School Counseling Direct vs. Indirect Hours Guide
Activity |
Type |
Description |
Student Individual Counseling Session |
Direct: School/Guidance Counseling |
Delivery of counseling services to an individual student. |
Crisis Counseling |
Direct: Other |
Provision of counseling services to students, families, or school personnel in response to an emergency or significant event. School counselors provide short-term counseling and appropriate referral to outside sources, when necessary. |
Group Counseling |
Direct: Group Counseling |
Facilitation of group counseling with students on various academic, personal-social, and career topics. |
Student Peer Program Services Delivery |
Direct: School/Guidance Counseling |
Facilitation of peer programs, such as peer mentoring, while engaging with a student. If student is not present, this is Indirect. |
Student Advising or Analysis |
Direct: School/Guidance Counseling |
Planning individually or with multiple students; actions may include goal setting, career/college guidance, etc., which may involve analyzing skills, achievements, etc. |
Active Consultation |
Indirect: Other Indirect/Administrative Hours |
Actively engaging with administrators, teachers, parents, mental health professionals, community members, etc. to support a student’s growth, wellness, performance, etc. |
Observing Consultation |
Indirect: Other Indirect/Administrative Hours |
Attending support meetings with administrators, teachers, parents, mental health professionals, etc., but not actively engaging in interactions. |
Classroom Guidance |
Direct: School/Guidance Counseling |
Teaching/delivering material to a classroom to advance academic, personal-social, or career counseling program action plans. |
Counseling Program Action Plan Services |
Direct: School/Guidance Counseling |
Implementing counseling program goals by engaging in service delivery, such as implementing career days, college meet-and-greets, etc. |
Counseling Program Action Plan Preparation and Analysis |
Indirect: Other Indirect/Administrative Hours |
Activities to support counseling goals that are not engaging of students/stakeholders, such as lesson planning, program planning, data collection, data analysis, etc. |
Teacher or Parent Training |
Indirect: Other Indirect/Administrative Hours |
Providing instruction/feedback to teachers, paraprofessionals, student family members, etc. to support academic, personal-social, or career-related counseling goals. |
Task Meeting Attendance |
Indirect: Other Indirect/Administrative Hours |
Receipt/observance of material, discussions, meetings, or trainings to support the school, such as school safety, school improvement team initiatives. in which the counselor does not actively engage. |
Supervision |
Indirect: Supervision (various forms) |
Triadic or individual supervision by the site supervisor, group supervision provided by Walden University instructor, etc. |
Clinical Observation |
Indirect: Other Indirect/Administrative Hours |
Inactive observations for data collection, such as ABC chart information, behavioral frequency counts, etc. |
Test administration or Test Monitoring |
Indirect: Other Indirect/Administrative Hours |
Activities that typically should fall outside of the role of a school counselor but are often required by individual districts. |
Professional Development |
Indirect: Other Indirect/Administrative Hours |
Activities to advance knowledge or skills related to counseling services—reading books about specific interventions, attending conferences or trainings, etc. |