School Counselor

Zucker Jewish Academy is seeking a school-based mental health professional to support students’ social, emotional, behavioral, and overall school functioning. At Zucker, we believe that mental health is an essential part of student success and that students learn best when they feel emotionally safe, connected, understood, and supported. The School Mental Health Counselor will provide services within a school-based, tiered model of support. The counselor will work closely with students, teachers, administrators, and parents to help identify student needs, provide direct support, strengthen social-emotional learning, and promote a healthy and supportive school culture. This role is grounded in the belief that children want to do well and succeed. When students struggle emotionally, socially, or behaviorally, these challenges are understood as areas where students may need additional skills, support, structure, or intervention. The goal of the counselor is to help students build the emotional, social, and behavioral capacities they need to function successfully in school.

Key Responsibilities

The School Mental Health Counselor will provide a range of school-based mental health and SEL services, including:

Social-Emotional Learning and Prevention

• Teach developmentally appropriate SEL lessons using a selected curriculum aligned with the school’s values and goals.
• Support classroom teachers in reinforcing SEL language, concepts, and skills throughout the school day.
• Help promote a positive school culture that supports students’ social, emotional, and behavioral growth.
• Assist with proactive prevention efforts and universal supports that strengthen overall student well-being.

Student Counseling and Support

• Provide short-term individual counseling for students experiencing social, emotional, or behavioral challenges.
• Facilitate small counseling or support groups focused on areas such as anxiety management, frustration tolerance, social skills, problem-solving, conflict resolution, and coping with life stressors.
• Provide ongoing individual counseling when students present with more significant social, emotional, or behavioral needs.
• Develop student support plans in collaboration with administrators, teachers, and parents when needed.

Teacher Consultation and School Collaboration

• Consult with teachers to help them better understand and respond to students’ emotional, behavioral, and social needs.
• Offer practical strategies that can be used in the classroom to support student functioning.
• Facilitate collaborative meetings with teachers and students, when appropriate, to better understand student needs, clarify challenges, and develop practical strategies to support the student’s social, emotional, behavioral, and academic functioning.
• Meet regularly with school administration to discuss student needs, review services being provided, and collaborate on appropriate interventions.
• Participate as an integrated member of the school team and help ensure that mental health supports are connected to the broader school environment.

Parent Communication and Collaboration

• Maintain appropriate communication with parents throughout the counseling process.
• Collaborate with families to better understand student needs and support consistency between home and school.
• Obtain parent consent when required for Tier 2 or Tier 3 counseling services.
• Provide guidance and referrals to outside mental health professionals when a student’s needs extend beyond the scope of school-based services.

Outside Referrals and Liaison Work

• Identify when outside clinical support, evaluation, or intervention may be needed.
• Refer families to reputable outside providers when appropriate.
• Serve as the school’s liaison with outside therapists, psychologists, psychiatrists, or agencies to support continuity of care.
• Collaborate with outside providers while maintaining appropriate confidentiality and professional boundaries.

Crisis Response and Student Safety

• Respond to urgent emotional or behavioral concerns in collaboration with school administration.
• Participate in risk assessment and safety planning when needed.
• Follow school protocols regarding student safety, mandated reporting, crisis response, and parent communication.
• Help ensure that students in distress receive timely and appropriate support.

Documentation and Progress Monitoring

• Maintain appropriate documentation of counseling services in line with ethical and professional standards.
• Identify counseling goals and track student progress over time.
• Review whether supports are helping and make adjustments when needed.
• Maintain confidentiality while sharing relevant information with staff and parents in an appropriate and professional manner.

Qualifications

Ideal candidates should have:

• A master’s or doctoral degree in social work, mental health counseling, psychology, school counseling, or a related field.
• Appropriate professional licensure or eligibility for licensure.
• Experience working with children in a clinical, school-based, or related setting.
• Strong understanding of child development, social-emotional learning, behavior, and school-based mental health.
• Ability to provide services across a tiered model, including SEL instruction, group work, individual counseling, teacher consultation, parent collaboration, and crisis response.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills.
• Commitment to ongoing professional growth, supervision, training, and development.
• Alignment with the mission, values, and culture of Zucker Jewish Academy.

Pay: $70,000.00 - $95,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• Dental insurance
• Health insurance
• Paid time off
• Professional development assistance
• Vision insurance

Work Location: In person

Salary : $70,000 - $95,000