February 5, 2025 • 22 mins
The pivotal role of school counselors in fostering student success is thoroughly examined in this enlightening discussion. Host David Owen engages with Patty DaSilva, the supervisor of school counseling, as they delve into the multifaceted responsibilities of school counselors beyond traditional guidance. They explore how these professionals facilitate academic achievement, career readiness, and personal growth, thereby creating a supportive environment for both students and families. The conversation emphasizes the collaborative nature of counseling, illustrating how counselors unite parents, educators, and community members to aid students in realizing their potential. Through this dialogue, we gain invaluable insights into the essential contributions of school counselors in shaping the educational journey of students.
Guest: Patty DaSilva, Supervisor of School Counselors
Links referenced in this episode:
Useful links from the podcast:
Podcast Home:
https://the-inside-scoop.captivate.fm/
Cobb Schools on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/@TheRealCobbSchools
Give us a review:
https://www.podchaser.com/TheInsideScoop
Here's the link to let us know what you'd like to hear:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/VYTRCLG
Cobb Sports Podcast:
https://cobb-sports.captivate.fm/episodes
The Cobb County School District:
https://www.cobbk12.org
Takeaways:
- School counselors play a multifaceted role in promoting academic achievement and personal growth.
- The collaborative approach of school counselors involves engaging parents, teachers, and community members.
- Counselors utilize comprehensive programs that include data-driven assessments to support student success.
- Career readiness is a significant focus, guiding students in exploring various post-secondary options.
- Crisis counseling is a vital aspect of their responsibilities, offering support during traumatic events.
- Effective communication between parents and counselors is essential for maximizing student support and resources.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
How school counselors supportyour student success is the topic
for today's edition of theInside Scoop.
Hello and welcome back to theInside Scoop.
I'm David Owen.
Each weekly episode we produceis intended to provide you with some
insights that will help yourstudent reach their greatest level
of success.
(00:21):
Today is no exception.
They used to be known asguidance counselors back in the day,
but their roles have grownsubstantially since then.
Cobb's supervisor of schoolcounseling, Patty Da Silva, joins
us today to tell us more aboutschool counselors.
Not guidance counselors.
School counselors.
Yes.
Thank you.
Welcome to the podcast.
Thank you for having me.
(00:42):
I'm so excited to be here.
Well, and you've been on thepodcast a few times before.
We always.
You guys cover so muchterritory that you're going to get
a frequent flyer card or something.
I gotta get something for you.
Tell us a little more aboutwhat's expected of school counselors
in Cobb schools.
School counselors, their role,it's really multifaceted.
(01:03):
It's not just the guidancethat we knew before.
That's a piece of it, but itis just a piece of it.
So school counselors, wetypically operate under three core
areas.
We have academic achievement,college and career readiness, and
then personal growth, all ofthose counseling things that parents,
(01:23):
students, anyone who hears theword counseling knows it to be about.
You mentioned academic support.
Tell us more about that angleof school counseling.
Sure.
So academic support can comefrom so many different areas.
It could be helping studentsset achievable goals and then meet
their goals.
There is that advisementpiece, the guidance piece, which
(01:44):
is a really strong component,especially in Cobb County.
And then also study habits,managing time effectively, organization,
test prep.
I mean, there's so manydifferent components of how students
need to be preparedacademically and how school counselors
in the building can helpsupport, setting and achieving their
academic goals.
(02:05):
Yeah.
Do school counselors help inthe accountability side of the academics,
or is that more of a.
We're seeing some things.
Let me jump in there and giveyou some pointers like you just highlighted.
I mean, school counselors arecollaborators, and it's because they
have to bring together all ofthe different pieces in order to
(02:25):
help students reach their goals.
Parents have to be a part ofthe conversation.
Teachers, administrators,community members, like everybody
is a piece of.
And school counselors are theones typically who bring all those
parties together to help theschool as a whole and students specifically
to set and reach theirindividual goals.
(02:47):
So as cheesy as it sounds, itreally is a team of support for the
student it really is.
It has to be.
Yeah.
Well, you mentioned also thecollege and career readiness angle
of supporting students.
Tell us more about what.
What that entails.
It seems like it might be alittle bit treacherous because students
generally don't automaticallyknow, do I want to go to college?
(03:11):
Is college on the horizon forme, or is a career a better choice
for me?
How do you guys interact withthem on that?
So now we're kind of focused.
And this might sound a littletalk about treacherous.
Right.
A lot of the terminology youwill hear now is career readiness,
but that's because there's somany paths to take to get to a career.
