SCHOOL SOCIAL WORKER & SCHOOL COUNSELOR

Today’s students face many social and personal problems that threaten their ability to do well in school and inhibit their progress toward becoming productive citizens.

School social work intervention by qualified professionals promotes educational success.

Joliet Public Schools District 86 employs master level school social workers/school counselors. These school social workers/school counselors perform many duties: Some of the specific services offered are (1) Diagnostic assessment (2) Individual and group counseling (3) Consultation with staff and parents (4) Conducting Functional Behavioral Assessment (5) Creating Behavioral Intervention Plans (6) Responding to suspected child abuse and neglect (7) Crisis intervention (8) Focused classroom groups around social skills development, anger management, etc. (9) Liaison with community agencies and (10) Referral resource for parents and staff.

The role of school social worker/school counselor is to help students to improve interpersonal relationships, achieve maximum benefit from their educational opportunities, cope with crisis and stress, manage anger, and understand themselves better. In addition, school social workers help parents understand and meet their children’s social and emotional needs, participate effectively in their child’s educational process, and utilize community resources when needed. Educators also benefit from school social workers/school counselors as they assist the educator to develop and implement plans to enhance students’ school success and to understand factors (cultural, societal, economic, familial, health, etc.) that affect students’ abilities to make maximum use of their school experience.