Episode Details

Anthony Godfrey:
Welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent, Anthony Godfrey. Each and every day students count on school counselors for support. This week, we celebrate the important work carried out by school counselors because this is National School Counseling week. On this episode of the Supercast, we highlight the tremendous positive impact school counselors have on helping students achieve success and plan for future careers. And, find out how parents and students can connect with their counselors in meaningful ways, especially during challenging times like a pandemic.

We're here with Stacee Worthen, our Secondary Counselor Consultant. Happy National School Counseling week Stacee.

Stacee Worthen:
Thank you. I'm excited to be here.

Anthony Godfrey:
Stacee does an incredible job. If you've listened in to Board meeting at all, she's talked recently with the Board about our plan for moving forward with providing great counseling for all of our students and just great support in our schools. Tell me, during this National School Counseling week, what are some of the things that we're focused on in Jordan School District counseling?

Stacee Worthen:
So some of the things that we are focused on is our theme, which is ‘Better Together’. So with school counseling week the entire national theme is Better Together and we really want to make sure that everybody knows that better together means better together. Working with students, working with parents, working with teachers and administrators, to do everything that we can to help our students be successful. How we can actually advocate for our diverse students, our students who just really need that little extra push to get into concurrent, to get into AP classes, but also just to help them find the classes that they need to be successful. As well as deal with some of those mental health issues that we're seeing; stresses, anxieties. Just working together with everyone involved to help their children be successful.

Anthony Godfrey:
Our counselors do a great job of providing a wide range of supports like you just described, which include social, emotional wellness. You know, the old term is Guidance Counselors, that's a term we don't use anymore, because that defines so narrowly what the role of the counselor used to be. It has expanded a great deal to the great benefit of students.

Stacee Worthen:
That's right. Right now we are just known as School Counselors. What many people don't understand is that our background really is about 95% social, emotional, and mental health training. And then we just get a small portion of that academic training when we become school counselors and go back to get our masters.

Anthony Godfrey:
So connecting students with opportunities and helping with class schedules and helping manage schooling is absolutely a part of the counselor role, but it is so much more than that. And it's a great support to students through social, emotional wellness, through issues they may be struggling with. Just with feeling a connection and having an advocate there at school. So I guess what I would say is when people think about school counselors, I hope they're thinking very broadly because there are so many supports available through our school counselors.

Stacee Worthen:
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