(03:33):
And we want to make surestudents are aware of all of those
different options that areavailable to them, one of them being
college.
But we do have so manydifferent resources that school counselors
use to support students with this.
They might do interestinventories, assessments where they
can see who they are as aperson and how that might relate
to a future career.
(03:53):
Like as YouScience.
One of those.
YouScience is one.
Naviance has several.
There are quite a fewdifferent programs and resources
that counselors use to help students.
Students to try and figurethemselves out.
Right.
Because it's a combination ofyou need to look at your interests,
but also combined with yourabilities and putting those pieces
(04:14):
together to really help youfind a career that suits both.
Because you can't just beinterested in something in order
to make a success of it.
The example I always give issay you love singing, right?
Like it's your passion.
You love singing.
Are you about to sing?
No, no.
Although I do love singing.
But you might be tone deaf.
(04:35):
So even though you lovesinging, if you're not good at it,
maybe that's not a greatcareer fit for you.
Right.
I think I've heard somebodydoing that once thinking they were
at the top of their class forsinging, and they actually were not.
So it's helping students tofind the combination of both so that
(04:56):
not only are they going to begood at what they do, but they'll
enjoy doing it as well.
And there's so many differentprogram to do that.
We also help them understandtheir strengths because there's the
interest, their abilities, andthen their strengths.
And it's combining all that together.
And we have great assessmentsthat do that.
And even starting in like preK and kindergarten, they start to
(05:17):
open the door to careers.
Pre K, Pre Kardon.
Absolutely.
Well, I guess if a child issitting there doing surgery on a
doll or something, I mean, howdo you.
How does that Work that's soearly in their little lives.
How can that.
(05:37):
A lot of times it's just kindof broadening their horizons because
younger students, the onlycareers that they are going to want
to be are ones that they'veseen or ones that their families
are a part of.
And that's not a terrible thing.
But you think about how manydifferent careers are out there,
or even if you take just likethe helping profession and how many
(05:59):
different facets there are tothe helping profession, it's just
helping to broaden theirhorizons in the same way that perhaps
college fairs do for highschool students, that it's not just
three different colleges thatthey've heard of before that their
family's been to, butbroadening their horizons so that
they see there's so manyoptions out there and there might
be something close to whatthey're interested in, but just a
(06:22):
slightly different path.
Counselors help them to justkind of navigate those different
waters and see how they canzero in on what their future is going
to lead to and what theirgoals are.
That's interesting because youmentioned at the high school level
we're doing all of thisinformative stuff to help students
(06:42):
understand what the availableoptions are.
But even as young as pre K andkindergarten, I guess if we didn't
do that sort of thing, we'dend up with just a society full of
police officers andfirefighters and princesses, which.
Wouldn'T be a terrible thing.
But you know, there's otherjobs, especially with how the world
is expanding with technology,letting them see just all the options
(07:07):
available to them and, youknow, testing out their abilities
based on those differentoptions available.
It just gives them a way toindividualize their goals and their
passions and their skills andreally combine all of those together
to have hopefully a veryfulfilling career after they've left
(07:28):
us in Cobb.
So when you've got studentsthat are in pre K or kindergarten,
you might be able to seethings that a parent overlooks.
Right.
I mean, as a counselor, aschool counselor, you would be able
to say, hey, have you noticedhow detailed they are in coloring
or playing with an object?
(07:49):
That might be entree forlooking at jobs that are very detail
oriented.
Sure.
And we can add to that wholepicture of the student.
And I mean, parents at homegenerally don't have access to the
kinds of programs that areavailable at the schools.
So we can provide some of thatinformation to the adults, to the
(08:12):
families at home, and to say,have you ever noticed that your student
enjoys this, but also does this?
And I'm a really big proponentof family school connection and having
those conversations.
And I love providing familieswith topics to talk about at dinner.
(08:32):
And so that was a really bigpiece of what some of the school
counselors were doing in thepast year or so was trying to help
families with talk about thisbecause it's our passion and it's
our skill to think about theirfutures and how what they're doing
now aligns with that.
But families might not knowhow to have that conversation.
And so a school counselor candefinitely help to bridge that and
(08:56):
to help keep that conversationgoing and keep the broadening of
the horizons even when thestudents are at home and the families
seem to get pretty excitedabout it too.
Yeah.
And I would also think that infamilies, especially larger families,
as a veteran parent, sometimesit's helpful to have somebody from
(09:19):
the outside point outopportunities when, you know, maybe
we're struggling to survive daily.
