My name is Mrs. Waterman and I am your child’s school counselor. I am available to meet with any student individually or within a group regarding their social and/or academic development. My office is a safe and neutral place for children to share their feelings openly and without judgment. I encourage you to contact me if you have any concerns or feel your child could benefit from talking with me. I have an “open door” policy so please feel free to call or stop by any time you have concerns.
Each year I offer several groups. Groups are an excellent way to allow students the opportunity to talk with peers dealing with similar concerns. It gives them the comfort of knowing they are not alone. These groups are held at school during a time that is least disruptive to their classroom schedule. The following are groups that are offered each year:
Emotional Regulation; Students will demonstrate the ability to identify and communicate feelings in an appropriate manner, to identify triggers for negative emotions and utilize stress reduction techniques.
Changing Families; Students will demonstrate the ability to identify and communicate feelings in an appropriate manner, identify family/community supports and apply stress reduction strategies.
Friendship Group; Students will demonstrate the ability to share, take turns, use appropriate words and body language to communicate, initiate and respond to conversation.
Courageous Kids; Students will demonstrate coping strategies to help them with the incarceration of a family member.
Healing Hearts; Students will demonstrate coping strategies to help them with the loss of a family member.
Summary: The counseling relationship between students and their school counselor requires an atmosphere of trust and confidence. Students must trust the school counselor in order to be able to enter into a meaningful and honest dialogue with the school counselor (Iyer & Baxter-MacGregor, 2010). However, students should be informed that exceptions to confidentiality exist in which counselors must inform others of information they obtained in the counseling relationship in order to prevent serious and foreseeable harm to students themselves or others and if it is legally required.