National School Counseling Week

Did you know?

One way Plainfield Schools lives its commitment to educating and supporting the whole child is by employing a licensed school counselor in each elementary school, and a team of guidance counselors and mental wellness coordinators at the middle school and high school.

To get a sense of their varied responsibilities, they were asked to provide their most common activities on a typical day. Not surprisingly, those days vary depending on the ages of students they support. 

At the elementary schools (K-5), counselors listed these things:

  • Comfort, encourage and listen to children

  • Conflict resolution between children

  • Actively listen to students' worries and fears; help them discover coping skills

  • Classroom presentations on social & emotional topics

  • Building duties:  lunchroom, bus and car 

  • Pray and laugh daily; spread hope

  • Individual and group counseling; teacher counseling

  • Communicate and collaborate with parents, staff, community resources

  • Collect and analyze student data

  • Planning and scheduling 

  • Create a safe place for "big feelings"

  • Provide clothes, coats, shoes, and school supplies

  • Connect families with needed resources

  • Promote wellness and self-care

At the middle and high schools, the list includes these items:

  • Routine check-ins with students at least once each semester

  • Follow-up with students and parents when academic support is needed

  • Communicate proactively to students and parents about college and career information

  • Help students plan, adjust, and submit documents associated with college and career needs as needed

  • Prepare for and administer large scale testing - PSAT in the fall and winter, AP in the spring

  • Cafeteria supervision and sanitization

  • Curriculum development (suicide prevention, self care, safe dating, etc)

  • Safety assessments

  • Mental wellness connection and case management (anxiety, depression)

  • Collaborate with community resources to support student needs

  • Trauma and crisis intervention, response and therapy

  • Talk to parents/guardians about their concerns

  • Staff support

As you can see, our counselors, regardless of the age of the students they support, are active, present and highly visible members of our school teams. While not every public school district is able to have a full-time, dedicated counselor in every school, we can't imagine life without these talented, compassionate professionals. While we thank them every day for their dedication, we hope you'll join us in a big, public thank you for National School Counseling Week.