Opportunities that canactually give some focus to conversations
like that.
That's a great idea.
And I can tell you as a newerparent, as opposed to your veteran
(09:39):
parent, I love hearing fromthe school what my child is doing
and what he's working on andwhere he stands out and kind of things
that maybe we can stillencourage at home.
And I think that's a reallygreat part to showing like it is
a holistic team approach toall pieces and.
(10:02):
Kind of reinforce thatstrength the child has here or there
or whatnot.
So that's kind of a happy sideof your job.
But unfortunately, there aretimes when school counselors are
called on for very personal, Iguess, emotional things.
Recently, not too long ago,there was a horrible incident, a
(10:24):
shooting at school in BarrowCounty, I believe it was.
And you guys from Cobb County,I remember the superintendent saying
this, you guys went over tohelp because it was just so broad.
I mean, we're helpers.
Yeah.
And you almost can't help.
I mean, can't help helping isthe way to put that.
(10:46):
Absolutely.
So when it comes to, I guessyou'd categorize that as personal
growth or actually survival.
Personal survival skills.
What are some examples?
Can you share some examples ofhow crisis counseling being a part
(11:07):
of your job has made adifference in students lives?
Sure.
And that section, thatcomponent of school counseling, that
personal, it's so big andthere's so many different things
that can happen and it can beeveryday things like conflict with
a friend.
And so a counselor can help astud learn how to communicate better.
(11:30):
It could be just like issueswith the family and maybe again,
still helping withcommunication there.
But Then it could swing allthe way to the other side where trauma
occurs, because it does and it can.
And a counselor can providejust that safe space where a student
(11:51):
can express their emotions andthey can try to just basically process
through things, get it out oftheir system so that they can hopefully
return to class and be able to learn.
And then there's thosecommunity wide and those school wide
events that really bring thoselarge crises home.
And school counselors are alsoa really big part of that response.
(12:16):
And helping a school to notonly attend to the needs of the students
and of the staff, but also tohelp again, bring it back to.
Let's try to put a going backto school and let's try to get back
into our routine becauseroutine is actually really supportive
of how to respond to crisis.
So not only are there someindividual crises at the school,
(12:41):
there might be the death of aparent or a sibling or something
where a counselor can work oneon one with a student.
Sometimes there's the loss ofa student or of a staff member at
the school and that takes on alarger role that the counselors can
coordinate a response toreally just support the whole school
as a one.
And then also we have districtsupport to go in and help with the
(13:03):
schools if they need help withtheir response, if it's a large crisis
or if it's a large, you know,response because of a student death
or a staff death.
So it's an unfortunate part ofour job, but it's really beautiful
to see people come togetherand for school counselors to show
(13:24):
that even in the darkest timesthat, you know, we're still going
to support you and we're stillgoing to be here for you.
And I do think that that has ahuge impact on students being able
to come to school and to knowthey have this safe space where they
can learn and where they cangrow and they can, you know, reach
their goals and be successful.
(13:47):
So it's the full gamut.
Absolutely.
I mean, that's from the lowest lows.
To the highest highs, right?
Right.
And that emotional componentaffects whether they are physically
able to absorb information andknowledge and learn, right?
Absolutely.
So how do you, I mean, a lotof what you guys do is very ambiguous,
(14:09):
I guess is the word.
It's a very, it's not very tangible.
And here are the facts sometimes.
So how do you know that youguys are doing a good job?
So this is the other fun partof why I love school counselors.
So they are your emotional support.
They are there for the soft stuff.
(14:29):
Right.
But Also in Cobb county, weencourage every school to implement
a comprehensive schoolcounseling program.
And all of those comprehensiveschool counseling programs are data
driven.
So counselors are actuallywell versed, and they do data very
well.
Everything from how they planout their year.
Everything's usually plannedout ahead of time.
(14:51):
Most things, you can't planeverything, I.
Suppose, especially in thecrisis area, right?
Absolutely.
But planning out classroomlessons, small groups, advisements,
which is a really strongcomponent here in Cobb County.
But then also they do reports,so they'll do a closing the gap report
that shows the kinds ofinterventions that counselors can
(15:12):
run to really help to noteachievement gaps or note attendance
gaps and what kind ofinterventions counselors can employ
to help close those gaps.
And so they do a results report.
Every school generally does aresults report at the end of the
year to kind of identify theirschool counseling program through
(15:35):
data.
And then they also do a lot ofthat qualitative data where they
solicit information from.
They have advisory councils.
