Blog 2

In reading chapter two of Dollarhide and Saginak’s (2012) text, I am finding that the role of the school counselor seems much more stressful than what I originally thought when planning my education toward this field. As I expressed in class, I am primarily interested in the mental health and social aspect of counseling as opposed to the career development part (which is partially why I am interested in elementary schools), but it seems that no matter what piece of counseling I am most interested in, I will take on a go-between role for administrators, faculty, and parents. While working with people is a strength of mine, having the wrath of angry and confused colleagues is certainly not desirable. Dollarhide and Saginak (2012) put this into a more positive light on page 20 when they framed the task of being a middle-person as being “a crucial link in the chain of excellence” for our students.

                I think it is so unbelievable that, as professionals who have the duty of linking other adults and professionals to help students, there has been so little research on specific counseling practices in the past (Whiston & Sexton, 1998). It’s no wonder that the older generations of counselors tend to be focused on antiquated techniques, like we discussed briefly in class. It is absolutely crucial that we are the passionate, dedicated generation of professional school counselors. I spent some time last spring doing research on evidence-based counseling practices and luckily, as time has gone on, there is more documentation on specific practices than there was in 1998. However, the authors of this article are right: with parents and administrators breathing down our necks, we need to have something substantial to back up our techniques (Whiston & Sexton, 1998).

                When it comes to the system relying on professional school counselors as important people in abiding by NCLB, McGannon, Carey, and Dimmit (2005) added an important piece to our role (aside from aiding in truancy and dealing with crises). The important piece is safety (p. 8) and it stuck out to me because I feel that it speaks to the idea that students must feel comfortable and secure in their environment so that they can learn properly. Getting them to school and meeting with the margin to ask why their grades aren’t up to par does not, and in my opinion should not, be our central role.

Dollarhide, C.T., & Saginak, K.A. (2012). Comprehensive school counseling programs (2nd Ed.). New York:   Pearson, Inc.

McGannon, W., Carey, J., & Dimmit, C. (2005). The current status of school counseling outcome research. Center for School Counseling Outcome Research, 2.

Whiston, S. C., & Sexton, T. L. (1998). A review of school counseling outcome research: Implications for practice. Journal Of Counseling & Development, 76(4), 412-426. doi:10.1002/j.1556-6676.1998.tb02700.x.