School Counselors

PAUSD Secondary Counseling Vision Statement

The PAUSD School Counseling Program strives to produce high achieving learners who graduate college and career ready, well prepared to meet the challenges and high expectations of a diverse and changing world. All students participate in quality opportunities for self-directed personal growth supported by the comprehensive School Counseling Program. The School Counseling Program facilitates strategic partnerships between the school, family and community to develop successful, life-long learners and productive citizens.

PAUSD Secondary Counseling Mission Statement

The School Counseling Program at PAUSD middle and high schools seek to positively impact the lives of ALL of our students by partnering with staff, parents and community.

Our program offers comprehensive planning and guidance services addressing student academic, diverse career and college goals, as well as personal and social development.

We work to give ALL students the opportunities to acquire the educational and social competencies necessary for growth toward lifelong success and effective, responsible citizenship for a diverse and changing world.

For more information on PAUSD counseling services: click here.

Middle school counselors enhance the learning process and promote academic, career and social/emotional development. School counseling programs are essential for students to achieve optimal personal growth, acquire positive social skills and values, set informed career goals and realize full academic potential to become productive, contributing members of the world community.

At JLS, our counseling program focuses on meeting both our district standards and the mindsets and behaviors set forth by the American School Counselors Association (ASCA).

For more information on what a school counselor does, see the American School Counselors Association's publication, The Essential Role of Middle School Counselors.

Direct Student Services

Individual Counseling (Short-Term/Responsive)

Individual counseling is a personal choice made in collaboration with parent, teacher and student. It reflects a short-term solution focused approach. The counselor works to help students resolve problems on their own.

• Parents or teachers may contact a counselor to request a student be seen.
• Students may also seek counseling support by contacting their counselor directly either through Schoology or by visiting their counselor during the school day, with permission from their teacher.
• Length and regularity of short-term counseling sessions will vary based on student need.
• Crisis intervention support is provided when needed to assist students and their families in coping with crisis.
• If your child needs more regular, counseling services we may refer them to our onsite Mental Health and Wellness Associates (MHWA) therapist. Additionally, if the concerns are more home-based we may encourage you to seek therapy outside of the school setting.
• Board Policy BP6164.2 Guidance/Counseling Services
• District counseling page

Counseling Groups

Each semester the counseling team runs lunch support groups. These groups help students work together around various topics including friendship, behavior, executive functioning, stress management, and more.

• Students are referred to groups by counselors and teachers.
• Parents of students who have been referred to a group will be contacted by one of the counselors to sign a consent to join the group.
• Groups are run by both our school's Professional School Counselors and CASSY therapists.
• During the 2017-18 school year we ran 5 girls groups and 1 boys group. With the support of our CASSY counselors we also ran a stress management and social skills group.

Classroom Guidance Lessons

The school counseling team provides counseling-based lessons in classrooms around the topics of social emotional learning (SEL), career development, and academic success. A member of the team will be teaching a lesson at least once a semester in classrooms of each grade level.

• Your student's school counselor will teach the lesson for your student.
• Lessons will be posted on Schoology for students who are absent.
• Each lesson is grade level specific. Below are topics that may be covered in each grade level. Please note that topics may change based on student need.
  • 6th Grade
    • Digital Citizenship
    • Strengths/Interests
    • Peer pressure
  • 7th Grade
    • Conflict resolution
    • Resiliency
    • Personality types
    • Respect
    • Communication
  • 8th Grade
    • School Culture
    • Goal setting
    • Consent
    • Stress Management

Whole School Prevention Activities

As a counseling team, we work together to plan numerous events for the entire school to help create a safe and welcoming environment for all students. We plan different events each year for the following:

• Not in Our Schools Week
• Unity Day
• Mix it Up Lunch

Mentor Program

The purpose of the Mentor Program is to connect students who struggle with academic, social and emotional challenges with a trusted adult on campus. The school counseling team arranges activities to facilitate the connection between mentors and mentees. Mentors are encouraged to connect with their mentees on a bi-weekly basis to build a meaningful relationship that is essential for the student's development and engagement in school.

New Student Orientation

Every new student receives a New Student Orientation to help facilitate the transition of new students to the school community. With the support from the Leadership class, new students are introduced to the school with events and activities that help them become familiar with the campus environment and what it entails to be a JLS student.