Every one of our school has aschool counseling advisory council.
Really?
Yes.
Where they specificallyfocused on school counseling.
Absolutely.
Where parents, communitymembers, students all come together
(15:58):
and they showcase what theirplans are, what they're doing.
They do it twice a year, andthey look for feedback.
You know, are there any partswe're missing?
Is there anything we shouldlook to add?
And then in the spring, theybring that council back together
and they share their resultsand their data to say, here's what
we talked about in the fall,and here's how we did with it, good,
(16:18):
bad, or otherwise, whether wemet our goals or not.
And so that supplemental data,that feedback, the needs assessment,
those are also reallyimportant components and data that
counselors collect in order toimprove and continue their programs
each year.
So there's always.
Someone will always complainthere's too much paperwork, I'm sure,
(16:41):
but.
And paperwork's a necessity.
But it sounds like you guyshave put together a feedback method
that is helpful as opposed tojust checking boxes and.
Oh, this has taken me hours to do.
Absolutely.
And the entire comprehensivemodel is.
It's a lot when you look at it today.
(17:01):
It's comprehensive.
Right.
As it should be.
But I do think it helps toanswer this question because I don't
think many people know howmuch or really, I guess, the breadth
of what counselors do.
It's not just talking to kidswhen they're having a bad day, and
it's not just going into theclassroom to do lessons or doing
small groups.
(17:22):
There is this range ofimplementation pieces that school
counselors provide to theirschools, their students, their families,
and when they put it on paper,it's beautiful.
And in Cobb, we actually arethe first in Georgia that we have
created and are in our secondyear of doing a certification for.
(17:42):
When school counselingprograms are running a truly comprehensive
model program, they can applyfor certification and they can show
to their school and to thedistrict that they are running a
truly comprehensive program.
Something that's documented asconsistent and high quality, I'm
(18:02):
assuming.
Yep.
Right.
Okay.
That's amazing.
Once again, Cobb steps up.
Absolutely.
So what advice would you giveparents who are listening or watching
on ways that they can bestutilize the services available through
school counselors?
I think the first thing Iwould suggest is see what they're
(18:25):
doing.
Because we have such strongschool counseling programs in Cobb
county, they probably alreadyhave so many events scheduled.
Anything from a college fairor a career fair or college and career
fair.
They might have parent workshops.
They might have classroomlessons already showing.
They might have advisement inthe books.
(18:47):
There's so many events thatthey likely already have planned
that families might not beaware of.
So the first thing I wouldsuggest is visit their website or
on ctls or however thecounselors send out information through
a newsletter.
Make sure you're a part ofthat, and make sure you're receiving
the information that thecounseling office has to send out.
(19:08):
Stay in the loop.
Stay in the loop.
Absolutely.
Communications number one.
But then also, if there is aconcern, if they're seeing a change
in their students or if theyhave a question about how counselors
address insert topic here.
Reach out to the counselor andask that question, because they might
(19:30):
already have something planned.
Small groups.
A lot of times the counselorswill see and hear from teachers or
hear from administration,different issues happening at the
school.
So they might bring a group ofstudents together to try to help
improve their attitude,skills, and knowledge, to just do
better with whatever thatissue is.
(19:50):
If it's attendance or if it'sbehavior or if it's academics, there
might already be something inplay and planned, and the parents
can ask, can my child be apart of that?
Yeah.
But I would say the first stepis get to know them, see what they're
doing, find out what theirplans are already in action.
So make sure that channel of communication.
(20:11):
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
There's no pushback, because alot of times you're right.
Earlier, you mentioned schoolcounselors giving information about
something great going on inthe student's life at school.
But all too often, in somecases, it's about what your child
(20:32):
did wrong, they have to sufferthis consequence as a result.
So bottom line, just make surethat channel of communication is
open so that there's a comfortlevel for making both directions
go.
Absolutely.
And for example, 8th through11th grade, there are advisement
activities in place.
(20:52):
So if families are not awarethat that's happening, it might be
that they, I don't know, maybetheir email's wrong or something.
But there's advisementactivities in place where families
are invited to be a part of that.
Students are a part of it, butfamilies are invited to be a part
of it too, like creating theirindividualized graduation plan.
That's a big part of middleand high school that not only do
(21:15):
we encourage families, wereally want families to be a part
of it.
And programming really for allschool counselors, Pre K through
12 is designed for all students.
It is designed to meet theneeds again, the academic, college
and career and the personalneeds of all students.
