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Indirect Services

Sarah Lecker-Tolentino

College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Grand Canyon University

SCN 605: School Counseling Internship I

Dr. Sondra Junek

April 27, 2022

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The Roles and Responsibilities Related to Indirect Services

Although direct services are the priority for school counselors, there are also many

indirect services that aid and benefit students. I have been able to observe my site supervisor’s

indirect services during my internship. My site supervisor is responsible for 504 planning. She

contacts all parties that must be involved including teachers, parents, the school nurse, case

managers, and administration. She hosts the meetings where they collaboratively develop a

feasible 504 plan to be implemented or updated. She also leads the PBIS (Positive Behavioral

Intervention and Supports) and SST (Student Support Team) meetings weekly. During PBIS

meetings, we discuss students who have received behavior trackers, whether they have increased

or decreased, the interventions that have been utilized, and new interventions to implement. For

the Student Support Team, we discuss how the involved team can collaboratively support

students who have been referred to the SST.

Indirect Services Displayed While Collaborating

Similar to my site supervisor, I have been able to provide indirect services in the school

setting. During the time I am not directly interacting with students, I am preparing SEL

classroom lessons and researching effective activities related to the lesson; developing group

counseling curriculum, such as Friendship Club social skills building group; and documenting

sessions, groups, and interactions with students, families, and administration. I respond to school

counseling referrals from teachers, parents, administration, and staff by reaching out to teachers

to schedule individual counseling sessions with referred students. I contact parents to notify them

of my services and provide them with my informed consent forms to sign in to work with their

child. I collaborate with teachers to determine which students would be fitting for the group
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counseling setting, conduct pre and post-assessments for group members, and analyze if progress

was made from the beginning to the end of eight sessions.

Additional Community Resources and Referral Sources

Community resources and referral sources are important to have as a school counselor.

Many issues that arise are outside of the school counselor’s scope of practice; therefore, referrals

must be made to professionals who would be able to better address the student’s needs. The two

main referral resources we utilized at our elementary school are Options Counseling Services of

Oregon and Western Lane Behavioral Health Network. We refer students whose behavioral or

mental health needs are outside of the school counselor’s scope of practice to these two agencies

where they can be assessed and treated by a specialist. Additionally, when there is proof or

suspicion of child abuse or neglect, we utilize the Oregon Department of Human Services to

make a report based on mandatory reporting laws.

Indirect Versus Direct Services

In my experience, my direct student services took precedence over indirect services. I

prioritized individual counseling sessions, group sessions, and classroom SEL lessons on my

schedule. If the issue of indirect services taking precedence over direct student services occurs,

school counselors should advocate for more direct services by presenting ASCA research on the

roles and responsibilities of a school counselor and the aspects of the National Model. If there

are indirect services that are taking up too much time, school counselors should collaborate with

the team on how indirect responsibilities can be taken on by other individuals. It is important for

school counselors to thoroughly document and collect data that can be shown to prove the

efficacy of direct services and the need for direct services to be at the forefront of school

counseling.