School Counseling Philosophy Statement
All students have worth and have the right to be served by a comprehensive, complete, considerate, and thorough school counseling program that is designed to ensure all students’ success. All students have the capacity to learn and have an equal right to a certified, competent, compassionate, empathetic, and passionate school counselor. All students will be provided with a counseling program that is appropriate to developmental needs for the different age groups and coordinates with the various learning styles. Students come first in a school counseling program, so a well developed school counseling program would involve as much individual and group counseling as well as classroom guidance as much as is possible in the school setting. Students have a right to a safe, secure, and comfortable school environment regardless of the students’ gender, race, ethnicity, religion, culture, and socioeconomic status. A counselor should be expected to provide students with academic, career, personal, and social development as designed by the American School Counselors Association. A counselor should also follow the ASCA model by having the four components established by the organization: foundation, delivery, management, and accountability. Counselors should use data, personal observations, observations by faculty and administration, attendance, grades, dropout rates, and success after high school to design a program that will best fit the individual needs of their school. All counselors should attend frequent professional development so as to keep up to date on how to best address the needs of their students. Most importantly, a counselor will abide by the professional school counseling ethics as provided and enforced by the American School Counselor Association.