https://padlet.com/jrojas41/6stmlqn44f78 Jessica Rojas EDG 6305 en-us 2019-03-26 00:18:01 UTC 2024-07-25 11:59:14 UTC hello@padlet.com jrojas41 https://padlet.com/jrojas41/6stmlqn44f78/wish/345055757 My name is Jessica Rojas. I am currently a first-year Spanish teacher to 200 7th grade students in Del Rio, TX. I am pursing my Master’s degree in Guidance and Counseling at San Angelo State University, with the hopes of finishing in Spring 2020. Upon completion of my degree, I hope of becoming a counselor in a secondary school. I hope to have the opportunity to guide students in their academic path, as well as in their personal life.]]> 2019-03-26 00:26:46 UTC https://padlet.com/jrojas41/6stmlqn44f78/wish/345055757 jrojas41 https://padlet.com/jrojas41/6stmlqn44f78/wish/345055784 Mrs. Cynthia Frausto is one of the two 7th grade counselors at my campus. She has worked for the district for over 25 years- 14 of those years as a guidance counselor to middle school students. The interview was based on the topic of legal and ethical issues she has encountered as a secondary guidance counselor.
#1
The most common legal issue Frausto has faced in her career as a guidance counselor has been dealing with parental rights. Many students come from a family in which the parents are divorced; therefore, counselors must be careful when giving out information about a student. Parents who are not on their child's academic records often get upset towards the counselors, who cannot distribute student information if the parent is not documented. Serious legal action can be taken if a counselor breaks confidentiality.
#2
Counselors must report child abuse and neglect to CPS as soon as the issue is brought to to their attention. This is something that is often hard to do because as Frausto stated, "you never know if their situation will get better." She referred to foster care and how students are often abused more for reporting such actions. Failure to report can lead to serious legal repercussions.
#3
Mental illness is seen in children as early as in their elementary years. Children often do not receive the help they need due to not seeking help from an adult. Students often keep their emotions bottled up, which then leads to bigger issues later down the road.
#4
Bullying is seen at every grade level amongst the students. Frausto stated that she deals with bullying issues on the daily. The biggest problem she faces is having the accused bully say he was only "joking." Regardless if it was a joke or not, a student's feelings and self esteem are still being affected.
#5
Counselors often come face to face with issues in which are considered "border line." Although the situation is being talked about at school, it is a problem that is going on in the child's personal life; therefore, counselors are left with nothing much they can do. For example: A student was telling her classmates about how she would sneak in boys into her house at 3AM. The parent thanked Frausto for letting them know but mentioned how her at-home life is none of her business and will be handled accordingly by the parents.
(C. Frausto, personal communication, March 22, 2019)]]> 2019-03-26 00:26:56 UTC https://padlet.com/jrojas41/6stmlqn44f78/wish/345055784 jrojas41 https://padlet.com/jrojas41/6stmlqn44f78/wish/345055800 A topic that I will always advocate for 100% is mental illness. As someone who has had personal experiences with mental illness and never received the help I needed, I believe I went through rough patches that could have been avoided or much easier to go through had I opened up to my counselor or a teacher. Mental Illness can lead to self-harm and/or suicide. I believe if the appropriate support is available to the students, they will benefit and flourish from the help they receive. ]]> 2019-03-26 00:27:01 UTC https://padlet.com/jrojas41/6stmlqn44f78/wish/345055800 jrojas41 https://padlet.com/jrojas41/6stmlqn44f78/wish/345055818 While researching mental illness in Angelo State's library data base, I came across the article, "Relationships Between Social Support Sources and Early Adolescents' Mental Health: The Moderating Effect of Student Achievement Level," written by Tiffany Stewart & Shannon Suldo. The article states how mental illness is often seen as second, after academic success. The article highlights the importance of social support in adolescents and the positive impacts it can have in different aspects of one's life. In addition, the article states the affects one can have if they lack parental support. Overall, the article discusses the significance of seeking help and support. ]]> 2019-03-26 00:27:05 UTC https://padlet.com/jrojas41/6stmlqn44f78/wish/345055818 jrojas41 https://padlet.com/jrojas41/6stmlqn44f78/wish/345055840 This article emphasizes one in five students will face problems with mental illnesses throughout their school years (NASSP, 2018). In paragraph 2, it states how school nurses, school psychologists, and school social workers are shared amongst different campuses; therefore, it is difficult to find help with limited resources. One statement that stood out was how mental health is not a priority of many campuses but a dramatic event occurs, such as a school shooting or the loss of a classmate due to suicide. ]]> 2019-03-26 00:27:09 UTC https://padlet.com/jrojas41/6stmlqn44f78/wish/345055840 jrojas41 https://padlet.com/jrojas41/6stmlqn44f78/wish/345073546 This article highlights the problems of lack of counselors. This problem is seen at my school where there are 650 students split amongst two counselors. Counselors are expected to keep students on a successful academic plan, guide the students to college, address issues such as bullying and mental illness. Handling these problems in 325 students can cause failure of meeting the students' needs due to student-to-school-counselor ratio. (Fuschillo, 2018)]]> 2019-03-26 02:01:25 UTC https://padlet.com/jrojas41/6stmlqn44f78/wish/345073546 jrojas41 https://padlet.com/jrojas41/6stmlqn44f78/wish/345077538 This article discusses the raising numbers of adolescent suicide throughout the nation. Treatment for mental illness is something often neglected in a child's life. Lack of treatment may be due to the student's choice to not open up about the issues and withholding emotions due to fear of what their peers may think of them. Mental illness needs to be advocated for within the schools' halls and talked about without the bad connotation.
(Blad, 2019)]]> 2019-03-26 02:24:30 UTC https://padlet.com/jrojas41/6stmlqn44f78/wish/345077538 jrojas41 https://padlet.com/jrojas41/6stmlqn44f78/wish/345084345 Mental illness is not limited to depression and suicide, but on a much larger spectrum which includes ADHD, eating disorders, autism, and more (NASSP, 2018). As a future counselor, it will be my responsibility to guide students not only on their academic success, but encourage mental health as well. Mental health needs to be encouraged and talked about in order to reduce the negative stigma students may have of it. Talking about mental health allows students to be in favor of seeking the help they need in order to grow positively as a person. 

School counselors must be ready to assist any student that comes in seek of help for mental illness. Students must know that regardless of their ethnic background, socio-economic background, academic standpoint, reputation, they can confide in a school counselor and together, work for solutions. Students are often scared to open up to someone due to the fear of being judged, therefore as a counselor, one must always welcome the student with open arms as they have found the courage to open up about things that they might have been holding in for a long time. ]]> 2019-03-26 03:07:43 UTC https://padlet.com/jrojas41/6stmlqn44f78/wish/345084345