Colleen DesRuisseaux
Director of School Counseling
[email protected]
phone extension 5849
The Guidance Department is dedicated to serving all students with a comprehensive school-counseling program that is preventative in design, developmental in nature and is an integral part of the total educational program for students. The foundation for school counseling in the Windham School District is based on the American School Counselors Association (ASCA) national model. This model provides a framework for implementation of a comprehensive and accountable school-counseling program. As school counselors, we provide academic, personal/social, and career counseling services.
We provide students with a multitude of services and resources to assist them in developing plans for their future. Academic performance has an integral relationship to the social, physical and emotional changes of student development. The school counseling program is committed to focusing on the needs, interests, and issues related to student growth as well as individual development in academic, career, and personal/social areas.
We address the needs of the whole child by providing direct services to students through individual meetings as well as small group counseling and grade-level presentations. As a district, we monitor student progress, assist with achieving academic goals, increase access to courses of rigor, identify social emotional factors prohibiting learning and measure program effectiveness. It is our continued goal to provide common guidance services and experiences district wide by working diligently with each school to ensure all students’ needs are being met.
School Counseling services include but are not limited to:
- School Guidance Curriculum: classroom instruction, interdisciplinary curriculum, group activities, parent workshops and instruction
- Individual Student Planning: assisting students in establishing personal goals and developing future plans
- Responsive Services: Consultation with parents, teachers, administration, community agencies, individual or small group counseling, crisis counseling and response, peer facilitation and referrals
- Systems Support: professional development, collaboration and teaming
- Post-Secondary Planning-College/Career Readiness