• Individual Counseling
• Small Group Counseling
• Classroom Guidance
• Student Mentoring
• Peer Leader Training
• Parent and/or Teacher consultation
• New Student Ambassador Program
• Individual/family/school crisis intervention

• When your student is having difficulty achieving academically.
• When family changes interfere with academic progress.
• When you want to become more involved in your student's educational and career choices.
• When you want to arrange a meeting with several teachers or with both teachers and a counselor.
• When you need assistance connecting to resources that would benefit your student.
• While we can consult with you about your child's schedule, all schedule changes will need to be requested through the grade level AP for your child.

No.  School Counselors are not disciplinarians!  

Our role is different from an administrative role and does not include issuing citations, referrals or any other discipline consequence.  Our primary role is to assist in removing barriers that may exist that keeps the student from being successful in the academic environment. 

School counselors take every precaution to protect the confidentiality of each child that we work with. When it comes to their children meeting with a school counselor, some parents are reluctant to support such a decision. They may fear the child will share “family secrets,” which will then be spread throughout the school. Or they worry that all the teachers in the school will learn of their child’s specific problems and hold it against the student.  A student’s right to privacy and confidentiality is the basis for an effective counseling relationship. Confidentiality ensures that school counselors won’t share students’ disclosures with others except when the student authorizes it or when there is a clear and present danger to the student and/or to other persons.

No information shared with the counselor is included in the permanent record.  Again, information is only shared with others when there is a clear and present danger to the student or other persons. 

Many times parents intiate the referral process and may speak to the counselor before counseling sessions take place with the students.  However, parents are not called every time a counselor meets with a child.  And, should parents  be called in to meet with the school counselor as well, in a collaborative effort to help the student, parents must also realize that confidentiality is the hallmark of a school counselors’ work. When students enter into a counseling relationship with their school counselor, the school counselor will educate the student about the purposes, goals, techniques and rules of procedure under which they may receive counseling. 

As counseling with a student progresses, it may become beneficial or necessary for the school counselor to consult and collaborate with parents. Either the parent or the professional school counselor may initiate the collaboration process. It’s the school counselor’s responsibility to reach an agreement with the student about what information to share with the parents unless, of course, there is a clear and imminent danger to the student or others.

While respecting the rights and responsibilities of parents/guardians for their children, the school counselor works to establish a mutual relationship with parents/guardians to maximize a student’s development. In addition, school counselors respect students’ values and beliefs without imposing their own personal values on the situation.

The limitations of confidentiality don’t include information of possible abuse or harm to a child. By law, school counselors must report any case of abuse or neglect to the appropriate authorities.

While school counselors have specific training in regards to mental health issues, they are not intended to function as therapists.  The role of school counselors is to assist students with academic issues that may interfere with their academic success. School counselors are equipped to serve as liasons with outside agencies and can consult with families about the steps to take to link to outside therapeutic services.

While the school counselor makes every effort to protect academic time, it may occur that a student briefly misses academic time to meet with the counselor.  School counselors do their very best to prevent the counseling session from being a burden on the student academically.

While school counselors work with these families in an equal manner, preference cannot be shown to one parent over the other.  The school counselor's primary role is to assist the student which lends itself to remaining neutral in custody disputes.

While counselors work with parents and students to find the best option available, the counselors at JMS are not in charge of scheduling.  Contact your administrator if you have specific concerns about an academic or connection scheduling concern.