How much counseling does a school guidance counselor actually do?

Mary, thanks for the question. Considering the current slate of responsibilities for school counselors and how much the field has changed over the past several years, it's a valid question worth pursuing. In the past counselors' roles have focused primarily on administrative duties, often including plenty of paperwork and sometimes things that school counselors shouldn't do, such as administering state exams, lunch duty, bus duty, etc. However, thanks to ASCA (American School Counselor Association), there is a great push within the profession to make school administrators, teachers and parents more aware of the ways in which school counselors are trained to help students succeed. From personal experience, I have found that the more you encourage the idea of meeting with students and show how valuable that relationship is (using tangible data and emphasizing the importance of the positive relationship), teachers and principals will be more likely to help foster an environment where counselors are able to do what they do best - counsel students!

Best of luck!