Reflective Goals

As I move through my practicum experience, I learn something new each time I log hours at my two sites.  Although I have experience in the counseling field in a previous position in a community mental health agency and I have experience in the school as a teacher, I'm not sure the role and responsibilities of school counselor  is understood by outsiders.  In my practicum experience, I've had some challenges that have led me to the five reflective goals below:

1.  I want to always put the needs of students first.
The counselors that I work with go out of their way to put the needs of their students first.  But there are so many responsibilities put on school counselors that I can see times when this is difficult.  School counselors are responsible for so many administrative duties that do not involve one-to-one contact with students.  It seems that counselors could get overwhelmed in the shuffle of daily "stuff" to the point that you could forget to check in with students or make sure to be available in the event a student needs to talk.

2.  I want to be a guide and not a director.
I have caught myself in my individual counseling sessions saying too much.  I want to be more conscious of letting the student talk and find solutions, rather than telling the student which way to go.  I think this is a distinction between teacher and counselor that I need to do a better job of distinguishing.

3.  I want to be sure to avoid isolation in the counseling office and stay in constant communication with teachers.
I'm not sure all teachers utilize their school counselors as resources.  Sometimes when a student has a problem, the teacher automatically sends the student to the counselors office.  As a counselor, I'd like to be a resource for teachers and offer them support to help students in their own classroom settings.  I don't think this happens enough at the high school level.

4.  I want to become familiar with more counseling strategies to utilize with my students.  
I think that I am a good listener and I'd like to keep adding strategies to my toolbox that I can use in individual counseling sessions with students.

5.  I'd like to explore more ways to utilize technology in counseling.  
Technology in the counseling world is a bit of an enigma to me.  The term "counseling" seems to demand a personal relationship between counselor and client.  But, I think that things like webpages could be a great help for school counselors that wear many hats, such as keep students informed about college and career opportunities or academic planning issues.