Upper School Counseling
What is counseling?
The Athenian School has a licensed mental health professional who is available to meet with students on school days. The Upper School Counselor, Rose Stoloff, is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) in the state of California. Although Rose is a licensed clinician, she does not provide therapy or diagnose students. She is, however, available as a support resource to all Upper School students as well as families, teachers, and administrators, and other school Staff who interact with students for a variety of mental health and socioemotional needs. In her role as the Upper School Counselor, Rose also honors the professional standards of confidentiality and offers students and families the ability to discuss more sensitive concerns with a trained professional.
In short, counseling sessions are non-judgmental conversations. The nature of a counseling session differs depending on the student or community member’s needs. Though counseling is not a replacement for therapy, the Counselor can help students and families get connected to therapy and correspond with outside therapists when appropriate and helpful.
what can I talk to the counselor about?
A wide variety of concerns may be discussed with the Counselor, and the primary focus is to address issues which may interfere with the student’s success at school. The Counselor also provides crisis intervention, and assessment and referral to appropriate mental health services. This graphic contains a sampling of reasons a student might seek out counseling.
Who is the School Counselor?
Hi! Nice to meet you, I'm Rose. I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who specializes in adolescent mental health. I have worked in schools as well as in outpatient and inpatient mental health facilities. I grew up right here in the East Bay but have also lived in Ohio, Chicago, and Philly. You might also see me running around campus as an assistant coach with the Cross Country and Track & Field teams at Athenian!
Confidentiality and Communication with Parents & Guardians
The content of counseling sessions is generally kept confidential and this is an essential component of what differentiates counseling services from other myriad support services at Athenian. However, as a mandated reporter, there are certain situations in which Rose is legally obligated to break confidentiality and report certain situations to the appropriate agencies and personnel (including Child Protective Services, parents/guardians, and school administrators).
These situations include:
Evidence of or disclosure of child and/or elder abuse (including physical, emotional, and sexual abuse which includes assault and rape) or neglect.
When a student poses a threat to their own safety or the safety of others (this can include reports of extreme self-harm, substance use, or disordered eating that puts a student in significant risk based on the Counselor’s clinical judgment).
Rose understands the sensitive nature of these situations and strives to be as transparent as possible in situations in which confidentiality is broken, ensuring that students are kept in the loop and included as active participants in their own healing. In the event that information is disclosed outside of the Counseling relationship, it will only be shared on a strict, need to know basis.
There are certain situations in which parental involvement may be helpful. However, Rose does not default to sharing information from counseling sessions with parents unless it pertains to the situations listed above or it is discussed with the student beforehand. Parents are always encouraged to contact Rose with any concerns they may have about their student but please keep in mind that Rose generally will not share information about the student.