Guidance and Counseling Department

Happiness is not absence of conflict; it's the ability to cope with it.

WHAT WE DO

The Counseling staff helps students benefit from their school experience through attention to personal, social, emotional and academic needs.

Counseling is offered at both individual and group levels to help students make appropriate decisions and to foster a clear understanding of themselves and others.

The Counselors provide individual, group and class or school-wide counseling and programs around developmentally appropriate middle school issues and concerns, which may include:

Peer Relationships

Divorce/Separation

Transitions/Adjustment

Academic Success

Bullying/Positive School Climate

The counseling staff also helps coordinate communication between the school, families, and outside providers.

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Active Parenting

Family Connection by Naviance

Naviance is a program used 7th through 12th grade in order to assist students in future planning. Each student has a personal account on Family Connection that stores demographics, testing information, personal interests, and college information. Parents also have access to view their child’s account and will receive registration codes when their child activates their account. At the middle school level, students will activate their accounts, complete interest inventories and surveys, and set goals for high school. Please visit the link below to access Family Connection by Naviance. If you have any questions regarding this program please contact Rebecca Sinusas, Guidance Counselor, at Strong Middle School.

https://connection.naviance.com/fc/signin.php?hsid=coginchaug

Confidentiality Statement

Confidentiality refers to the privacy of information that students share with their counselor. Students may share information with others as they wish, but counselors are legally and ethically obligated to keep information students share with them as confidential as possible. We will guard that privacy as much as is permitted by the law, ethics, and school rules. We recognize the legal rights and responsibilities of parents in doing what is in the best interest of their children. With student permission, we may discuss issues with parents when ethically warranted and/or requested.

Both students and parents should be aware that there exist exceptions where school counselors are obligated to break student/counselor confidentiality.

These circumstances include potential harm to students themselves or someone else, state laws that mandate reporting of child abuse, or a court of law that requires testimony and/or student records. As counselors, we will occasionally consult with other school and mental health professionals, but in such cases only information necessary to achieving the goals of the counseling relationship will be shared.