Best Counselor Poems
Want to talk?
Silence.
Want to play a game?
Head shake.
Want to put a puzzle together?
Silence.
What can I do to help?
Head shake.
Has someone hurt your feelings?
Silence.
Can you tell me how you are feeling?
Head shake.
You are great at not talking.
I see a glimpse of a glimmer of a smile.
Breakthrough.
Thirty minutes after playing
With legos and animals this five-year-old laughs loudly
I had said, “You are the boss.
I am your minion.”
His joyous laughter was unexpected, and loud,
And it seemed to go on forever.
My bestie the nurse asks me later who was laughing so hard in my office.
I tell her and her eyes bug out.
You are kidding! She says.
I smile.
Categories:
counselor, 6th grade, 7th grade,
Form:
Free verse
He is out in the hallways wailing like a wailing wall.
I do not get involved until asked, so I stand quietly.
The teacher comes out and tries to reason with him.
I have never met him. He is a preschooler.
Technically I am licensed to aid with K-12th.
He is outside my jurisdiction.
In eighteen minutes, the principal is called to the room.
She comes to my door with this child.
He comes in and we discuss many things.
He is five, and super bright. His vocabulary is astounding.
He speaks of outlets, inner tubes, carbohydrates.
I am amazed; he is not what I expected.
He stays long enough to draw a picture of a pink snake.
I tell him I fear it and he giggles like a joyful three-year-old.
I ask him not to draw a baboon, telling him it will eat me.
He throws back his head and gives me a donkey-bray-laugh.
We are having a terrific time when they retrieve him.
I am sad to see him go.
Categories:
counselor, school,
Form:
Narrative
Ever take one of those psychological stress quizzes
With one of those psychiatrist
Know-it alls?
Me neither.
Ever gonna?
Me neither.
What would be the point?
Oh, my GAWD! You should be depressed.
Stern look.
I’m not.
Then something is wrong with you.
Thanks.
That will be $150.
You may pay my receptionist on your way out.
That’s it?
Yes, this was your intake session.
I get the receptionist’s phone number on the way out.
We are having coffee so she can tell me more about the
Awful psychiatrist she works for.
I do not feel badly about giving her a
Check that will bounce.
Categories:
counselor, 10th grade, 11th grade,
Form:
Light Verse
free verse
I call Him, Wonderful Counselor.
As I face the unknown, I know He's
out in front of me leading the way,
building my faith as we travel on -
my faithful Steward for ev'ry day.
He is my Wonderful Counselor.
My life is secure in His keeping.
...He won’t go to sleep on me.
...He’ll never leave me alone.
...He’ll never get too busy
to hear my cries in the dark.
...The sun cannot get so bright;
...nor the moon’s shadows so dim
that He’d lose sight of me on the road
He's my Shelter wherever I go.
I call Him, Wonderful Counselor.
He sends me on uncertain routes;
He teaches me trust on each journey.
He preserves my soul, even in death,
He is my Shepherd guiding me home.
inspired by Psalm 121
22 Jan 2015
for Verlena's contest This is the Day The Lord Gave
Categories:
counselor, adventure, faith,
Form:
Free verse
Counselor:
Draw to God
Communication
Destroy negative; increase positive
Finding truth
Back to normal
Categories:
counselor, hope, life,
Form:
I am happily teaching my second grade students two bully-proofing strategies earlier today.
These powerful anti-bullying techniques are "the thank you" and the "skip away" both invented by me.
First I explain that the mean bullying types are sad inside, so they want others to be mad and sad too. which is why they choose meanness to do and say.
I need to know who they are, so the children write down the names of any child they have seen being mean, for only the teacher and me to see.
We practice the "thank you" this way. I bring up a student who gets to call me names. All hands shoot up. Everyone wants to bully me, until they get up here.
Today I gave twenty-three examples, and I implored the teacher to come up and call me names after two children tried, but failed me.
The teacher, a personal, great friend of mine,said, "I can't do it! But Cameron can." Cameron ran up as if he was being chased by a bear.
BAM! Five mean and ugly things came out. I was amazed and thanked him profusely for each compliment, even did a two-step and a skip to my Lou.
So don't let them see you're mad. Don't let them see you sad. If your face is giving you away, use the "skip away." Jimmy yells out, "Can't we just run away?"
"If you use the skip away, they wonder why you are so happy. " I tell them as they laugh at my bad skipping. "Skipping indicates happiness too."
The children returned to their seats to write down the names of all children who have said or done something mean that they have seen with their own eyes or heard with their own ears since Easter Day.
I say, "Not since kindergarten or first grade. Not something you have heard someone else say that they said. Only write down names of children whom you SAW or HEARD do meanness. Okay?
