Have a Heart?
The School Counselor’s Role in
Building Strong Relationships to Help Support Students
Kyle Campisi, kyle_campisi@princetonk12.org
Nipurna Shah, nipurna_shah@princetonk12.org
Paulo Velasco, paulo_velasco@princetonk12.org
www.princetonk12.org
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Why building positive
counselor-student relationships
is important?
“Schools are defined by relationship between staff and students.”
Yvette Jackson as sighted in the Washington Post
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Strong relationships influence success in high school
Strong relationships make schools “intellectually safe” for students to learn and
thrive
S Strong relationships allow students to communicate without feeling judged,
guilty or condemned
S Strong relationship allow open communication of thoughts to feel respected and
understood
S Strong relationships recognize that others have differing view points
(Jackson, 2011) ; (School-Counselor.org)
Ice Breaker Activity
Have a Heart?
S On your heart, write down 1 thing you have done to build
rapport with one of your students
S Let’s share!
The Role of School Counselors
Student Perspectives…
The Role of School Counselors
Student Perspective Questions
When did you first meet your school counselor?
How well do you know your school counselor?
What role did you play in getting to know your school counselor?
How has your school counselor helped you throughout high school?
What are the necessary traits of the school counselor?
What do you believe the role of the school counselor is?
Why is the School Counselor’s
Role Vital in Building
Relationships?
We’ve talked about research based reasons why it’s
vital for a school counselor to build rapport with
students, but we’d love to know what you think?
Who Does the School Counselor
Reach?
Teachers
Parents/
Guardians
Administrators
School
Counselor
Students
Community
Agencies
Princeton High School
Who Are We?
S More than 1,400
students are enrolled
in the 9th to 12th
grades at Princeton
High School.
Assistant
Principal
Meetings
Communication:
Email, Phone,
Technology
Individual/Group
Counseling
College Counselor
Meetings
SAC/Counselor,
Dean of Students
Student
Parent
Meetings
Interdepartmental
work
Work with Service
Learning Director
Child Study
Team,
Referral,
IEP
Departmental/Faculty
Meetings
Community
Agencies
Building Rapport With Students…
Trust
“Building Rapport with Students”
http://www.school-counselor.org
Laughter
Listening
Empathy
Building Trust Between
Counselor and School
Personnel
S “In schools that are improving, where trust and
cooperative adult efforts are strong, students report that
they feel safe, sense that teachers care about them, and
experience greater academic challenge.” (Sebring & Bryk,
2000).
S Five Components of Trust:
S Benevolence
S Reliability
S Competence
S Honesty
S Openness
Building Trust Between
Counselor and School
Personnel
continued…
S Suggestions to Building Trust
S Engage the faculty in activities and discussions related to the
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school’s mission, vision, and core values.
Make new teachers feel welcome
Create and support meaningful opportunities for teachers to work
collaboratively
Identify ways to increase and/or improve faculty communication
Make relationship-building a priority
Choose a professional development model that promotes
relationship-building
(Brewster & Railsback, 2003)
Case Study #1
Case Study: Henry
On most days when you see Henry, he is a free spirited, social and
confident young man. What you don’t know by looking at him is
that he severely struggles with his language-based classes and with
completing homework assignments and projects. His test grades are
relatively strong, but his overall grades are mediocre, sometimes even
near failing. He is naturally smart, with a true capacity for learning,
but his grades don’t reflect his intelligence. He lives in a home with a
single mom and younger brother.
Case Study #2
Case Study: John
John is a 14-year-old freshman in high school that comes from an
affluent family whose parents both have advanced degrees. His older
sister is a high achiever who graduated high school with very strong
grades. John’s parents expect that he also earn good grades and get into a
good college. John is academically disengaged and has absolutely no
desire to be in school. His general attitude towards life is concerning, as
he tends to see the negative in everything that he does. John seems to be
frustrated with his parents and refuses to communicate with them,
particularly, his father.
Post Survey
S Please take a moment to complete the evaluation
Thank You!
We are so glad you were able to join
us today!
Works Cited
Brewster, C., & Railsback, J. (2003). Building trusting relationships for school
improvement: Implications for principals and teachers. Informally published manuscript,
Northwest Regional Educational Library, Northwest University, Kirkland, WA,
Retrieved from http://educationnorthwest.org/webfm_send/463
Jackson, Y. (2011, 05 28). Why relationship-building is vital in schools. Washington
Post. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answersheet/post/why-relationship-building-is-vital-inschools/2011/05/26/AG7KVODH_blog.html
School-Counselor.org. (n.d.). Building rapport with students. Retrieved from
http://www.school-counselor.org/topics/rapport-with-students.html