RELEVANCE TO SCHOOL COUNSELING PROGRAMS
Role of the School Counselor
An ongoing issue in the field of school counseling is a general lack of
understanding by critical stakeholders about what school counselors do that
impacts student outcomes. School counselors have historically been trained as
mental health providers rather than as student advocates, school leaders, and
empirical researchers. This trend is slowly changing however, and counselors are
beginning to gain the necessary training to develop these skills.
Many counseling programs are still operating under a student services
model. The focus of counselors' work is related to career planning and placement,
problem solving, and class scheduling. Under this model, counselors are spending
the majority of their time providing services to a small number of students who
have the greatest needs. They are providing individual counseling services to the
most needy students and are reacting to crisis situations as they arise. Functioning
within this framework, school counselors are not able to provide proactive services
or address the needs of the larger body of students.
The Comprehensive Developmental Guidance (CDG) Program model
(Gysbers & Henderson, 2000) emerged during the 1970's and emphasizes school
counseling as a core educational program rather than a set of ancillary support
services. CDG programs are designed to promote student competence and to
prevent problems. Counselors implementing these programs are responsible for a