Counseling Corner

Welcome HOPE Families! I am happy to serve you and your students this school year! I am a Master level professional counselor and have over eleven years experience working as a high school and elementary school counselor. I am also a licensed mental health therapist.

In my practice, I work with adults, teenagers, and children. I have many certifications, including art therapy, brief therapy, and cognitive behavior therapy, to name a few. Additionally, I will share resources and links on this site to communicate and support our families at HOPE Christian.

Hello, HOPE Families!

My name is Clarissa Hastings, and I am excited to be the school counselor at HOPE Christian High School this year. I wanted to write this letter to help introduce myself and outline what counseling services will look like on the high school campus this school year.

My husband, Ken, and I have been married for 36 years. We have been blessed with two amazing daughters and two sons-in-love, one sweet little granddaughter and another granddaughter on the way. Both of our grandchildren will be attending HOPE Christian School. I have been a counselor for over 11 years, and I was a high school teacher for 16 years. I also have my own practice as a clinician and work with adults, teenagers, children, and families. I am a published author, writing books about healing from grief and trauma, and I am currently writing a children’s book.

Below, I will outline how I plan to organize the counseling services at HOPE Christian High School this year:

Classroom Guidance for all students: I will be teaching in the Bible classes monthly. Some of the lessons will include building healthy relationships/friendships, hope and despair, building our emotional toolboxes, developing healthy boundaries when demonstrating the five love languages, regulating our feelings, conflict resolution, using
the wellness wheel, and demonstrating kindness.

Check ins: I have an online referral form as well as a referral form in front of my office. In addition, staff members have access to the online forms as well as printed forms. I am available to students every day, during school hours.

Groups and Individual meetings: I can meet with groups of students during lunch and during the school day. I can help students with grief, with family situations (for example, divorced or blended families), and with relationship issues.

Need to make an appointment with me? Parents and students are welcome to call, text, or email me. My contact information is provided below.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if there is anything I can do to support your
students, or you, as we navigate this school year.

All my best wishes,
Clarissa Hastings, M.A., LMHC
[email protected]
505-822-8868, extension 302 (call or leave a message)
505-903-7282 (call or text)

Mental Health Brochure Clarissa

Practical Ways to Solve Minor Problems (Kelso's Choices)

There are eight choices to solve minor problems in a relationship. They are broken down into verbal choices and nonverbal choices.

Verbal Choices:

Make a Deal

Tell them to stop

Apologize (ask forgiveness)

Talk It Out

Nonverbal Choices:

Take time to Cool Off

Walk Away

Go to a safe place

Ignore it

At HOPE Christian, it is our goal to reconcile differences. It is very important to walk away or go to a safe place when emotions escalate. When everyone is calm, then talk it out. A safe adult can intervene and help with mediating the problems when students cannot resolve the problems themselves.

It is important to remember to be unified when solving problems. Do not become the problem and do not look at others as the problem. The problem is the problem. We learn to solve problems by reconciling differences. Even if each student experiences the problem differently, the solution is the same. Being problem solvers is an important skill to have in life.

Quotes relating to making mistakes:

"I am strong because I have been weak. I am fearless because I have been afraid. I am wise because I have been foolish" (Anonymous).
"No regrets in life. Just lessons learned" (author unknown).
"Difficult roads lead to beautiful destinations" (author unknown).

Student Resources for Healthy Relationships

Parent Resources

Tips for Parenting Teens
10 Ways to Help your Student Succeed in High School
Practical Help for Parents Raising Teens
10 Ways to a Better Relationship with your Teenager
Love and Logic Institute
The Love and Logic Institute is dedicated to making parenting fun and rewarding instead of stressful and chaotic. Practical tools and techniques are provided to help adults achieve respectful and healthy relationships with their children. All of their techniques are based on a psychologically sound parenting, whole-child philosophy. Children learn best lessons when they are given a task and are allowed to make their own choices (and fail) when the cost of the failure is still small. Children's failures must be coupled with love and empathy from their parents.

FAQs

What is a school Counselor?

A school counselor is a licensed professional with a master's degree who is trained to provide academic, career, and social-emotional support to all students. They work with students, teachers, administrators, and families to promote lifelong learning and holistic health in a manner that is appropriate for a school setting. The role of a school counselor involves addressing the academic, psychological, social, emotional, and spiritual well-being of students to help them succeed and thrive both in and outside of the classroom.

Does the school counselor do therapy?

What is the difference between school counseling vs. clinical counseling & therapy?

A meeting with a school counselor is usually at most 30 minutes as needed. Therapy usually meets weekly for about an hour.

A school counselor will never diagnose or treat mental disorders because, again, that is not appropriate in a school setting.

They can send referrals to outside clinical providers for long-term treatment.

* A school counselor is kind of like the school nurse in this regard… we triage needs, refer to specialists, and support recovery, but we do not diagnose or “set broken bones”.

If you already have support outside of school, school counselors connect with your outside providers to be an extension of what you are already getting.

*Although I am a licensed mental health counselor (LMHC), I am also dual licensed as a school counselor. My school counseling license allows me to follow a national model that provides support for students based on research that supports the value of school counseling. I am a member of the American School Counselor Association (ASCA).

What are things I can work on with my counselor?

Academic pressure, challenges, and stressors
Creating healthy relationships
Future planning
Conflict resolution
Overcoming bad habits/patterns
Balancing life responsibilities
Communication
Social stressors and isolation
Emotional dysregulation support
Social skills
Grief & Loss
Organization
Big life changes
Fear and anxiety
Decision-making and wise counsel
Emotional processing (aka. venting=)
Concerning thoughts, fe

How can a counselor provide support for families?

Parenting education and support (parenting is hard; as a counselor, parent and grandparent, I can be a resource for those challenges)
Outside Resources and Referrals
Parent/child conflict resolution
Education on Social/Emotional/Cognitive development of the adolescent brain
Communication
Grief & loss
Crisis intervention and support
Family Advocacy
Coordinating family and school meetings

Will parents be contacted every time I see the school counselor?

What are the limitations to school counselor confidentiality?

If you are being hurt by someone.
If you are currently, or planning on hurting yourself and/or another person.
Extreme health or safety concerns.
Group settings (it is hard to keep confidentiality if there are other students involved)
You give consent to share.
Consultation and supervision (getting help from other counselors or collecting more information to give context to challenges).

How do I set an appointment with my counselor?