counseling Today
Founded in 2001, Counseling Today’s vision is to empower school counselors to advocate for their students through their Comprehensive School Counselor Programs by providing them with the knowledge, skills, and resources to expand their capabilities and influence. We believe that school counselors provide solutions that result in increased student success in the home, the school, the community, and the world. This includes fostering academic growth in children, implementing mental health education in schools, and supporting trauma-sensitive practices through trauma-informed school training.
The mission of Counseling Today is to improve the quality of the school culture and climate and foster a genuine belief in success for all students by providing professional development and training. We provide school counseling consulting services and materials that are designed to help school counselors, teachers, parents, and the community reach the whole child. Our work supports mental health workshops for schools and integrates expert insights from an educational consultant for school counselors.
We also offer online school counseling support options and mentoring through a certified school counselor coach and mentor, ensuring that no matter where you are, help is within reach.
School Counselors remove obstacles and create opportunities for academic success, thus making a dramatic impact on student achievement. Their efforts extend to supporting mental health education in schools, providing mental health workshops for schools, and engaging in proactive school counseling services to build resilience and well-being.
Creating a School Community Where ALL Students Can Thrive
Why school counseling?
Today's School Counselor
From the ASCA Counselor Association:
ASCA’s Careers/Roles Page responds to the question, “What does a school counselor do?” and contains a wealth of information on the roles of school counselors, how to become a school counselor, promoting your school counseling services, research on the effectiveness of school counseling, and more. As we move toward a future focused on the academic growth of children, the role of the school counselor becomes increasingly aligned with mental health education in schools and whole-child development.
The School Counselor as a Mental Health Professional
The community accepts that:
- The Marriage and Family Counselor is the Mental Health Professional that counsels troubled marriages and family
- The Addictions Counselor is the Mental Health Professional that counsels individuals addicted to drugs and/or alcohol
- The Pain Counselor is the Mental Health Professional that counsels individuals in pain.
- The Child and Adolescent Counselor is the Mental Health Professional who counsels children and adolescents who need support.
School Counselors are specifically trained to work within the school setting and coordinate services with teachers and outside providers.
Yet, the school counselor seems to be seen as simply another administrator in the school. School Counselors receive unique preparation to prepare them to be a counselor, and they bring this unique set of skills to schools! Just as the above the groups, school counselors are the mental health professional who counsels individuals within the school.
Defining the School Counselor
The School Counselor’s Role and the Services provided:
- Mental Health
- Leadership
- Advocacy
- Collaboration
- Systemic Change
We need to bring a Comprehensive School Counseling Program into fruition within every school so that school counselors are seen as the mental health professionals that they are. With the rise of trauma-related challenges in the classroom, trauma-informed school training is more critical than ever. As an educational consultant for school counselors, we help guide implementation strategies that merge counseling theory with school-based practice.
Continuing to advocate for the role takes perseverance, yet we persist because we know that our students do better when they have advocates such as us on their side. We must continue to educate our communities on our roles and the mental health support that our students need through mental health workshops for schools, professional development, and school counselor coach and mentor relationships.
Until each member of our community can identify the school counselor as the mental health professional in schools, just as they identify the clinical counselor in the community, our job of educating the public continues. Through online school counseling support, school counseling consulting services, and intentional trauma-informed school training, we aim to reshape the narrative and ensure lasting academic growth in children.
Addressing Mental Health is Crucial to Student Achievement
The charge of teaching the essential skills curriculum that teaches the soft skills and characteristics that are critical to academic and career success falls to the School Counselor within the Comprehensive School Counselor Program (CSCP). It is the School Counselor’s role to provide counseling for personal/social skills so that students can learn and reach their academic potential and thus their career goals.
