School Counselor
The counseling program at Sacred Heart School is comprehensive in scope, preventative in design, and developmental in nature. The focus of the program is to assist all students in meeting their academic, social, emotional, and behavioral needs.
Our School Counselor, Mrs. Kari Boyd, works with students via four programs:
- Responsive Counseling Services
- Guidance Lessons: Pre-K through 8th Grade
- Lunch Bunch Program
- Partnership with Academic Resource Class (ARC)
Responsive Counseling Services
Students see the school counselor for a variety of reasons including friendship skills, problem solving, peer mediation, emotion management, academic improvement, divorce, grief/loss, and crisis intervention.
The following counseling services are provided to our students at every grade level as needed:
- Individual Counseling, through self, teacher, or parent referral
- Small Group Counseling
- Behavioral coaching
- Conflict resolution
- Consultation & Collaboration
- Referrals to outside agencies, programs, or therapists
Guidance Lessons: Pre-K through 8th Grade
Mrs. Boyd teaches regularly scheduled age appropriate guidance lessons in every classroom from Pre-Kindergarten through grade 8:
Second Step
Second step is the Social Emotional and Bullying Prevention Curriculum used in grades K-8.
- Bullying Prevention curriculum includes how to recognize, report, and refuse bullying
- Social Emotional curriculum includes:
- K-Grade 5 students develop their social-emotional skills including making friends, managing emotions, and solving problems.
- Middle School (grades 6-8) students develop skills that help them navigate adolescence including communication, coping, and decision-making skills which help them make good choices and avoid pitfalls such as peer pressure, substance abuse, and bullying.
Kelso’s Choices
Kelso's Choices is the Conflict Management Curriculum used in grades K-5.
It is a structured conflict management curriculum that helps empower students to become effective and positive problem solvers and self-advocates.
Students in grades K-3 are taught the difference between SMALL problems and BIG problems. They learn that they are big and strong enough to solve small problems by themselves finding a good choice on Kelso's Choices Wheel. Big problems are those that will need adult help.
Students in grades 4-5 are taught how to recognize the difference between MINOR and SERIOUS problems. They learn how to make good choices to solve minor problems on their own, and that serious problems require an adult's help.
Additional Topics Covered in Classroom Guidance Lessons
- Internet & Technology Safety
- The role of a Powerful Bystander
- Goal setting and decision making
- Education of understanding of self and others
- Individual Student Planning
- Communication, problem-solving and conflict resolution
- Career Awareness, exploration, and test taking
Lunch Bunch Program
Lunch Bunch group sessions are offered to our 1st-8th grade students. A small group of students participates in each session, which meet once a week. The sessions take place during lunch time with Mrs. Boyd in her office. Each group meets for 4-6 sessions, before new groups are formed and rotated. Every student will have the chance to participate!
The group sessions, facilitated by Mrs. Boyd, provide students with the opportunity to connect with peers, talk about peer relationships and to problem solve together in a small group setting. Students participate in activities that highlight each participants positive qualities, while nurturing them all to become positive role models and self-advocates.
Partnership with Academic Resource Class (ARC)
Mrs. Boyd teaches weekly Executive Skills Coaching for middle school students enrolled in our ARC class.
