Show 1 I I I I I A'j 4 j - Page Tuesday February 3 1988 The Herald Journal Logan Utah Helen Morris (right) chats with sixth-grad- Ian Kirkpatrick in er inepng ‘ the hallway Helen Morris has done and seen a lot in the 20 years she has been a counselor Although times change some of the problems children face in school and at home remain the same she said "The underlying problems don’t seem to change” Morris said “We have always had fractured families kids who go home from school and are unsupervised children who have been exposed to sexual abuse and kids tampering with drugs and alcohol “Most problems here stem from problems in the child's background and parents don't like to hear that but that’s how it is” she said Morris and Chris Nelson make up the counseling staff at Mount Logan Middle School They advise and help 1150 8 students Morris does group and individual counseling consults with teachers and parents works with psychology students from Utah State University and deals with all kinds of problems “More sexual abuse has surfaced in the last few years than when I started counseling and we don't know if it fust gets reported more or if there really is an increase” Morris said “But it is talked about much more freely among the kids and we help those kids who haven’t already been in therapy and refer them to therapists at the (The Child and) Family Support Center” Morris said she has also seen an increase in children who are depressed and see suicide as a way out “Children ing nt skills and though it Is slow going sometimes she sees improvement “We started out with that group having them write down their assignments each week and checking with their teachers to see if they got them right” Morris said "The first week not one of them got all the assignments right some of the kids have had to step back to keeping track of their work a day at a time but they are getting much better and learning to take responsibility for their work Building good counseling relationships is a rewarding part of her job but Morris said it is difficult in a school setting because she can’t always meet with parents and whole families “You can’t help kids this age without meeting the whole family” Morris said “I hope parents know that they are welcome in the schools and that it is important that they talk to teachers and talk to administrators and see firsthand what their children are doing” need to know someone cares and is interested in them" Morris said "If a parent can’t be home after school they should make sure there is some adult that their children are accountable to” One thine Morris said she hopes students will understand is “If they are not happy if they are not Text: Lynnette Harris Photos: Tim Rasmussen Morris advises students Cade Gunnell (above) and Andrea Watts (right) succeeding in life and have problems they need to try to develop a close relationship with their parents If that does not work they need to find some other adult they trust to help them” One group she works with is learn School counselors offer help advice to students Cache Valley students have the helping hands and listening ears of school counselors who are trying to help students learn and succeed Utah Gov Norman H Bangerter has named the first week in February National School Counseling Week The theme for the week is “Sometimes the Learning Process Needs a Helping Hand” The Logan City School District employs four counselors to help more than 5200 students and the Cache County School District has 10 counselors who serve more than 11703 students Though the schools and students are different many of the problems the counselors and students face are the same local counselors say Counselors at all grade levels try to help students solve academic and psychological problems in addition to arranging schedules and doing career counseling Steve Fla miner a counselor at Spring Creek Middle School has been counseling students and often their parents for 13 years Flammer said the key to student success is having parents who are involved with their lives and trying to develop good children skills parenting “Usually if you have a child who is struggling at school it is a manifestation of problems in the home and if the parents can get it together the kids can usually pull througn” Flammer ®ld familial relationships are very important d I'm afraid we “Our society is so are losing our parenting skills” Flammer said “Parents must learn to get control of their own lives because they never can expect to be of help to their child until they get their own lives under control” In addition to counseling students Flammer is in the process of establishing a resource center at Spring Creek for parents to use to and parenting skills improve their a counselor at South Cache Maggie Sharp Middle School agrees that most student problems she deals with are family or related “It's Important for parents to be as Involved as they can be In their child's education” fast-pace- self-estee- self-estee- Before children can progress intellectually they need to feel secure Flammer said So I m f Sharp said “Parents need to be interested in what their kids are doing and how they are doing and not just when there's a problem” Flammer and Sharp said they enjoy counseling because they have the opportunity to help children adjust to growing up and learning to make good decisions “Kids this age are still tied quite closely to their parents and just beginning to become independent and they still need nelp making decisions” Sharp said “The one thing I would tell parents is: Don’t be intimidated by your children” Flammer said "I see so many parents here who feel See HELPING on page I |