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Trinity South Elementary

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School Counseling

Elementary School Counselors

  • Kayla Coughlin- School Counselor for grades K-3 at North and South Elementary Schools; North - 2504, South 3131; kcoughlin@trinityhillers.net
  • Bill Hughes- School Counselor for grades 4-5 at all elementary schools; North x2109, South x3507, East x4504, West x1512; whughes@trinityhillers.net 

Our role is to support students regardless of need. Some of the services we provide include individual check-ins, group counseling, classroom lessons, and connecting students to school-based and community resources.

Elementary School Counseling Service Overview

  • The school counseling classroom lessons are planned instruction that is delivered to students in each grade level.  They are comprehensive in scope, preventative and responsive in nature, and developmental in design, aligned with the school counseling program's vision, mission and goals.  The lessons are used to teach knowledge, attitudes and skills based on the ASCA Mindsets and Behaviors standards within the three domains of academic, career and social/emotional development.

  • School counselors offer small groups to positively impact student achievement, attendance and behavior.  Small-group instruction is provided as a short-term intervention and includes a minimum of four sessions.  If you are interested in having your child participate in a group, please complete and return the permission form sent home before the group starts OR email your child’s school counselor.  Groups may include: Anger, Grief/loss, Friendship, Divorce, Worry/Anxiety.

  • SPHS Care Center
    24 Hour Crisis Hotline
    Phone: 724-225-3584
    Text: 724-715-3584

    24/7 Walk-In Crisis Services
    852 Henderson Avenue, Washington

    Community Support Services

  • The Student Assistance Program is a systematic team process used to mobilize school resources to remove barriers to learning. Students can be referred by parents, teachers, and staff members for academic, health, attendance, or behavior concerns.

    A SAP referral would be appropriate for a student who is: 

    • Withdrawing from family, friends, and/or school
    • Changing friends; no longer spending time with old friends
    • Unexplained physical injuries
    • Talking about suicide or thoughts of hurting themselves
    • Depressed
    • Defying authority both at home and school
    • Acting aggressively
    • Frequently lying
    • Needing money without an explanation
    • Sudden drop in grades
    • Experimenting with drugs or alcohol
    • Missing school consistently
    • Or if you’re concerned about your child’s reaction to:
    • Recent death of a loved one
    • Divorce or separation
    • Family relocation
    • A relationship problem
    • Other traumatic event

    Please fill out a SAP referral here: SAP Referral

    Participation in the SAP program is voluntary and parent permission is required. If you have questions or feel that your child needs help, contact your student’s counselor. 

  • TEAMology is an immersive SEL framework that uses the 4 C’s (Culture, Characters, Context, Curriculum) to create an environment where learning opportunities for foundational emotional skills are pervasive throughout the day and continually reinforced while learning other traditional hard skills. Students learn about positive skills represented by 6 characters that each represent a unique culture, skill set, and career path. These allow otherwise abstract soft skills to be easily taught and understood, helping students generalize in and out of school. For more information, go to: Culture House Foundations

  • Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is an evidence-based, tiered framework for supporting students’ behavioral, academic, social, emotional, and mental health. When implemented with fidelity, PBIS improves social emotional competence, academic success, and school climate. It also improves teacher health and wellbeing. It is a way to create positive, predictable, equitable and safe learning environments where everyone thrives. For more information, see: What is PBIS?

  • Students complete career artifacts that align with Pennsylvania’s Academic Standards for Career Education and Work.  Career Education and Work Standards describe what students should know and be able to do by the end of 5th grade. The career assignments are completed and uploaded into the Naviance management system. 

    The assignments are: 

    • 3rd grade
      • Career interview reflection: student interviews an adult about their profession and writes a reflection
      • Career fair reflection: student attends the 5th grade career fair and write about a career that interested them and why
    • 4th grade
      • Personal schedule: student completes a typical schedule of their day, from waking up to going to bed
      • Skills for the workplace: student writes current skills/activities they engage in that would help with potential future career path
    • 5th grade
      • Career fair research and paper: student researches a career of interest, completes a paper, and creates a tri-fold poster board to present during the career fair
      • Career Fair picture and presentation: student presents their chosen career with a tri-fold poster board and oral presentation for peers, takes a photo with their board

    For further information about the career and work standards, please see the PA website: Career Education and Work Standards