There is some reactive pieceswhere counselors will always meet
(21:39):
whatever needs come up, butthere are already plans in place
of how they're working to meetthe needs of their school, community
and their students.
And so parents working to be apart of that is always going to be
welcomed by school counselors.
Well, that is awesome.
Well, it's clear that schoolcounselors are kept plenty busy,
not just sitting by a catalogof universities to apply for.
(22:02):
But man, you guys do such agreat job, deal of work as well as
a great quality of work.
So thank you so much forleading that charge on behalf of
our students.
Happy to if this podcast hashelped you better understand the
support school counselorsoffer your student, please give us
a Like subscribe and clickthat notification bell so you'll
(22:23):
know when a new episode is released.
Also, let a friend know sotheir student can reach their fullest
potential.
Thank you for listening to theInside Scoop, a podcast produced
by the Cobb County School.
How school counselors supportyour student success is the topic
for today's edition of theInside Scoop.
Hello and welcome back to theInside Scoop.
I'm David Owen.
Each weekly episode we produceis intended to provide you with some
insights that will help yourstudent reach their greatest level
of success.
(00:21):
Today is no exception.
They used to be known asguidance counselors back in the day,
but their roles have grownsubstantially since then.
Cobb's supervisor of schoolcounseling, Patty Da Silva, joins
us today to tell us more aboutschool counselors.
Not guidance counselors.
School counselors.
Yes.
Thank you.
Welcome to the podcast.
Thank you for having me.
(00:42):
I'm so excited to be here.
Well, and you've been on thepodcast a few times before.
We always.
You guys cover so muchterritory that you're going to get
a frequent flyer card or something.
I gotta get something for you.
Tell us a little more aboutwhat's expected of school counselors
in Cobb schools.
School counselors, their role,it's really multifaceted.
(01:03):
It's not just the guidancethat we knew before.
That's a piece of it, but itis just a piece of it.
So school counselors, wetypically operate under three core
areas.
We have academic achievement,college and career readiness, and
then personal growth, all ofthose counseling things that parents,
(01:23):
students, anyone who hears theword counseling knows it to be about.
You mentioned academic support.
Tell us more about that angleof school counseling.
Sure.
So academic support can comefrom so many different areas.
It could be helping studentsset achievable goals and then meet
their goals.
There is that advisementpiece, the guidance piece, which
(01:44):
is a really strong component,especially in Cobb County.
And then also study habits,managing time effectively, organization,
test prep.
I mean, there's so manydifferent components of how students
need to be preparedacademically and how school counselors
in the building can helpsupport, setting and achieving their
academic goals.
(02:05):
Yeah.
Do school counselors help inthe accountability side of the academics,
or is that more of a.
We're seeing some things.
Let me jump in there and giveyou some pointers like you just highlighted.
I mean, school counselors arecollaborators, and it's because they
have to bring together all ofthe different pieces in order to
(02:25):
help students reach their goals.
Parents have to be a part ofthe conversation.
Teachers, administrators,community members, like everybody
is a piece of.
And school counselors are theones typically who bring all those
parties together to help theschool as a whole and students specifically
to set and reach theirindividual goals.
(02:47):
So as cheesy as it sounds, itreally is a team of support for the
student it really is.
It has to be.
Yeah.
Well, you mentioned also thecollege and career readiness angle
of supporting students.
Tell us more about what.
What that entails.
It seems like it might be alittle bit treacherous because students
generally don't automaticallyknow, do I want to go to college?
(03:11):
Is college on the horizon forme, or is a career a better choice
for me?
How do you guys interact withthem on that?
So now we're kind of focused.
And this might sound a littletalk about treacherous.
Right.
A lot of the terminology youwill hear now is career readiness,
but that's because there's somany paths to take to get to a career.
(03:33):
And we want to make surestudents are aware of all of those
different options that areavailable to them, one of them being
college.
But we do have so manydifferent resources that school counselors
use to support students with this.
They might do interestinventories, assessments where they
can see who they are as aperson and how that might relate
to a future career.
(03:53):
Like as YouScience.
One of those.
YouScience is one.
Naviance has several.
There are quite a fewdifferent programs and resources
that counselors use to help students.
Students to try and figurethemselves out.
Right.
Because it's a combination ofyou need to look at your interests,
but also combined with yourabilities and putting those pieces
(04:14):
together to really help youfind a career that suits both.
Because you can't just beinterested in something in order
to make a success of it.
The example I always give issay you love singing, right?
Like it's your passion.
You love singing.
Are you about to sing?
No, no.
