This year, it was announced that instead of having one counselor on call for the duration of the school day, all counselors will be available for students in need of that “on-call” help. If their assigned counselor is in a meeting, students now have the option of either waiting to meet with them or meeting with one of the other counselors who is available.
With these observations, Shannon Caron, Oyster River High School (ORHS) Director of Counseling and the ORHS Counseling Department made a drastic change to the day-to-day of their department. The traditional on-call counselor system was designed so the on-call counselor rotated daily. Counselors took turns blocking off their whole day to be available for student’s needs; be it scheduling, mental health, or a multitude of other things. Now, students can meet with their own counselors for those on-call needs regardless of the date.
Students used to end up seeing a different person every day. Counselors would be sure to update each student’s assigned counselor after an on-call meeting, but due to confidentiality policies, they weren’t updating everyone in the department. “[Mental health concerns] then became longer sessions because there wasn’t that history,” shared Caron.
With the new system, Caron said she hopes that the issues of different counselors knowing different amounts of information will be minimized. This will hopefully lead to students getting more beneficial help, because they can try different techniques and are able to check in on how those are working with the person who suggested it, more directly.
Faculty and students alike are adjusting to what things in the counseling department now look like. When a student enters the counseling department and asks Mrs. Ficker if they can talk to their counselor, rather than going to whichever counselor was blocked off for the day, she goes straight to that student’s assigned counselor to check their availability.
Jason Baker, one of the counselors, shared his thoughts about the new system, saying, “at any given point, any given day last year, a student would come in and had a 25% chance of getting their counselor. If anything, now, they probably have a higher chance of getting their [assigned] counselor.”
Baker recognized that as a good thing and discussed how it’s impacted counselors’ day to day positively. He added that “it’s back to the old days where you plan your day and what you need to get done. Some days you get to do it and other days you don’t because of course responding to a student’s need is the most important thing.”
When Caron went about making this change, she wanted students to be able to have access to one of the counselors faster, give students chances to build relationships with their assigned counselor, and make it as easy as possible for students to go in and get the help they need.
Marlise Hyde (‘24) likes being able to meet with her own counselor explaining, “I’ve had to meet with other counselors, and they just don’t understand my situation and it’s kind of awkward because I have to re-explain everything to them, but when I get to meet with my own counselor, she knows what’s up.”
Other students aren’t sure what they think of this adjustment yet but are interested to see how it plays out. Henry Strawbridge (‘24) has his doubts about the program as he knows that students often have quick questions about things like SAT’s, ASVAB’s, and other academic or career related subjects that anyone in the department can likely answer and doesn’t feel that students need to wait for their own counselor in those scenarios. This is feedback that Caron is looking to hear so that she, and the rest of the counseling department, can continue to tweak the system so it best serves the students.
Hyde, while a fan of the program so far, can see how it may have its downsides, “I could also see [the program] being detrimental because if you have a meeting with your counselor set up and then someone comes in and they have to meet with them that screws up your [meeting].”
Overall, Caron thinks the program is working well and is interested to see what will come from it as the year goes on. She welcomes feedback – from anyone – as she continues to improve the counseling department on a student-focused mission.
– Delaney Nadeau
Mouth of the River 
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