Indirect Student Services

Counselors offer indirect student services through a variety of means. Most prominently, counselors meet with school personnel (including teachers) regularly in an effort to promote student success. This is an excellent forum to discuss progress and feedback in the best interest of the students' needs. Parents may arrange a consultation with the counseling team by scheduling a requested meeting in advance.

Program Management and School Support

JLS counselors also support the school by offering programs to facilitate campus-wide goals. For example, counselors manage social emotional learning (SEL) programs as facilitators for lessons and support for teachers and staff.

PAUSD Health and Wellness Resources 

PAUSD's list of physical and mental health resources: https://www.pausd.org/student-supports/health-wellness

What to do if your child is in crisis

PAUSD Parent Guide to Risk Assessment and Safety

This document is a reference guide you may use when you feel like your child may be facing a potential mental health emergency. It includes some safety risk indicators that may lead to major warning signs.

It outlines steps you can take to get access to a professional risk assessment, as well as information about what it will look like when you go to an emergency room specifically for mental health support. We hope that this will give you all the information you need to access support in the community.  

As you use this tool, please look for patterns and an accumulation of symptoms and/or behaviors, in order to best figure out the best next steps for your child and family. If you believe that your child is an imminent threat to themselves or others, please call 911 immediately or go to the nearest emergency room.

Community Resources & Support

allcove - (650) 798-6330
A local space for youth to find community, support, advice, or even just a moment of pause. Located on Middlefield Rd., allcove Palo Alto is open from 10 am-7 pm, Monday-Friday. Available for youth 12+, they are open year-round to provide mental health care, peer support, education and employment services, psychiatry, and medical services free of charge. They host weekly events, including game nights, workshops, and more. Learn more at www.allcove.org. 

Asian Americans for Community Involvement
AACI offers health, wellness, and behavioral health services, which include individual and family counseling. AACI offers linguistically and culturally sensitive services that help clients overcome barriers to care. Their trauma-informed, client-centered, community-based approach includes individual, groups, and family counseling for ages 6 and up at their clinics, in the home, at school, or in the community. More information is available at www.aaci.org.

Care Solace - (888) 515-0595
The Care Solace Care Concierge is a 24x7 service for parents and staff. They are experts at hand-holding families through the mental health care process. They navigate insurance, look at availability and wait time of resources, and help families schedule appointments with local and trusted mental health resources. The purpose of this program is so that families and district staff do not have to do the heavy lifting required to search and call. More information is available at https://www.caresolace.com/site/pausdfamilies

Children's Health Council (CHC)
Affordable teen therapy services that include individual therapy, family therapy, group therapy and psychiatry services. They also share many educational resources for families such as the CHC podcast, resource library, and events. Learn more at www.chconline.org, or call 650-688-3625.

KARA Grief Support
Change and loss are natural in the cycle of life. We experience grief and emotional distress with any significant loss. Support from those who have experience in dealing with personal loss can help ease the pain and promote healing. Kara provides a safe place for those who are grieving or anticipating their own death to express and normalize their feelings. More information is available at www.kara-grief.org.

Outlet
Outlet is a youth empowerment program serving lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning teens (LGBTQQ) in the Bay Area. As the only comprehensive resource for LGBTQQ+ youth on the Peninsula, Outlet provides professional counseling, caring support services, and community building social activities to this particularly vulnerable population. In Addition, Outlet is developing the next generation of LGBT community advocates by engaging youth with leadership training, coalition building, and civic activism. More information is available at www.acs-teens.org/what-we-do/outlet.

Parents/Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG)
PFLAG promotes the health and well-being of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons, their families and friends through: support, to cope with an adverse society; education, to enlighten an ill-informed public; and advocacy, to end discrimination and to secure equal civil rights. Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays provides opportunity for dialogue about sexual orientation and gender identity, and acts to create a society that is healthy and respectful of human diversity. More information is available at www.pflag.org.

Parents Helping Parents - (408) 727-5775
Help children and adults with special needs receive the support and services they need to reach their full potential by providing information, training, and resources to build strong families and improve systems of care. Learn more at www.php.com