Although I do love singing.
But you might be tone deaf.
(04:35):
So even though you lovesinging, if you're not good at it,
maybe that's not a greatcareer fit for you.
Right.
I think I've heard somebodydoing that once thinking they were
at the top of their class forsinging, and they actually were not.
So it's helping students tofind the combination of both so that
(04:56):
not only are they going to begood at what they do, but they'll
enjoy doing it as well.
And there's so many differentprogram to do that.
We also help them understandtheir strengths because there's the
interest, their abilities, andthen their strengths.
And it's combining all that together.
And we have great assessmentsthat do that.
And even starting in like preK and kindergarten, they start to
(05:17):
open the door to careers.
Pre K, Pre Kardon.
Absolutely.
Well, I guess if a child issitting there doing surgery on a
doll or something, I mean, howdo you.
How does that Work that's soearly in their little lives.
How can that.
(05:37):
A lot of times it's just kindof broadening their horizons because
younger students, the onlycareers that they are going to want
to be are ones that they'veseen or ones that their families
are a part of.
And that's not a terrible thing.
But you think about how manydifferent careers are out there,
or even if you take just likethe helping profession and how many
(05:59):
different facets there are tothe helping profession, it's just
helping to broaden theirhorizons in the same way that perhaps
college fairs do for highschool students, that it's not just
three different colleges thatthey've heard of before that their
family's been to, butbroadening their horizons so that
they see there's so manyoptions out there and there might
be something close to whatthey're interested in, but just a
(06:22):
slightly different path.
Counselors help them to justkind of navigate those different
waters and see how they canzero in on what their future is going
to lead to and what theirgoals are.
That's interesting because youmentioned at the high school level
we're doing all of thisinformative stuff to help students
(06:42):
understand what the availableoptions are.
But even as young as pre K andkindergarten, I guess if we didn't
do that sort of thing, we'dend up with just a society full of
police officers andfirefighters and princesses, which.
Wouldn'T be a terrible thing.
But you know, there's otherjobs, especially with how the world
is expanding with technology,letting them see just all the options
(07:07):
available to them and, youknow, testing out their abilities
based on those differentoptions available.
It just gives them a way toindividualize their goals and their
passions and their skills andreally combine all of those together
to have hopefully a veryfulfilling career after they've left
(07:28):
us in Cobb.
So when you've got studentsthat are in pre K or kindergarten,
you might be able to seethings that a parent overlooks.
Right.
I mean, as a counselor, aschool counselor, you would be able
to say, hey, have you noticedhow detailed they are in coloring
or playing with an object?
(07:49):
That might be entree forlooking at jobs that are very detail
oriented.
Sure.
And we can add to that wholepicture of the student.
And I mean, parents at homegenerally don't have access to the
kinds of programs that areavailable at the schools.
So we can provide some of thatinformation to the adults, to the
(08:12):
families at home, and to say,have you ever noticed that your student
enjoys this, but also does this?
And I'm a really big proponentof family school connection and having
those conversations.
And I love providing familieswith topics to talk about at dinner.
(08:32):
And so that was a really bigpiece of what some of the school
counselors were doing in thepast year or so was trying to help
families with talk about thisbecause it's our passion and it's
our skill to think about theirfutures and how what they're doing
now aligns with that.
But families might not knowhow to have that conversation.
And so a school counselor candefinitely help to bridge that and
(08:56):
to help keep that conversationgoing and keep the broadening of
the horizons even when thestudents are at home and the families
seem to get pretty excitedabout it too.
Yeah.
And I would also think that infamilies, especially larger families,
as a veteran parent, sometimesit's helpful to have somebody from
(09:19):
the outside point outopportunities when, you know, maybe
we're struggling to survive daily.
Opportunities that canactually give some focus to conversations
like that.
That's a great idea.
And I can tell you as a newerparent, as opposed to your veteran
(09:39):
parent, I love hearing fromthe school what my child is doing
and what he's working on andwhere he stands out and kind of things
that maybe we can stillencourage at home.
And I think that's a reallygreat part to showing like it is
a holistic team approach toall pieces and.
(10:02):
Kind of reinforce thatstrength the child has here or there
or whatnot.
So that's kind of a happy sideof your job.
But unfortunately, there aretimes when school counselors are
called on for very personal, Iguess, emotional things.
Recently, not too long ago,there was a horrible incident, a
(10:24):
shooting at school in BarrowCounty, I believe it was.
And you guys from Cobb County,I remember the superintendent saying
this, you guys went over tohelp because it was just so broad.
