Welcome Back To School, SGR!
Meet your school counselor, Ms. Shari.
Hello and welcome back to school, SGR! My name is Shari Gustafson and I am your SGR school counselor. This is my 31st year working as a school counselor. Before I began school counseling, I was a third grade teacher for three years.
I have a son who is living in Montana and a daughter who is living in Colorado, both WONDERFUL places for Mom to visit! I also have two dogs who are now my replacement children. 🥰
There are school counselors working in every Moorhead school. We are part of the regular education program. Every elementary student who is in a regular education classroom will be meeting with their school counselor in their classroom.
WHAT does an elementary school counselor do in school?
At the elementary level, school counselors teach SEL lessons in classrooms along with most K-4 classroom teachers.
School counselors meet with students individually on a short term basis. Sometimes life changes and it helps to talk with a trusted adult to relieve some of the pressure, help organize or rethink thoughts and make a plan to feel better in the future.
School counselors also meet with small groups of students who need support as they are going through a similar situation. Some examples of small groups are:
Family Change-dealing with change in family structure
Remembering-dealing with the death of an important person
Finding Friends-practicing social skills
Stress Relief-practicing calming techniques
Positive Image-practicing positive self talk
WHO can refer a student to talk with me?
Students can ask their teacher to talk with me. Then, the teachers and I decide on a good time for a visit and the student comes to my room to meet individually.
Concerned teachers will ask me to check in with a student on occasion.
Concerned parents can call or email me to check in with their child.
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**Communication Home: *If I have a question/concern about something a student says or does, I will always make a contact home. Otherwise, if a student and I talk about something relatively “normal” once and it is resolved at school, I won’t be calling home.
*Typically teachers talk with parents about participation in small groups. If students are referred for small groups, I will send a note home with students to let parents know when we’ll meet during the day (usually lunch/snack time).