A: School counselors work to support students in a multitude of ways which generally fall into the categories of personal/social, academic, and career development needs. Much of our work is driven by th
e developmental stage of the students we work with. At the middle school level this means the majority of time is spent helping students with academic and personal/social concerns.
Middle school is a time when students are continuing to learn friendship skills and how to deal with conflict. Their friendships frequently shift between different groups and this can contribute to feelings of insecurity. It is not uncommon for friendship circles to change. This can cause a feeling of crisis in the mind of a middle school student. However, changing friends isn’t necessarily a bad thing if the student wasn’t feeling a positive connection.
We often meet with students individually or in small groups to talk about these challenges. They are trying to navigate the drama within their friendship groups and develop trusting relationships. We also help students by conducting meditations when conflicts arise. Meditations allow us to intervene in conflicts between students and teach them the process of conflict resolution in order to prevent situations from escalating.
