Smith Counseling

Mission/Belief Statement

Services

Services we offer:
School counselors are dedicated to providing opportunities for academic, career, and
personal/social development for all students.

Direct services

Individual counseling
We meet individually with students to address current stressors and situations, teach
social skills, increase self-esteem, learn new ways to cope, manage emotions, and
more. Students may be referred by staff, parents, or they may self-refer. We maintain
confidentiality with our students.

Small group counseling
We provide small group instruction for students who face similar concerns. Small
groups provide a safe and caring environment for students to share emotions and
acquire the skills necessary for learning. Permission is requested before students begin
working in group counseling.

Classroom guidance lessons
We present developmentally appropriate and preventative classroom lessons to
promote social and emotional learning, academic skills, and career development.

Indirect services

Collaboration
We work with administration, staff, parents, and community organizations to ensure the
students’ needs are being met. We consult to explore strategies and interventions that
best serve the student. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if there is any way we can
support your child here at school.

Referrals
We support students and their families through providing school and community
resources for additional assistance and information.

Other
In addition, we closely monitor testing and attendance data, provide informational
workshops for parents, work with families to coordinate 504 plans, serve on the school’s
RTI committee, attend professional development events to stay up to date on current
trends and interventions in school counseling, and collaborate with other counselors in
the school district.

Parenting tips/issues:

Academic:
When parents are involved and engaged in their child’s education, they are more likely
to succeed. Parental involvement is linked to higher grades, better attendance, and an
overall stronger parent/child relationship. Here are some ways you can help your
student achieve academically:

• Read with your child regularly and encourage them to also read on their own.
• Stay in touch with your child’s teacher.
• Ensure that your child has time to finish work brought home from school.
• Volunteer at school events.
• Discuss the link between school work and your child’s future.
• Be a positive role model.
• Keep high expectations for your child, while reminding them they do not have to
  be perfect.
• Encourage a healthy mindset; help flip their negative thoughts into positive
  thoughts.
• Reach out for help and resources from the school counselor, teachers, or other
  community professionals if you are having trouble.

Emotional:
Children experience a wide range of emotions, as adults do. However, unlike adults,
children may not understand how to regulate the difficult emotions that they face.
Remember these tips as you help your child recognize and express their emotions:

• Help your child to put a name to the emotion that they feel.
• Allow your child to describe how their body feels when they feel different
  emotions.
• Identify common thoughts your child produces in their minds when they feel
  different emotions.
• Normalize the emotion! Let them know it’s completely okay that they’re feeling
  that way.
• Set boundaries: It’s okay to feel angry, but it is not okay to hurt ourselves, others,
  or property as a result of being angry.
• Create a list of coping skills your child can use when faced with an unpleasant
  emotion: deep breathing, listening to music, writing a letter, drawing, counting to
  10, taking a break, getting a drink of water, tensing and relaxing muscles,
  visualizing their calm place, etc.
• Practice those coping skills with your child when they are calm so they are ready
  to use it when they need to.

Other:

• Take time to communicate with your child.
• Ask them about the highs and lows of their day or week.
• Pay attention to the friends they choose to hang out with.
• Spend time together. Whether it’s watching a movie, eating dinner, or walking in
  the park, children value the time they spend with parents.
• Listen to your child when they have something they want to share.
• Compliment your child and find ways to help boost their self-esteem.
• Talk to them about adults in the school that they can trust.

Coping Skills

Communicating with Your Child:

Communication is Key!

It’s important to take the time in your day to have conversations with your child. Whether it’s on the way to school, at the dinner table, or as you tuck them in to bed, touching base with your child will help them remember how much you care.

Here are some phrases you may add into your vocabulary to help facilitate these conversations:

• Ask for clarification – “Help me understand what you meant…”
• Validate – “You have every right to feel…”
• Speak encouragingly – “Tell me more…” and “Can you describe that…”
• Summarize – “If I understand you correctly, you said…”
• Restate points – “Tell me if I heard you right…”
• Avoid preaching, guilt, and jumping to conclusions.
• Be brief! Children retain shorter messages longer.

Remember that every child is different in how they choose to communicate, and you know your child best.

Coping Skills:

As adults, we hear “get it together” or “settle down” and we know how to do it. However, just like everything else, kids needs to be taught the skills to help them do that. Coping skills are strategies we can use or activities we can engage in to change our feelings and our thoughts. We can’t always change our situations, but we can do things to help us manage the feelings and thoughts we have about situations.

Why are coping skills important?:

1. What we think affects how we behave and how we feel.
2. How we feel affects how we think and how we behave.
3. How we behave affects how we think and how we feel.

Here are a few tips are helping your child expand their coping skills:

1. Identify Emotions- Sometimes kids struggle to identify how they are feeling. Talk to them when they are upset to help them recognize the emotions and cues their body might be giving them.
2. Practice Coping Skills- It great to have a list of options, but we need your help to have your kids practice their coping skills at home in the heat of the moment in order to gain success in using coping skills!

Links

Breathing Techniques
Coping Skills List