. All information shared by students, parents, and teachers is kept confidential consistent with applicable law (i.e. only to the extent that it is legally privileged). Such situations include, but are not limited to, circumstances where the child reveals information about abuse or danger. The counselor will act at all times in a professional manner that is consistent with the legal and ethical standards that all school counselors uphold. The school counselor’s services are implemented in various formats throughout the school day.

School counseling services include:

• Brief solution-focused individual sessions that address academic, career, and social concerns related to school
• Small group sessions as needed to address various topics such as problem solving, career choices, team building, conflict resolution, communication, and peer relationships
• Monthly classroom guidance lessons are intentionally crafted to address whole class needs through evidenced based content aligned with American School Counselor Association (ASCA) standards. These lessons cover essential topics such as conflict resolution, communication, healthy friendships, coping strategies, social skills, and character development.
• Parent and teacher consultations to help create a plan for a student or provide resources to families who may need assistance
• Crisis prevention and intervention
• New student transition
• Coordination of evaluations for possible student exceptionalities
• Referral assistance to other services and programs as needed
• Various other programs and services that are an integral part of student development