Gateway School Counseling
August/September 2021 Family Newsletter
Welcome!
What is School Counseling?
A Quick Summary of School Counseling
Our program is a needs-based program. This means that we tailor our lessons, small groups, and other projects to the current needs of our school population and the surrounding community. Kelsey and Ali will be sending out various surveys to teachers, families, students, and administrators in order to gather current insights into the needs of our Gateway community! We will continue to inform families and staff about our program throughout the year.
If you have any questions about the role of a School Counselor, please reach out!
Confidentiality
We deeply appreciate and understand the value of family and teacher support for our students' well being. We frequently encourage our students to involve other adults in their problem solving strategies. However, we are bound to confidentiality ethical guidelines, similar to those of a clinical therapist so we cannot always be fully transparent about the things that students share with us. Our guidelines are as follows, "what you say here, stays here unless someone is hurting you, you want to hurt someone else, you want to hurt yourself, or you give us permission to share with a trusted adult." These guidelines are presented to our students at the beginning of the school year during our guidance lessons, as well as at the beginning of our individual sessions. Kelsey and Ali also have these guidelines posted in their offices.
We understand that this is a tricky element of our role to navigate. Kelsey and Ali welcome any and all questions about our confidentiality guidelines. We are here to be a safe space for not only our students, but also the whole of our Gateway community!
This Month at Gateway
Size of the Problem Weather Scale
On the scale below, a sunny day means the student has no problems. There are clear skies! Once more clouds appear there may be a problem or stressor approaching such as being cold in the classroom or not getting the flavor of milk they wanted for breakfast. These problems are frustrating, but can be solved alone by most of our students. Once it starts to rain, students may need assistance solving the problem. This could be something like another student gave them a mean look or they forgot their lunch on the bus. Stormy problems are those that definitely need adult assistance. This could be peer conflict, cyber bullying, or failing a math test. Finally, there are tornado problems. These problems are emergencies. Students should only say something is a tornado problem if someone is in danger.
This year, when students write in to meet with a School Counselor, they are asked about the size of their problem. This helps us navigate our schedules and see each student in an appropriate time frame. This also helps the students decide what their next steps should be for solving their problem!
Minute Meetings
The questions on our short survey are:
- Do you like school?
- Do you feel safe at school?
- Do you have friends?
- Do you feel safe on your way to & from school?
- Do you like yourself?
- Can you think of anything that would make school better for you?
- Is there anything else you would like to share with me today?
All of our minute meetings will be complete before the second week of September! It has been wonderful getting some one on one time with every student to start the school year.
Panera Bread Program
Resources
Nebraska Family Helpline
1-888-866-8660
Safe 2 Help
531-299-SAFE (7233)
Your Life Your Voice
Call: 1-800-448-3000
Text: "VOICE" to 20121
Chat: yourlifeyourvoice.org
Email: YLYV@boystown.org
Download the "My Life My Voice" app!
Contact Us
Ms. Ali McGovern
Email: alison.mcgovern@ops.org
Phone: (531)299-9529
Mrs. Kelsey Buglewicz-Miller
Email: kelsey.buglewiczmiller@ops.org
Phone: (531)299-6939