I was asked thirty-two times if they were supposed to put their names on their paper, curious since there are only 29 students , and two were absent today.
I made a little tally sheet and gave it to the teacher, only. One teacher asked if she could share it with her class, I said "No, because I promised the children this would only be seen by you and me. I smile at my own clever petard.
That's when things turned.
The teacher got a bit snippy. And I quietly skipped away.
Categories:
counselor, anti bullying, bullying,
Form:
Rhyme
I can't explain these feelings.
Your concernes are eating me alive.
You want to ship me off, send me away.
And at this point i'm not quite sure if i want to stay.
You say self-distruction is on the way and that i'm losing my mind.
I'm suffocated and your insecure because your not used to my kind.
Do the same principles apply?
Do you really give a damn?
Can your perfect little world handle the messed up person i am?
I begin to think not as i watch you squirm in your seat.
Because you realize you can't get inside my head and i will never bow to your feet.
Sadness, anger and confusion begin to radiate through my bones and it won't leave me alone unless this witch lets
me handle this on my own.
Screw you Mrs. Jones.
You can't shrink my brain or pick at me anymore.
Let your meaningless worries fall to the floor, because the second your questions get too personal, i'm walking out
the door.
I will travel a thousand miles to get as far away from you as possible.
Your suffocation would be the reason i would need a mental hospital.
Categories:
counselor, angstme, me,
Form:
Today was full of paperwork; not my favorite thing.
Not my least favorite thing either – that is cleaning.
No one despises paperwork and cleaning like I do.
This paperwork was long overdue, I am the counselor.
I know there are federal guidelines that have not been met.
I spoke to the v.p. and said, “you surely did that paperwork.”
He looked at me like I had grown six noses.
“I am not a counselor,” he said.
So I guess he despises paperwork too.
Categories:
counselor, humorous,
Form:
Prose Poetry
March 26Relationship to God Bible Meditations Based on 2Samuel 17-20
Key Verse– 2Samuel 17:14 … The LORD had appointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel…
LORD GOD, YOU ARE MY GOOD COUNSELOR
Lord God, You are my good Counselor,
coming to help me in my decision-weariness
Thank You for bringing me
back into Your humble peacefulness…
I strive to please You always with sincere earnestness
While seeking for Your presence-joyousness.
Lord God, You are my good Counselor,
calling me for rest against my confusion
Thank You for leading me
toward knowledge of wisdom-illumination…
I trust You always along biblical perception
While enjoying learning from Your truth-satisfaction.
Lord God, You are my good Counselor,
caring for me in my difficulty
Thank You for dealing with me
by Your succouring sovereignty…
I submit to You always for protection against sin-fatality
While fleeing from worldliness’ destructive futility.
Lord God, You are my good Counselor,
correcting me in my self-avenging
Thank You for disciplining me
whenever I run away from faith-plunging…
I bow down to You always I as confess my pride that’s damaging
While I repent from hurting You for my fleshly rampaging.
Lord God, You are my good Counselor,
carving me in my inheritance
Thank You for keeping me
in Your charge within Your fenced abundance…
I abide in You always with Your Word of faithful assistance
While I rest in Your care midst Your ruling grace-attendance.
Lord God, You are my good Counselor,
cheering me in my victory
Thank You for fighting for me
in my righteous battles for Your glory…
I yield to You always in overcoming iniquity-caused misery
While I hide in Your deliverance-safety from enemies’ fury.
Lord God, You are my good Counselor,
comforting me in my discernment
Thank You for recompensing me
with Your reward of achievement…
I praise You always for Your blessings that give contentment
While I worship You, my King and Master, deserving of my commitment.
March 26, 2023
Categories:
counselor, blessing, christian, faith, god,
Form:
Rhyme
My principal is one
Of the best four principals
I have ever met, told me she
Saw her budget, and the counselor
For her school (our school if you include me)
Gets a counselor for 4 days next year, not 5.
Which means, if I am the counselor, I would
Have to be in another school one day a week
Next year. Ugh! Some of the schools are pretty
Awful. I’m such a powder puff, I’d be running out
With crying eyes by 8:15 in some of these schools,
And they don’t even start until 9.
My Principal (M.P. for short)
M.P. spoke with the second only to the TOP
The Big Top- the Superintendent himself,
And she said that they need me here
Next year, and it has to be 5 days
A week, because I mean this much
To her and our school.
I am so grateful! And optimistic
because the counselors often
do not know what school
They get until Saturday night at 9
The week before school starts.
Categories:
counselor, school, teacher, teachers day,
Form:
Free verse
Can you come get him today? The teacher texts me.