I mean, we're helpers.
Yeah.
And you almost can't help.
I mean, can't help helping isthe way to put that.
(10:46):
Absolutely.
So when it comes to, I guessyou'd categorize that as personal
growth or actually survival.
Personal survival skills.
What are some examples?
Can you share some examples ofhow crisis counseling being a part
(11:07):
of your job has made adifference in students lives?
Sure.
And that section, thatcomponent of school counseling, that
personal, it's so big andthere's so many different things
that can happen and it can beeveryday things like conflict with
a friend.
And so a counselor can help astud learn how to communicate better.
(11:30):
It could be just like issueswith the family and maybe again,
still helping withcommunication there.
But Then it could swing allthe way to the other side where trauma
occurs, because it does and it can.
And a counselor can providejust that safe space where a student
(11:51):
can express their emotions andthey can try to just basically process
through things, get it out oftheir system so that they can hopefully
return to class and be able to learn.
And then there's thosecommunity wide and those school wide
events that really bring thoselarge crises home.
And school counselors are alsoa really big part of that response.
(12:16):
And helping a school to notonly attend to the needs of the students
and of the staff, but also tohelp again, bring it back to.
Let's try to put a going backto school and let's try to get back
into our routine becauseroutine is actually really supportive
of how to respond to crisis.
So not only are there someindividual crises at the school,
(12:41):
there might be the death of aparent or a sibling or something
where a counselor can work oneon one with a student.
Sometimes there's the loss ofa student or of a staff member at
the school and that takes on alarger role that the counselors can
coordinate a response toreally just support the whole school
as a one.
And then also we have districtsupport to go in and help with the
(13:03):
schools if they need help withtheir response, if it's a large crisis
or if it's a large, you know,response because of a student death
or a staff death.
So it's an unfortunate part ofour job, but it's really beautiful
to see people come togetherand for school counselors to show
(13:24):
that even in the darkest timesthat, you know, we're still going
to support you and we're stillgoing to be here for you.
And I do think that that has ahuge impact on students being able
to come to school and to knowthey have this safe space where they
can learn and where they cangrow and they can, you know, reach
their goals and be successful.
(13:47):
So it's the full gamut.
Absolutely.
I mean, that's from the lowest lows.
To the highest highs, right?
Right.
And that emotional componentaffects whether they are physically
able to absorb information andknowledge and learn, right?
Absolutely.
So how do you, I mean, a lotof what you guys do is very ambiguous,
(14:09):
I guess is the word.
It's a very, it's not very tangible.
And here are the facts sometimes.
So how do you know that youguys are doing a good job?
So this is the other fun partof why I love school counselors.
So they are your emotional support.
They are there for the soft stuff.
(14:29):
Right.
But Also in Cobb county, weencourage every school to implement
a comprehensive schoolcounseling program.
And all of those comprehensiveschool counseling programs are data
driven.
So counselors are actuallywell versed, and they do data very
well.
Everything from how they planout their year.
Everything's usually plannedout ahead of time.
(14:51):
Most things, you can't planeverything, I.
Suppose, especially in thecrisis area, right?
Absolutely.
But planning out classroomlessons, small groups, advisements,
which is a really strongcomponent here in Cobb County.
But then also they do reports,so they'll do a closing the gap report
that shows the kinds ofinterventions that counselors can
(15:12):
run to really help to noteachievement gaps or note attendance
gaps and what kind ofinterventions counselors can employ
to help close those gaps.
And so they do a results report.
Every school generally does aresults report at the end of the
year to kind of identify theirschool counseling program through
(15:35):
data.
And then they also do a lot ofthat qualitative data where they
solicit information from.
They have advisory councils.
Every one of our school has aschool counseling advisory council.
Really?
Yes.
Where they specificallyfocused on school counseling.
Absolutely.
Where parents, communitymembers, students all come together
(15:58):
and they showcase what theirplans are, what they're doing.
They do it twice a year, andthey look for feedback.
You know, are there any partswe're missing?
Is there anything we shouldlook to add?
And then in the spring, theybring that council back together
and they share their resultsand their data to say, here's what
we talked about in the fall,and here's how we did with it, good,
(16:18):
bad, or otherwise, whether wemet our goals or not.
And so that supplemental data,that feedback, the needs assessment,
those are also reallyimportant components and data that
counselors collect in order toimprove and continue their programs
each year.
So there's always.
Someone will always complainthere's too much paperwork, I'm sure,
(16:41):
but.
