Delivering A Comprehensive
Counseling Program
Comprehensive Counseling Program
In order to deliver a comprehensive counseling program we focus on the activities and interactions of counselors in a school. As counselors in diverse international schools, it is our duty to honor and support all students.
Delivering a comprehensive counseling program includes both direct and indirect services:
- Direct services involve in-person interactions with students to develop essential skills.
- Indirect services are for or on behalf of students that involve leadership, advocacy, and collaboration to enhance their achievement and promote equity and access.
It is recommended that 80% or more of the school counselor’s time be spent delivering direct and indirect student services.
The chart above gives an overview of how a comprehensive program is delivered. For more insight you can refer to the ISCA International Model and its tools or join a training.
The Four Modes of Program Delivery
International School Counselors provide services to students, parents, school staff and the community in the following areas:
Activities designed to meet students’ immediate needs and concerns. Responsive services may include counseling in individual or small-group settings or crisis response. Responsive services are designed to help students resolve social/emotional, global perspective and identity, and academic and career development issues.
School counselors coordinate ongoing systematic activities designed to assist students individually in establishing personal goals and developing future plans, such as individual learning plans, student success plans, and graduation plans.
For student planning to be successful, a partnership between the counselor, parents/guardians, and the student(s) can be important to the process and to the student meeting their goals. Activities may be delivered on an individual basis, in small groups, or in classroom settings.
Delivery of individual student planning often includes advisement, counseling and appraisal.
Like any organized activity, a school counseling program requires administration and management to maintain and enhance the program. These activities typically do not involve direct contact with students, but rather they indirectly support students and the school counseling program for the benefit of the program. This often includes referrals, consultation and collaboration with teachers, parents, administrators and outside agencies/professionals.