Middle schooling counseling: touching the souls of adolescents.

During my first year as a middle school counselor, I learned quickly that feelings, friendships, acceptance, popularity, sexuality, and self-awareness were important to adolescents. From my perspective, these are all related to "soul" experiences. The soul (mind, emotions, and will) is very fragile during this developmental stage. To make my school counseling program valuable and relevant to students, I realized the need to connect with their souls, and a strong part of their lives was music. I have always enjoyed music and believe it is a universal communication tool. Music can affect feelings, attitudes, and behaviors. I began listening to the same music that my students did, and I decided to center my classroom guidance and groups around the lyrics of the songs they enjoyed. I recorded and played rap, alternative, rock, country, rhythm and blues, and pop songs. I used their music to introduce my classroom guidance lessons and to serve as a foundation for the life skills I taught. The students were exposed to a variety of musical styles, and they learned to listen to the meaning of the words. This led to great discussions about academic success, family values, accepting differences, making good choices, helping others, establishing quality relationships, and making career choices.

In middle school, counselors' responsibilities include conducting classroom guidance, facilitating small groups, and counseling individuals. Another critical responsibility is helping students to resolve crises. Adolescents are notorious for their drama and illogical thinking. Adolescents are experiencing physical and emotional change and upheaval, and they often act without thinking about the consequences of their actions. I have become a strong advocate for rational emotive behavior therapy. I began my school counseling career at the elementary level, and after coming to middle school, I realized that this level offered the best opportunities to practice "real" counseling. Developmentally, adolescents are cognitively able to understand and analyze behaviors of themselves and others. Another important factor that encourages and supports "real" counseling is that counseling in the middle school is not viewed punitively or for "crazy" adolescents. Each year when I go into classes to introduce myself and explain my counseling program, I tell the students that I believe my job is to be a friend to them. They see me as their advocate, not adversary.

One example of advocacy was when a teacher asked me to come into his class and help a student. The student refused to talk to him, although she was sitting at her desk weeping. I walked to her desk and quietly asked her to come with me. She shook her head; so I gently touched her elbow and said "Come on," and she did. I mostly listened to her current problem and gave her some encouragement. She came to see me on her own a couple of times in the next month, and eventually she revealed that there was physical abuse in the home. She was afraid to tell the authorities or me because previous reports had raised such havoc in her home. A few days later she entered my office walking awkwardly because her father had kicked her across her upper legs and knocked her down. The agency professionals did come that day, and she was removed from the home and eventually placed in a very loving foster home. She wrote the following note: "If I haven't thanked you for doing all you did, well, thank you so much. I would have never gotten out of the abusive situation that I was in if it wasn't for you."

Another girl came to me saying how unhappy she was at school; she had just transferred to our district. As we were speaking, I learned that she had several absences because her parents left for work before she woke up in the morning, and she did not own an alarm clock. I bought her one, set her up with a high school peer leader to check on her weekly, and spoke with her only one more time. At the end of the year I received a note with the following message:

   Ms. Vines, you mean the world to me. I just
   want to thank you for everything. You truly
   can work miracles. Thank you for helping me
   think twice about ending my life, and telling
   me "it wouldn't be the same without you." I
   now feel more alive and have more brightness
   in my life. You truly are one of God's angels.

When students make appointments with me, I often find I have spoken with other students dealing with the same problem or issue. To use my time wisely, I often invite these students to attend a 6-week group to address their issue. "Fresh Start" is a group that I created and it has proven to be very successful. This group is designed for those students who have been or are currently involved in the legal system. I recruited a Gwinnett County sheriff to co-lead this group. He has been a great community resource for the school counseling program and the school. He has facilitated students' learning by sharing personal experiences, revealing his knowledge of the law, and working on building relationships with the group members that provided positive interaction with a law enforcement officer. By instructing and assisting the students to make good choices, set goals, withstand gang pressure, make quality friendships, express their feelings, and gain support, I found that their self-concept was enhanced.

As a middle school counselor, I have the opportunity to truly touch the lives of this challenging age group. My only request is that the ratios of middle school counselors to students be reduced by at least half, so I would have time to address the many "soul" needs of the adolescents with whom I work!

Gina Vines is a school counselor at J. E. Richards Middle School, Lawrenceville, GA. She was the 2004 ASCA Middle School Counselor of the Year. E-mail: [e-mail]