And paperwork's a necessity.
But it sounds like you guyshave put together a feedback method
that is helpful as opposed tojust checking boxes and.
Oh, this has taken me hours to do.
Absolutely.
And the entire comprehensivemodel is.
It's a lot when you look at it today.
(17:01):
It's comprehensive.
Right.
As it should be.
But I do think it helps toanswer this question because I don't
think many people know howmuch or really, I guess, the breadth
of what counselors do.
It's not just talking to kidswhen they're having a bad day, and
it's not just going into theclassroom to do lessons or doing
small groups.
(17:22):
There is this range ofimplementation pieces that school
counselors provide to theirschools, their students, their families,
and when they put it on paper,it's beautiful.
And in Cobb, we actually arethe first in Georgia that we have
created and are in our secondyear of doing a certification for.
(17:42):
When school counselingprograms are running a truly comprehensive
model program, they can applyfor certification and they can show
to their school and to thedistrict that they are running a
truly comprehensive program.
Something that's documented asconsistent and high quality, I'm
(18:02):
assuming.
Yep.
Right.
Okay.
That's amazing.
Once again, Cobb steps up.
Absolutely.
So what advice would you giveparents who are listening or watching
on ways that they can bestutilize the services available through
school counselors?
I think the first thing Iwould suggest is see what they're
(18:25):
doing.
Because we have such strongschool counseling programs in Cobb
county, they probably alreadyhave so many events scheduled.
Anything from a college fairor a career fair or college and career
fair.
They might have parent workshops.
They might have classroomlessons already showing.
They might have advisement inthe books.
(18:47):
There's so many events thatthey likely already have planned
that families might not beaware of.
So the first thing I wouldsuggest is visit their website or
on ctls or however thecounselors send out information through
a newsletter.
Make sure you're a part ofthat, and make sure you're receiving
the information that thecounseling office has to send out.
(19:08):
Stay in the loop.
Stay in the loop.
Absolutely.
Communications number one.
But then also, if there is aconcern, if they're seeing a change
in their students or if theyhave a question about how counselors
address insert topic here.
Reach out to the counselor andask that question, because they might
(19:30):
already have something planned.
Small groups.
A lot of times the counselorswill see and hear from teachers or
hear from administration,different issues happening at the
school.
So they might bring a group ofstudents together to try to help
improve their attitude,skills, and knowledge, to just do
better with whatever thatissue is.
(19:50):
If it's attendance or if it'sbehavior or if it's academics, there
might already be something inplay and planned, and the parents
can ask, can my child be apart of that?
Yeah.
But I would say the first stepis get to know them, see what they're
doing, find out what theirplans are already in action.
So make sure that channel of communication.
(20:11):
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
There's no pushback, because alot of times you're right.
Earlier, you mentioned schoolcounselors giving information about
something great going on inthe student's life at school.
But all too often, in somecases, it's about what your child
(20:32):
did wrong, they have to sufferthis consequence as a result.
So bottom line, just make surethat channel of communication is
open so that there's a comfortlevel for making both directions
go.
Absolutely.
And for example, 8th through11th grade, there are advisement
activities in place.
(20:52):
So if families are not awarethat that's happening, it might be
that they, I don't know, maybetheir email's wrong or something.
But there's advisementactivities in place where families
are invited to be a part of that.
Students are a part of it, butfamilies are invited to be a part
of it too, like creating theirindividualized graduation plan.
That's a big part of middleand high school that not only do
(21:15):
we encourage families, wereally want families to be a part
of it.
And programming really for allschool counselors, Pre K through
12 is designed for all students.
It is designed to meet theneeds again, the academic, college
and career and the personalneeds of all students.
There is some reactive pieceswhere counselors will always meet
(21:39):
whatever needs come up, butthere are already plans in place
of how they're working to meetthe needs of their school, community
and their students.
And so parents working to be apart of that is always going to be
welcomed by school counselors.
Well, that is awesome.
Well, it's clear that schoolcounselors are kept plenty busy,
not just sitting by a catalogof universities to apply for.
(22:02):
But man, you guys do such agreat job, deal of work as well as
a great quality of work.
So thank you so much forleading that charge on behalf of
our students.
Happy to if this podcast hashelped you better understand the
support school counselorsoffer your student, please give us
a Like subscribe and clickthat notification bell so you'll
(22:23):
know when a new episode is released.
Also, let a friend know sotheir student can reach their fullest
potential.
Thank you for listening to theInside Scoop, a podcast produced
by the Cobb County School.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com