Counseling

COUNSELING OVERVIEW

Beaumont Unified School District offers comprehensive counseling services that are an integral part of each school’s total educational program designed to promote academic, career and personal/social development of all students.  Each school site’s comprehensive counseling program has a developed mission, vision and beliefs based on the unique needs of the school community with input from key stakeholders from school, home and the community.

Beaumont Unified Counseling Services:

• Integrates the American School Counseling Association (ASCA) National Model for School Counseling Pre-K through 12 to provide age appropriate activities and services that are comprehensive, preventative in nature and based on the developmental needs of students at each grade level.
• Adhere to the Ethical Code developed by the American School Counseling Association (ASCA) and American Counseling Association (ACA).
• Uses data to drive overall counseling program goals to determine that critical school needs are met.
•  Are aligned with the District’s Mission and support the District’s Strategic Plan and Local Accountability Plan (LCAP) goals.

The components of the comprehensive counseling program are as follows:

• Counseling Core Curriculum -Counselors visit classrooms regularly to present lessons promoting academic, personal/social, and career development.  Topics generally focus on structured, developmental lessons and activities in areas such as: self-understanding and interpersonal relations; self-direction; decision making and problem solving; teamwork and cooperation; cultural awareness; career/post-secondary investigation, options and planning; organization and time management; communication; peer pressure and conflict resolution. Students may participate in small group counseling such as stress management, divorce, bereavement, peer issues, organization, girls group, boys group, and anger management, etc.  These groups are not intended to be therapeutic, but allow students the opportunity to share common thoughts and experiences, as well as learn coping skills and strategies.
• Individual Planning – Consists of guidance services and activities to help students plan, monitor and manage their own learning, as well as personal and career development. 
• Responsive Services - Services including counseling and activities either on an individual and/or group basis to address immediate issues and concerns or as part of crisis response. 
• Indirect Services and Program Support – Consists of activities to help support positive student outcomes and the overall counseling program such as collaboration and consultation with staff, parents and the larger community, providing referrals for additional assistance and needed services, and ongoing management activities to continually improve the overall counseling program through data review, research and program development.  

Role of the School Counselor

Beaumont Unified Counselors provide services that assist in the development of the whole student in the domains of academic, career and personal/social-emotional development.  In doing so, counselors function in a number of different capacities when providing services including:

•        Counselor: The counselor provides a broad range of opportunities for problem solving and skill development to assist  students in developing goals. 
•        Advocate: The counselor recommends or supports courses of action which enhance student achievement.
•       Leader: The counselor facilitates the integration of resources from the school and community to establish a network of services for academic, personal/social and career development.
•      Consultant and Collaborator: The counselor provides guidance, information and resources to staff, parents and other community members, as well as collaborates with all stakeholders to enhance student achievement.
•       Teacher: The counselor as teacher delivers a planned, sequential guidance curriculum addressing the developmental needs of all students in the school community.