I cannot take it. It’s awful. It’s bad, you see.
I rapidly discover it is the child, little Lee.
His story makes me feel sad, a tale not of glee.
The truth is, he thinks the devil lives within him.
Taking control, making him mad, and an evil twin.
He says “I need more Jesus” and begins again.
He is hitting his small unhappy head with vim.
I have the devil in me, he tells me true.
He makes me do stuff I do not want to do.
I have such bad in me, I am going to the bad place.
I am bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, BAD, I will have no grace.
I look at him, this eight-year-old-child, with a sweet heart,
He has always been pure and mild, a child so smart.
I pray for some guidance. What advice to employ
To help this miserable, helpless thrown-away boy?
His mother left when he was little, barely two feet tall.
And his daddy has been practically no help at all.
He lives with grandma, who fancies herself good and clean.
In actuality, she looks for his evil, and is pretty damned mean.
She has clearly pulled him into her pessimistic mind set.
His life is all about fire and brimstone and the devil he will get.
He is convinced he is evil. He will be punished. He is a little hood.
I want to help him but his mind is closed to hearing any of his good.
What can we do? The teacher asks, he thinks he is bad,
But he is smart and abnormally good. It makes me so sad.
Unfortunately, his Mom is gone, and his Dad is no help.
But what can we do?
Grandma is absolutely convinced he is the devil,
and unfortunately now he is too.
We are praying people, I say, so maybe he is right.
Maybe Jesus is the way.
Let’s go home and send him love,
and pray and pray and pray.
Categories:
counselor, god, jesus, parents, prayer,
Form:
Rhyme
I have not had the repeated visitor in my room for a while.
I thought maybe he was staying in his room. No such luck.
He was in the office when I went in to print something.
“What are you doing?” he asked me. I did not have time to answer.
“She is busy,” my boss told him. I was glad she did this.
He has been brought to my office many times.
He will not stay in a classroom long.
School is not valued in his home.
He skipped the last two years – both online.
One was our school online.
The other one was virtual school which never reported him missing.
He is nine. He has missed two whole years of school.
He is in the second grade, sadly.
How did he fall through the cracks?
He does not know his alphabet or his numbers.
He wants to play in a sandpile or with Playdough.
I cannot say that I blame him.
Categories:
counselor, school,
Form:
Narrative
A school is designed
a) to safeguard our fundamental rights.
b) to provide teaching and learning process.
c) to advise people about the law.
d) to remember a person or an event.
An auditorium is
a) a law making body in a country
b) a place where Christians worship.
c) to enable an audience to hear and watch performances
d)built to remember a person or an event
A counselor is. a)who helps the poor and needy. b)gives advice to people who have personal problems c)developed a set of ideas and beliefs about the life. d) where scientific research is carried out
Categories:
counselor, 6th grade,
Form:
Prose
I have pictures on top of pictures on top of pictures on my bulletin board.
They are from children, and they never get taken down, they get stapled over.
It is a haphazard, happy pattern, and I plan to never change it as it is unique
And it makes me smile. I look up and remember who came and why, or maybe
Not why, but who, and maybe not even who, but they all have feelings attached to them.
Some are brilliantly happy, others are cartoons of me, or cartoons of them or drawings of
Monsters, unicorns, cars, dogs, flowers, stars, trophies, fish, or other wonderful things.
The point is, they come into the counselor’s office all mad or sad, and with a little bit of
Listening, and a lot of re-directing, they leave here a bit happier, a teensy bit more optimistic,
And many of them in gratitude give me their drawing saying “it is for you” with a flourish.
Some do not remember my name, but this is fine with me.
The important point is, they almost all remember being in here.
They remind me of other times they have been in here,
Times they have had lunches with me.
They remember things I said, things they said, and
Things others have said.
Their memories are forever,
So I am careful.
Not to open my
Mouth unless
I have something
Nice to say.
Feeling so immensely grateful that I am
The school counselor, not the school principal.
Categories:
counselor, jobs, school,
Form:
Free verse
You Cannot Call Yourself a Counselor Until
We were told we could not call ourselves counselors
Until we graduated and had our licenses in hand.
We were threatened, so we abided by this sacred rule.
I called a plumber yesterday. He said “I am your plumbing counselor”
I then saw a car counselor on TV. I flipped the channel.
Found cake decorator counselors, and pest control counselors.
You can barely imagine how irritated this makes me.
It is right up there with news stations publishing misinformation.
It feels like cheating, did they have to take four years of school for it?
More later. My pizza counselor has arrived.
Categories:
counselor, irony,
Form:
Free verse