School Counselor: Lauren Hensley

Itinerate Mental Health Counselor
Kelli Barksdale (BMS on Tuesday & Thursday)

School counselors are highly educated, professionally certified individuals who help students succeed in school and plan their career. An integral part of the total education system, school counselors help students form healthy goals, mindsets and behaviors. With the aid of a school counselor, students learn to develop effective collaboration and cooperation skills, to practice perseverance, to develop time management and study skills, and to learn self-motivation and self-direction habits.

School counselors identify and address student needs that will develop into academic and personal success. The main goal of a school counselor is to advocate for students to ensure they have a positive and successful middle school experience.

Counselors work with students individually, in small groups, and within the classroom setting to support and assist them in their academic, social, emotional, and personal development. Often, the counselor will facilitate the needs of the student to identify and minimize barriers that stand in the way of student success.

Our counselors are important sources of information for referrals and outside resources. Our counselors offer support in areas, including peer relationships, decision-making skills, communication, and conflict resolution, fostering self-awareness, acceptance, and diversity, teaching time management, and organizational skills, crisis intervention for students and parents, academic planning, individual and group counseling.

Below are some links to resources you can use if you are having a crisis and need someone to talk to and additional websites with tons of information on topics such as stress, anxiety, depression, etc.

988 Lifeline: Call, Text, or Chat Online

Text HOME to 741741

There are also many apps you can use such as HeadSpace, Calm, Breath2Relax, Happify, Stress Doctor, and more to help you relax and practice coping skills.

A list of some websites that have information on a variety of topics such as stress, anxiety, eating disorders, and more!

A list of resources that cover topics such as self-esteem, depression, and offers a variety of crisis text line and hotline resources.

Itinerate Social Worker
Juli Dean

School social workers are trained, qualified professionals who meet state requirements to practice social work specifically in the school setting. They provide direct services to students who experience academic and social difficulties, developing relationships that bolster self-esteem and reward positive behavior. School social workers support teachers by offering options for addressing students' needs and by participating on the student support team. School social workers work with families and communities to coordinate services to the student and family.

Attendance at school is important for the success of students and is an integral life skill that will help students graduate from postsecondary education and maintain employment. By 9th grade, regular and high attendance is a better predictor of graduation rates than 8th grade test scores.

Students can be chronically absent even if they only miss a day or two every few weeks. By 6th grade, chronic absenteeism is one of three signs that a student may drop out of high school.

Students should have no more than 9 absences each year to stay engaged, successful, and on track to graduate. A student with 10+ unexcused absences is considered truant. Truancy could result in legal charges against the guardian or juvenile.

Whenever a student misses school for an appointment, please send a doctor note with the student when they return, so that the absence can be excused. Occasionally, students may not be sick enough to visit a doctor. You may write up to 10 parent notes per school year for illness. Please use the form below to submit parent notes. You can also attach doctor notes to this form.