Meet Shellie, Cindy’s School Counselor
School Counselor’s Perspective
Back at school, Shellie the school counselor had hung a “Do Not Disturb” sign on her door. The school administered a scholarship fund that allowed some students to attend summer camp, and paperwork deadlines were fast approaching for the camp season. Shellie knew she had a long afternoon of desk work ahead of her.
Shellie had a Master’s degree in Social Work and thought of herself primarily as a coordinator at the school. She helped students and their families get connected to social service help in the community as one part of her job. Shellie had extensive contacts with community service providers. As the other part of her job, Shellie helped teachers and administrators at Willow School identify and work with struggling students. She had had many discussions with Nikki and Ed about Cindy. Shellie also ran a couple of groups for students at school. Cindy was a member of her Social Skills Group and seemed to be enjoying it.
Cindy had attended Friendship Day Camp twice on scholarship. The camp for young boys and girls had a strong one-on-one mentoring component with a focus on social skills development. Shellie and Cindy’s classroom teachers knew that the camp counselors worked on appropriate social overtures with Cindy and were pleased for the reinforcement this provided Cindy over the summers. Her teachers noticed that there had been no backsliding come the fall, as they might have otherwise expected with Cindy. And Shellie knew that Cindy had enjoyed herself tremendously, learning to ride a horse and taking outings to recreational sites in the surrounding countryside. It was certainly a quality out-of-school experience for Cindy.
Nevertheless, it was like pulling teeth to get Marla to complete the application process. Although Cindy qualified for a scholarship, there was a small sum for Marla to pay, and it took ages before Cindy came in with the money. Now Marla still hadn’t sent any of the required information to the camp, nor returned Shellie’s three phone messages left for her at the photo-processing store. Shellie started to draft a letter to Marla to remind her to complete her part of the paperwork, or Cindy would not be permitted to attend camp. To Shellie, Marla was a good candidate for a parenting support group. As things stood, Marla didn’t seem to know how to advocate for her child, or indeed what daily practices would support the education of her second grader. Shellie hoped that Marla would come through on the paperwork.
Shellie paused in her typing. She wondered what Cindy was doing right now. Shellie wished she had more resources at her disposal to help kids like Cindy to link them up to appropriate after school activities. This summer camp scholarship was a unique thing; many of the regular community after school activities were simply not affordable for families like Cindy’s. What’s more, there weren’t even any after school activities right here in the school building. Cindy would continue to need the right kind of attention and support throughout the school year to do her best in school.
