Blog 2: Reality Called

I just completed two of my school counselor interviews this afternoon and wanted to reflect on these meetings briefly while the experience was still fresh in my mind. Because of some of the topics our small group discussed in class last week, such as the variety of administrative tasks assigned to some school counselors, I expected to leave my meetings feeling exhausted and disillusioned after hearing about the "real" day-to-day activities of these school counselors. Instead, I was excited and energized to learn more about some comprehensive programs that actually involve a number of the interventions reviewed in the Whiston and Sexton (1998) article assigned for this week's readings. As the authors mention, during this time of accountability (and now even more so, during this period of tight budgets), it is critically important to provide information to school stakeholders that demonstrates the importance and impact of school counseling activities. School counseling outcome research can help counselors select the activities which may make the biggest impact on their students. In reviewing the research, I appreciated how the authors separated interventions into several different classifications: 1) individual planning activities, which are designed to help students with achieving personal and career goals, 2) responsive services, arranged to help students who are facing problems in their social or academic lives, and 3) system support, which consists of the management activities that sustain the overall guidance program. Although not having this article to reference, both of my interviewees provided clear examples and anecdotes of specific interventions they are currently providing which fit into these various categories. Although responsive or reactive services are inevitable for some students throughout the course of the school year, I think that individual planning activities and effective management of a comprehensive program could perhaps somewhat alleviate the need for reactive services as situations are addressed before they become larger issues. Some specific responsive services that have been demonstrated to be effective include group counseling for elementary children facing difficulties, social skills training, group counseling for students dealing with family difficulties, and peer counseling programs. Again, I heard a number of specific examples detailing these interventions with particular students or groups during my two interviews this afternoon, which I found very inspiring. Whiston, S., and Sexton, T. (1998). A review of school counseling outcome research: Implications for practice. Journal of Counseling and Development, 76, 412-426.