Georgetown Visitation, founded in 1799, is an all-girls high school rooted in the Roman Catholic faith and Salesian tradition, committed to educating young women from diverse backgrounds. We are a faith-centered community dedicated to educational excellence, enriched by co-curricular and service programs. We guide our students as they integrate the search for truth with the pursuit of knowledge and dedicate their God-given gifts to making the world a better place.

Visitation is currently inviting applications for a full-time Personal Counselor. Visitation’s three-person personal counseling team supports student well-being and healthy adolescent development through a comprehensive program that focuses on each grade level's specific needs. This program, which works in tandem with our college counseling program, includes group and individual meetings with students, as well as events and guest speakers.

The three-person Personal Counseling team at Visitation provides counseling and personal support to 510 students. Whether counseling a student one-on-one or working with freshman and sophomore counseling groups, our three counselors operate from a wellness model that addresses intellectual, spiritual, creative, physical, and social components of the whole person, using reflection, discussion, and activities. They work to involve all parts of the school community in fostering healthy development and emphasize a collaborative approach with families.

Visitation takes a student-centered, strengths-based approach with each student. Students are assigned a Personal Counselor at the beginning of their Visitation journey and they maintain this counseling relationship for the duration of their time at Visitation. Embracing student identities, our counseling team works with students in group and individual settings to empower them as students, friends, teammates, and leaders.

The school seeks a Personal Counselor who is warm, empathetic, and supportive; demonstrates creativity and flexibility; can work well independently and as part of a team; and inspires and relates well to students. Candidates should display empathy and cultivate positive relationships, particularly with young people. The position requires outstanding oral and written communication skills; discretion and high standards of professionalism (including confidentiality, collaboration, mandatory reporting, etc.); strong organizational and time management skills (including flexibility to respond to emergent situations and the ability to make good judgments and quick decisions). The ideal candidate is a strong supporter of a Catholic, all-girls education and embraces the Salesian mission of “Live Jesus.” As a representative of our school, the Personal Counselor is a role model for our students.

Responsibilities:

• Student Support:
  • Design and implement a counseling curriculum for students addressing the academic and emotional needs of adolescents
  • Facilitate counseling groups once an academic cycle
  • Organize and facilitate small group and individual counseling sessions with students as needed
  • Provide short-term counseling and crisis intervention to students and make recommendations for outside mental health and therapeutic support
• Faculty & Staff Partnership:
  • Work collaboratively with members of the school community (teachers, the Academic Dean, Dean of Student Life, School Nurse, etc.) to address students of concern and to share information about individual and collective student well-being
  • Attend regularly scheduled faculty meetings, grade level meetings, and student services team meetings
  • Collaborate with the College Counseling Office in writing college recommendations for seniors
• Parent Partnership:  
  • Serve as a resource for parents, addressing parents’ academic, social, emotional questions and concerns about their daughters
  • Design and implement parent and family programs throughout the academic year, including assemblies and community conversations
• External Partnership:
  • Partner with external care providers to support families
  • Make referrals to outside agencies and specialists as needed and ensure appropriate documentation of therapeutic relationships, release forms, etc. to effectively care for students on campus
  • Maintain contact with outside specialists caring for students
  • Attend professional development workshops to remain current on topics related to adolescent development, as well as monthly meetings of the Washington Area Independent School Counselors  

Qualifications:  

• Master’s degree in school counseling, or a related field
• A minimum of five years of relevant counseling experience (with a preference for Catholic, independent, and/or all-girls school experience)
• Fluency with school data management systems, Google apps, MS applications, etc.

Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants without regard to their age, color, disability status, national or ethnic origin, race, religion, sex, veteran status, or any other class protected by state or federal law. As a Catholic school, Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School reserves the right to use religion as a hiring criterion for selected positions, as permitted by law. Employment offers are contingent on the satisfactory outcome of a standard background screening.

About Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School

Located in Washington, DC, and founded in 1799, Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School educates young women in grades 9 – 12 in a faith-centered community focused on educational excellence and rooted in the Roman Catholic faith and Salesian tradition.

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