Mission of Counseling
The goal of the Counseling and Student Services Department is to help students benefit from every aspect of the school experience. The staff is available to students, parents(s)/guardian(s) and teachers for discussion of students’ academic, personal or future planning concerns.
An Overview of the Curriculum
The primary role of the counselor is to assist students in the development of awareness of themselves and their environment and to translate that awareness into actions which enable them to fully realize their potential.
This primary role is accomplished in a variety of ways. Counselors work directly with the student in an individual counseling relationship. They also assist students indirectly by working with those people who are part of their environment, namely parents, teachers, administrators, fellow students and the community at large. Counselors work with the school to make changes that benefit the school community. Finally, Counselors use their understanding of the development of adolescents to implement a counseling curriculum designed to address and promote the student’s development as an individual and within the community.
The course of development for adolescents is extremely complex and varied. In a high school such as HCHS, the range and path of that development is very great. Adolescent development involves achieving certain milestones in four main areas of growth, all going on simultaneously: intellectual, physical, social and emotional. The academic curriculum is designed primarily to assist in the growth and development of the intellectual, and to some extent, the physical aspects of growth. The counseling curriculum is designed to weave the social and emotional growth together with the intellectual and physical growth occurring during these years.
The assistance and “weaving together” involve more than simply responding to the issues and needs of our adolescent population. It also involves providing active, well-timed, and age-appropriate activities designed to promote growth, well-being, life skills and a readiness to meet their future. Thus, with any curriculum, the “course of study” in counseling has clear objectives in their “life plans.”
