School counselors play an important role in students' academic achievement, personal/social development, and career development to help students become well-adjusted adults. They are part of the educational leadership team and provide valuable assistance to all students from elementary through high school. Effective school counselors have qualities like being proactive through needs-based programming, fostering relationships to support students and teachers, and being a good listener, authoritative when needed, and excellent communicator.

1. Prepared by:
Fr.Ginu Devasia
Importanceof SchoolCounsellor

2. Role of the School Counsellor
They help all students in the areas of
academic achievement,
personal/social development and
career development, ensuring
today's students become the
productive, well-adjusted adults of
tomorrow

3. The Importance of School Counsellors
•
School counsellors are an important part of
the educational leadership team and provide
valuable assistance to students regardless of
whether they work in an elementary school or
middle school, high school or beyond.

4. Qualities of a school counselor
• Let’s take a look 13 qualities of a professional school
counsellor!
• STUDENTS NEED SUPPORT
• Schools need counsellors that can work with ALL
students…not just 10-20% of students who meet some
sort of qualification guidelines.
• Kids can encounter a wide variety of problems, but
they don’t have the resources or experience to handle
the situation(s) effectively. School counselors teach
students how to process problems and identify
solutions and/or positive coping skills.

5. PROACTIVE PROGRAMMING
• School counsellors are proactive, not reactive.
• Reacting after the fact is merely “putting out
fires”…the damage is already done…school
counselling programming aims to prevent the
damage in the first place.

6. NEEDS-BASED PROGRAMMING
• School counselors help with
ANYTHING related to their students’ social,
emotional, behavioral, and academic
development. Conducting a needs
assessment by surveying students, staff, and
parents school counselors can allocate their
time and resources effectively by addressing
the identified needs through programming
such as classroom guidance lessons and small
group interventions.

7. IN-ROADS WITH STUDENTS
• Connecting with students in a meaningful way
improves the likelihood that they will come to
you when there’s a problem.
• When school counselors take the time to foster
relationships (with students, parents, and staff)
they increase the likelihood that students report
issues that affect them and their classmates.
•

8. SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR TEACHERS
• School counselors increse their ability to help
students when they help teachers increase
their effectiveness.

9. Be a good listener.
• Listening is a crucial trait for any school
counselor to possess.
• Remember to listen first and ask questions
later. If you need clarification on something,
always speak up but be sure to add details
that let the person know you heard what they
said in the first place.

10. Be authoritative.
• When the situation calls for it, a guidance
counselor must cross the boundary from
friend to professional. If abuse or neglect is
suspected or present, or if a student is
engaging in risky or harmful behavior, a
counselor must know when to show their
authority and take the proper steps to ensure
their student’s safety.

11. Be an excellent communicator
• Having excellent communication skills is one
of the most important skills a school
counselor can have. Being able to
communicate ideas, thoughts, and feelings
verbally is a trait that can never go unsung as
a school counselor.

13. Fr.Ginu Devasia CMI
Psychotherapist and Guidance
Counsellor