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Social and Emotional Resources
Outside Sources for Parents
We all know that kids do not come with instruction manuals, and that for many parents high school and adolescence in general is uncharted territory. Below you will find a comprehensive index of outside links that offer information about typical adolescent concerns as well as strategies that will allow you to effectively address them.
Before you begin to review the sites, it is important for you to understand the responsibility of a public school versus the responsibility of a parent or guardian. The responsibility of a public school is to provide an appropriate education to all students. As a counselors at PHS, our responsibility and commitment is to provide our students with appropriate academic, personal, and career guidance.
Occasionally, counselors work with students who need more support than a school can effectively provide. Examples of students who require additional support especially includes those who suffer from clinically significant socio-emotional disorders or substance abuse. Even though high school counselors can regularly speak with students who need an intervention, California Ed Code prohibits them from providing therapy. The responsibility of a counselor, in terms of providing services to at-risk students, is to identify them, access them, and notify the appropriate responsible party...which is generally a parent or guardian. In a crisis situation, or in any situation where a student is deemed a threat to self, a threat to others, or a victim of abuse, the responsible party can include CPS or the police.
If you are notified by a counselor, or teacher, or any concerned party that your child is at-risk (academically, socially, legally, or emotionally) PLEASE take whatever steps are necessary to perform an IMMEDIATE intervention. This could include a physician, the police, a therapist, a psychologist, a psychiatrist, or even a team of professionals. Whatever it takes, it is your legal responsibility and obligation to get your child the help he or she needs.