I am thisclose
to getting into graduate school in a School Counselor program. However, I am not entirely convinced this is the right program for me as I understand counselors do less counseling and more testing paperwork/new student intake.
Either way, if you are a school counselor, tell me what you day is like. If you are a guidance counselor, tell me what your day is like and what sort of masters you have. Can I be a guidance counselor with a school counseling degree?
Thanks for all infomation!
P/S I am a special education teacher with a degree in Psychology. Love teaching but really want to be a counselor/therapist.
Congrats! I'll try my best to answer any questions you have.
First off, there's no such thing as a guidance counselor. Many schools insist on continuing to call school counselors "guidance counselors," but that's a case of being stuck on language from decades ago. We are school counselors. If a graduate program calls it their guidance counseling program, they are wrong. I wish everyone would get on the same page about what we're called; that would avoid concerns people like you have about whether or not a school counseling degree would be valid for a guidance position. I went through the same confusion when I was starting out in my program because everyone in my school days had always called it "guidance counseling." I spent more time than I wish to correcting people at the schools I've worked at as to what I am, but people will never know unless someone tells them. In my program anyway, it was explained as we have to make sure we are called the correct name because it shows we are a counselor first and foremost. More about projecting the image we want than anything else. The term "guidance counselor" for many, me included, conjures up images of scheduling and paperwork and such. That's not what we are in the schools for. We may do some of that, but it is not our purpose.
In terms of counseling vs. administrative work, you'll find it really depends on the individual schools, and sometimes the individual school districts. As a general rule though, you do the most pure counseling at the elementary level, less in middle schools, and even less in high schools. When I worked in elementary schools, I did a lot of individual and group counseling, but a lot of the individual was focused on behavior. A big component for most elementary school counselors is classroom guidance. Some schools require you to go in to every classroom once a month, some say twice a month, some say every week. You teach a lesson, typically on morals, academic achievement, or career development. If you lecture at all, it's for no more than 5 minutes or so. Most of it is highly interactive. You do less of this in middle school. You do little to none in high school.
Personally, I like high school counseling the best. It's the closest in the schools to counseling adults, and I enjoy the college and career parts of it. I also appreciate the lack of classroom guidance, which, IMO, eats into my counseling time too much. The downside is you have scheduling and such to deal with. I had none of that at the elementary level. It is a factor at many middle schools and high schools, though (not all because some have a separate position of scheduler). Running groups is tougher, but still doable if you had a supportive department head and administration.
The testing issue, again, depends on the individual school and school system. In this area, the elementary counselors are the testing coordinators. At the high school and middle school levels, there's another employee who only deals with testing. The counselors have nothing to do with it, other than getting scores to the students and explaining them to them, assisting with SAT registration if necessary, etc.
You can find schools that put a heavy emphasis on counseling. Just have to look hard. Having that as a requirement for any future employment can make job hunting difficult (I'm going through that now). But if you really want to do just counseling, you should look into community counseling or family counseling. Paperwork is involved in that too, but you're not dealing with the politics of a school system, classroom guidance, etc. Or, if your would-be program fits the course criteria, you can graduate, work in the schools, and in your sparetime work towards your LPC. Once you have that, you can legally start your own private practice if you wish, and you can work with any age.
If I were you, I'd want to find out if the program you may go into sees school counselors as a form of teaching or if it sees them as counselors. If they see it as just another kind of teacher, that doesn't sound like it would mesh with what you're looking for.
Lastly, I'd suggest you go to
http://www.schoolcounselor.org/ and read a bit there. ASCA (American School Counselor Organization) is the organization that represents us. Most programs require you to join either ASCA or ACA as a student to get your liability insurance (yes, we are required to have liability insurance). If you do become a counselor, IMO you should not remain a member of the teacher's union if you are a member of one now. I know that sounds like an odd comment, but I know of a lot of cases where the unions tried to get counselors to join saying they would look out for the counselors. In reality, teachers unions do
not represent school counselors, although many will try to tell you they do. ASCA is what represents us, along with the individual state and city chapters. Beyond that, our interests do not always mesh with theirs.
It's a tricky profession. You're not a teacher, you're not an administrator. But many schools inevitably try to pigeonhole you into one of those roles when you are neither. That's why when interviewing for jobs, you have to ask a
lot of questions.
If you can think of anything else you need/want to ask, let me know and I'll do my best.
