Mason City Schools - Prevention and Wellness Support Counselor

PREVENTION & WELLNESS SUPPORT COUNSELOR (Certified) FLSA Status:

The Prevention and Wellness Support Counselor will work in collaboration with building administration, school counselors, student support service team, and the prevention and wellness coordinator to ensure student needs are being met. The Prevention and Wellness Support Counselor will focus on tier 2 & 3 behavioral and social emotional support needs. This counselor will work in collaboration with building teams to identify appropriate student needs, create plans for intervention, and provide counseling in 1:1 and small group settings. The counselor will coach behavioral de-escalation strategies as well as support teachers in implementing social emotional supports in the general education setting.

Reports To: Building Principal

• Bachelor’s Degree required, Master’s Degree preferred, a minimum of five (5) years’ experience in education and/or clinical health settings.
• Must hold appropriate ODE licensure. School Counselor or Intervention Specialist strongly preferred.
• Passion for ensuring that all students have access to high quality educational opportunities.
• Ability to originate and implement new ideas, but also recognizes and provides support to implement innovative ideas generated by other people.
• Thorough understanding of the needs of diverse learners.
• Understands when to involve others for more complex issues and/or concerns by keeping the appropriate parties informed.
• Capability to effectively develop and maintain strong relationships with school leaders, staff, teachers, parents, students, and community stakeholders.
• Ability to self-direct and prioritize among competing goals, exhibit flexibility, and drive results in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment.
• Excellent written, verbal communication, and presentation skills with keen attention to detail.

• Assists students in understanding themselves in relation to the social and psychological world in which they live. (individually or in groups)
• Assists students to develop within themselves personal decision-making competencies.
• Gather meaningful information regarding students and interpret appropriate information, with due regard for confidentiality, to the student, parent(s), teachers, and other professionally concerned personnel.
• Serves as case manager and facilitates T2-3 student meetings
• Support and coach teachers in T2-3 behavior planning as Case Manager
• Provides input to teachers on developing interventions and on progress monitoring tools for T2-3 behavior plans
• Collaborate with prevention and wellness team for referrals to appropriate community and mental health agencies
• Serve as liaison between school, family, student and community
• Assist with pre-school behavioral counseling needs
• Responds to students in crisis
• Assists in identifying special needs of students, i.e., educational needs, health conditions, vocational/career needs, emotional needs.
• Coordinates the use of all services beyond those which he/she can provide by acquainting students, parents and teachers with such services; making appropriate referrals; maintaining liaison and cooperative working relationships with other pupil personnel specialists and agencies basically concerned with such special services.
• Assists in the selection and administration of standardized tests and the recording and interpretation of the test results.
• Serves as a consultant to members of the administration and the teaching staff, making available to them appropriate student data; helping identify students with special needs and problems; participating in or conducting inservice training programs; assisting teachers in securing materials and developing procedures for a variety of classroom group guidance experiences; participates as needed or directed by administrator.
• Continues to improve professional competencies by reading professional literature, participating in professional workshop and graduate courses, engaging in self-evaluation experiences, and meeting with personnel from various community resources to supplement guidance services.
• Provides individual counseling to referred students on an ongoing basis.
• Forms and leads group sessions on various topics of concern.
• Provides in service to staff on how to deal with students who have social emotional concerns.
• Offers parenting groups on different topics.
• Works cooperatively with the school nurse in providing health information to students.
Assists in program planning for the year
• - testing, parent meetings, career programs, group guidance, etc.
• Meets with administrators on scheduling, attendance, and any other new programs or policies which we may have to interpret to parents and students.
• All other duties assigned by administration

Interested individuals should complete the on-line application. Those deemed most qualified will be contacted to interview.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER