Counselors on Campus!

Since 2005, counselor Judy Jackson has helped teens with a variety of issues, including school stress, grief, drug and alcohol counseling, and nutrition issues.

“I create a comfortable place for students[in the right wing of the office] to get away from it all for a bit,” Jackson said.

In addition, Jackson explained that students come to her to have a quiet place to “expound on their ideas and think deeply about what they are learning.”

This year, many students have also gone to Jackson for grief counseling.

Unlike most teachers and staff on campus, most of the issues students share with her are confidential. Jackson explained that the only time she would report a student is if they were in danger of harming themselves or others.

As a counselor, Jackson is there to listen to student problems and to brainstorm possible coping methods or strategies.

“Sometimes stress can be relieved by just being with someone or talking about it,” she said.

 

Kim Cousens:

In mid-December, the school hired a new counselor, Kim Cousens. Cousens previously worked as a counselor at Fisher Middle School.

In her office in the HO building, Cousens talks with students about any issues they have. Cousens added that she is also available of any emergency assessment.

“If a student is upset about anything that is going on in their lives, they can come meet with me,” Cousens explained. “In an emergency or crisis, I also meet with kids to give them an assessment to determine what kind of further support they need or want.”

Cousens said that every student has a different way to cope with feelings. 

For example, if a student feels very relaxed when drawing and letting out expressions through art, Cousens encourages the student to harness that coping skill to help solve problems. 

“I have a lot of hope. If [students] don’t believe they can get better themselves, then maybe they will trust that I know,” Cousens said.

 

Anup Kar

At the start of the school year junior Anup Kar and My-Lan Le founded the ‘Common Roots’ club to provide a place for struggling students to share their feelings and get counseling from their peers. 

“We kind of got the idea of a safe campus through Mr. Nguyen's English Class in 10th grade, where the discussions were really open and we actually felt safe sharing our ideas,” Kar said.  “We felt like that wasn’t possible around school, so we decided to try and change that.”

Kar said that students who wanted to become peer counselors had to go through a rigorous application process.  The chosen counselors were trained during two sessions from an outside counseling organization.

“My-Lan and I are as of now organizing all of the trainings, the dates, the food, getting places for us to be, and really running the group,” Kar said. 

Kar said that the peer counselors will be putting their emails and phone numbers on the club website shscommonroots.com.  This will be the primary way struggling students can contact the counselors.