Required
- Master’s degree in Educational Psychology, Counseling, Social Work, Curriculum and Instruction, or a related field.
- A minimum of 5 years of experience in student support services, preferably in a school setting.
Position Summary
The Lead School Counselor leads efforts to ensure a supportive, equitable, and inclusive environment for all students, focusing on underrepresented populations. The Lead School Counselor advances the overall student experience, including health and wellness, addressing students’ emotional health needs through short-term solution-focused counseling. Additionally, they will collaborate with external providers to ensure comprehensive care coordination for students, including liaising with therapists, psychiatrists, and education specialists. Reporting to the Head of Student Life, the Lead School Counselor will develop curriculum, organize staff training and professional development needs, and provide leadership and strategic direction for student support services, diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging initiatives schoolwide.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities
● Partnering with the Head of Student Life, support, design and deliver training to teaching staff on supporting students’ academic and personal growth, including training on cultural competency, implicit bias, and microaggressions.
● Supervise other school counselors to provide students with streamlined and thoughtful counseling support, including direct, short-term solution-focused counseling support and care coordination with families and outside providers (e.g., therapists, psychiatrists, and education specialists).
● Build relationships with students, families, and external organizations to support students’ mental health, wellness, and success.
● Provide short-term solution-focused counseling to address the emotional health needs of students.
● Contribute to mental health programming and outreach initiatives to support student well-being.
● Consult with faculty to address students’ mental health needs and provide appropriate interventions.
● Be available for immediate crisis assessment and intervention to ensure the safety and well-being of students.
● Review student records, psychoeducational testing, and sharing pertinent information with classroom teachers, using a variety of assessment procedures to determine appropriate interventions and programming.
● Empower students to achieve personal and educational goals by working effectively with advocates and liaising with educational psychologists and specialist services.
● Provide mission-aligned leadership and focus, demonstrating cultural competence, a growth mindset, and a deep and steadfast commitment to equity and inclusion.
● Develop and grow our advocacy program to support students’ metacognition and reflection skills, social and emotional awareness, and sense of responsibility for the community.
● Design and help deliver NEIA’s wellbeing curriculum.
● Collaborates with the school nurse and other supportive staff.
Qualifications
● Experience in curriculum design and implementation.
● Experience with coaching and professional development.
● Ability to work with professionalism, discretion, sound judgment, equity, honesty, and personal accountability at all times.
● Ability to create a welcoming and supportive community for a diverse study body.
● Partner with staff in supporting crisis response for behavioral and medical issues.
● Strong leadership and management skills, with experience supervising staff.
● Strong knowledge of best practices and current research in student support services, particularly in health and well-being, counseling services, and social-emotional support.
● Strong communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to work effectively with diverse groups of people.
● Ability to respond to crisis situations and support students and families in emergencies.
● Strong organizational and time-management skills.
● Knowledge of relevant state and federal laws and regulations governing special education and student support services.
Supervisory Responsibilities
● The Lead School Counselor supervises the school counselors and School Nurses.
Physical Requirements
The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to perform the essential functions of this job successfully. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
● Regularly required to stand/sit for extended periods
● Regularly required to bend, lift, push, kneel, crouch, crawl, stoop.
● Regularly required to lift and/or move up to 10 pounds.
● Capable of adapting to frequent changes in position through the workday.
● Hearing and speaking to understand and exchange information in person or on the
telephone.
● Speaks clearly, so listeners can understand.
● Uses hands and fingers for manipulation, and uses a computer keyboard, educational tools, play equipment, and performs first aid and CPR.
● Specific vision abilities required include close vision, distance vision, color vision, and depth perception.
