Blog 3: Chapter 3 & Article

Chapter four of Dollarhide and Saginak’s (2012) text brought to light the importance of the six qualities of a comprehensive school counseling program.  The more I read about these programs the more I find myself already having previous knowledge.  I feel that this text has done a nice job of building on that knowledge.  When first reading about the three domains; academic, career and personal/social development; I viewed them all as separate pieces to a counseling puzzle.  However, after reading this chapter I now realize that all of these components are intertwined and each play an important role in the development of school counseling programs and students development as a whole.  When I first realized that I wanted to be a school counselor the idea of career counseling never really interested me.  Yet the more I learn about career development and the potential impact on students; I have become more interested in the concept.  Dollarhide and Saginak (2012) made it easy to see the connections between the three domains.  A light bulb went off for me when reading about multiple intelligences.  I was able to make a connection between multiple intelligences and career development.  When counselors attempt to understand a student’s multiple intelligences it then becomes easier to “understand why that student is interested in certain subjects, how the student learns, and how the student might prefer to demonstrate her or his understanding of the subject learned” (Dollarhide & Saginak, 2012, p. 52).  I felt that this information could be directly related to career development and counselors could build off of multiple intelligences and help guide students towards a potential career path based on those intelligences.  When reflecting on my own experiences with career development; I wish my counselor would have taken more time to get to know me and understand my true interests and strengths.  Instead she gave me career survey on the computer that suggested I should be a crew member on a ship.  I feel that as future school counselors it will be important for us to understand the three domains of a comprehensive school counseling program and how those domains can affect students on a holistic level.

In switching gears to the Walsh, Barrett and DePaul (2007) article; I will admit that when reading through the first sections of the article I was a bit skeptical.  I felt that it was a large task for counselors in an urban setting to coordinate so many services that supported students, families and the community as a whole.  However, it is truly amazing to see a program set in place that can make drastic changes within a school district.  When reading the article, I kept thinking about the case study about Ty that was presented in the Dollarhide and Saginak (2012) text.  In my opinion, this case study was the most realistic of all the case studies we have examined thus far.  It would be interesting to see Ty in a school where these counselors were implementing the new directions.  Although this article took place in an elementary school setting; I would be interested to see how these new directions could be implemented in a secondary school setting.  Would it have as much success?  Could there be a program like this implemented in a suburban or rural school setting?  It was also refreshing to see the amount of support that was shown by the principals for the counselors after the programs were implemented.  We often discuss in our classes that it can sometimes be difficult to gain support from administrators and other stakeholders within the school and community.  However, with a program that shows great success; it would be hard to prove that the counselors in this situation were not a huge asset to this schools environment.  This is a perfect example for counselors when given the proper resources, can redefine their roles and show everyone that they play an important role within the school and community.  

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

Walsh, M. E., Barrett, J. G., & DePaul, J. (2007). Day-to-day activities of school counselors: Alignment with new directions in the field and the asca national model. Professional School Counseling, 10(4), 370-378.