By: Richard Smith
Behavioral Health Coordinator
National Counseling Week this year is being recognized from February 3rd through the 7th. Dickinson Public School’s counselors are a mighty bunch of 14 certified School Counselors that provide essential support, instruction, and interventions to address the academic and social-emotional needs of students across our district. Our school counselors play a vital role as part of their building’s Guiding Coalition, also known as the Leadership Team, and the Intervention Team. They work to address specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely (SMART) goals identified for each school to better meet student needs. This is achieved through a tiered approach, which includes developing schoolwide essential behavior standards and applying them within each tier. The counselors contribute by utilizing various types of behavioral data to promote continuous improvement towards achieving the SMART goals.
Additionally, the school counselor is not only a dependable and knowledgeable partner to support students, staff, and families in the time of behavioral and mental health need but also the person who helps students with academic, career, social/emotional development,, helping them to maximize their success in school and prepare to lead fulfilling lives as responsible members of our community. Our integrated approach to a mental health framework is set up to be student and family driven while data informed.
%20(1).jpg?mask=2)
Protecting the health and well-being of our students is not only a priority of DPS school policy but also an ethical responsibility for all staff members. Our counselors play a crucial role in addressing student needs on a daily basis. When parents have questions about behavioral or mental health concerns, our counselors often help facilitate collaboration between the school and external agencies.
Dickinson Public Schools is dedicated to providing our students and families with commitment to excellence for student achievement. With one of the greatest ratios of school mental health providers to students in the state, (approximately 1:135), along with partnerships with several institutions of higher education to develop future counselors internally, Dickinson Public Schools is well-positioned to promote youth success. Our students and staff deserve the very best!