Counseling is one area where you cannot fly by the seat of your pants. I heard Massachusetts Department of Education (DOE) was changing the title of learner support services coordinator to counselor while I was involved in designing a program for a five- year grant proposal for DOE. I became encouraged by my known definition of the word "counselor." Through this definition, I envisioned programs that would be all-inclusive, allowing students, regardless of their economic and cognitive abilities or cultural backgrounds, to access community and state resources. I conceptualized the role of a well-trained counselor as that person responsible for ensuring that each student's concerns and goals would be addressed.

I have worked in different settings, advising individuals how to problem-solve around psychosocial issues, how to live with a disability, and how to accommodate personal and emotional needs. I hold a master of science degree, I am certified in substance abuse and rehabilitation, and I hold a counseling license. I am now the manager for supported education at Northern Essex Community College, a program of individualized support for students with psychiatric disabilities. I thought that this extension of my abilities and education would be a plus for those ABE students who come to us with so many concerns.

Now that the program I helped earn the funding for is up and running, I find that being the counselor is not the ideal spot I thought it would be to use my skills and abilities to help students remain in the program. It seemed to me that DOE did not set clear criteria or guidelines for the position of counselor.

Lack of Clear Guidelines
I say this because my program seemed to associate my job responsibility as a counselor with whatever job most needed attention at that time. These needs could be substitute teaching, following up on attendance, or calling prospective students to fill open slots. The needs could also include calling in speakers or creating reports to route information for the System for Managing Accountability and Results Through Technology (SMARTT) for DOE. Because of these demands, my time for attending to the concerns of the students was minimal. Even less time was allotted for actually offering educational supports, such as students' learning difficulties. Instead of advocating for the needs of the students, I felt I was performing tasks that our paraprofessional could do.

A Frustrating Story
I remember an incident where a student came to me because her daughter was exhibiting negative behavior. This family did not have the necessary medical insurance for addressing this situation; thus, the cost of therapy was prohibitive to them. I referred the family to Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission and I began to assist the family with completion of the Massachusetts health forms to apply for state funding. In the middle of this process, I became busy creating class rosters for the new semester and did not have the time to help the family follow through with appointments or to model hope and tenacity necessary for support with the referrals. Most of all, I was not there to reinforce the fact they have a right to the process.

Need for Best Practices
At this time, DOE has not established a "best practices model" for counselors in ABE programs. Responsibilities are so vague that the term "counselor" just feels like a title. Further, it seems that DOE has yet to foster and reward educational initiatives necessary to perform counseling duties well. DOE may want to consider offering counseling workshops, and support counselors to attend degree programs and conferences. They may also consider requiring a counseling license. I facilitated several roundtable discussions for counselors. The sessions always turned into question and answer meetings. These questions suggest that there are concerns on the part of ABE counselors to define themselves.

Rehabilitation Counseling
There are many kinds of counselors: academic, personal, career, testing, abuse, and so on. I would like to see the best-practice model for ABE counselors include the philosophy of rehabilitation counseling. The goal of all rehabilitation counselors is to restore each person's ability for independent living, socialization, and effective life management. It is a holistic approach that places the person at the center of all interventions. The goal of the person being served steers the rehabilitation process through working partnerships that are fostered between the counselor and the individual. Effective rehabilitation builds on a person's strengths and helps a person to compensate for the negative effects of issues surrounding him or her. A rehabilitation counselor is also an advocate: a person to help redress the devastating effects of stigma, poverty, homelessness, and insecurity that many of our students come up against in their daily life.

If a program adopts this model, the role and skill set of the ABE counselor becomes clearer: he or she should have knowledge of the students—personal and cultural. The counselor should understand the criteria necessary to participate in the programs offered by the state, and should be willing to try diverse counseling approaches. Maintaining strict ethics is critical. In addition, the counselor should adhere to the principles and philosophy of the program.

If a program cannot afford a well-trained counselor, a paraprofessional can do intakes and other kinds of work that do not require specific counseling training. In this case, the program should clarify the limits of the paraprofessional to maintain the necessary boundaries to protect both student and paraprofessional. Though a paraprofessional can offer valuable support, a paraprofessional is not a trained counselor. Counselors recognize the importance of the community in which one lives and works, the community of one's peers, and the essential network of community supports. A counselor, most of all, watches for and modulates the growth an individual must go through to bring about change in his or her life, and calculates the right time for a student to take flight.

Michele Forlizzi MS, CRC. LMHC, CPRP, is a counselor at the Notre Dame Education Center in Lawrence, MA. She can be reached by phone at 978-556-3677 or by e-mail at: mforlizzi@necc.mass.edu