About Mrs. Hughes
Hello and welcome to my little corner of the Internet! I’m glad you’re here!
My name is Elissa and I’ve been a school counselor since 2018. I started off this wonderful career as a high school counselor, transitioned to a K-8 charter school, and now work at a Title 1 middle school so I’ve seen a little bit of everything.
I received my Masters in School Counseling from Mercer University and, during the pandemic, I completed my Specialist in Education with a major of Professional Counseling from the University of West Georgia.
I also plan on getting my Doctorate of Education in Professional Counseling and Supervision in the coming years to eventually teach future school counselors!
Counseling Philosophy
One of the best parts about being a school counselor is that every day is different. But this is also where the difficulty lies. One thing I have found that helps is a consistent approach to working with students.
A couple schools of thought guide me throughout my interactions with stakeholders. Without knowing, I have always been a fan of solution-focused thinking. When I read Brief Counseling That Works in grad school, it just made sense. In school counseling you don’t always have a ton of time to work on things with students, and that’s why a solution-focused mindset is so beneficial.
Restorative Practices also help guide my interactions with students. After being trained on how to run restorative circles and help students understand how their behaviors affect those around them, I knew that this approach would help me help students. I use it almost everyday when working through issues with stakeholders.