School Counsellor

This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced School Counsellor to make their mark in a growing, school in the heart of Singapore. The successful applicant will be a member of the Coordinated Wellbeing Team and will be expected to contribute to the day-to-day life of the school. The School Counsellor is responsible for providing a range of counselling and guidance services to students from the age of 5 to 18. They will work closely with students, parents, teachers, and other school staff to address academic, personal and social issues. They will also be responsible for helping students develop the skills and coping mechanisms needed to thrive academically and personally.

ROLE DESCRIPTION

Key Responsibilities:

• respond effectively to crises affecting students and staff
• provide mental health and behavioral counselling to students
• recognize and appropriately take care of individual students' socio-emotional challenges
• submit referrals to outside agencies as necessary for students' well-being
• coordinate and facilitate groups for students, such as for improving social skills or addressing behavioral challenges
• complete regular reports for services provided, such as session notes and incident reports
• collaborate with teaching staff to determine how best to meet individual students' needs
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• work with school faculty and staff to develop plans for maintaining the well-being of individual students and of the student population as a whole

System support

• Develop suitable school counselling programme including a system for needs analysis, early identification and referral of students with mental health issues and social, emotional and behavioural problems.
• Advise school management on school counselling matters.
• Provide consultation as well as planning and conducting training for staff and parents on pertinent mental health issues and skills for first-line intervention and support.
• Network with relevant external professionals and community agencies.
• Evaluate and report to the school management on the state of student mental health in the school, and the effectiveness of the school counselling programme.

Preventive programme

• Develop and conduct small and large group psycho-educational sessions for students on mental health issues and healthy coping strategies.
• Develop and make mental health resources available for students, parents and staff.
• Lead on increasing awareness of mental health and behavioural issues with faculty staff

Responsive services

• Provide individual and group counselling to students.
• Conference with staff, parents and external professionals and agencies on students being counselled, and conduct home visits where necessary.
• Look into the referral of students and their families to community resources or external professionals, where needed.
• Provide direct crisis intervention and follow-up to students affected by critical incidents.
• Maintain case consultation records and proper documentation.
• Provide regular updates to school management and leaders on the progress of students being seen for counselling.

Guardianship students

·      Be the key point of contact for Guardianship students, their parents and Guardians.

·      Manage and support the Guardianship students in their academic, social and co-curricular needs

·      Conduct home visits to the Guardian properties to ensure their home life supports the personal needs of the students and their academic progress

• Conduct annual meetings with guardians to share expectations, standards and safeguarding protocols
• Meet with the school cohort of guardianship students fortnightly 
• Be responsible for record keeping and incident management pertaining to guardianship students

Qualifications:

• Master's degree in counselling
• Knowledge of multiple counselling approaches and best practice
• 3+ years of experience working as a counsellor with children
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Empathy, patience and sensitivity to others' needs.
• An ability to connect with students of diverse backgrounds
• Strong interpersonal skills
• An ability to work effectively in a team and collaborate with other school professionals

Personal Attributes:

• A commitment to the safeguarding of students
• High level of personal integrity
• Flexible and positive team member who is proactive and willing to help others
• Excellent organisational and time management skills with high attention to detail
• An effective communicator in a range of contexts
• Conscientious and able to focus on completing work to a consistently high standard 
• Self-motivated and enthusiastic