The following email was sent April 24  to all school counselors by Chapter Leader Rosemarie Thompson and to all social workers and psychologists by Chapter Leader Raul Garcia.

The city Department of Education, in consultation with the UFT, has released guidance on non-mandated counseling for school counselors, social workers and psychologists.

In this remote learning environment, non-mandated counseling supports are crucial. Students may need assistance developing coping strategies in response to their changing environment. As always, non-mandated counseling services help students navigate transitions and achieve better academic and social-emotional outcomes.

The DOE guidance offers resources and answers frequently asked questions about non-mandated counseling in this unorthodox and challenging situation. I want to highlight the DOE's answers to three questions that many of you have raised.

• Is consent from a parent or guardian needed for new services or continuation of non-mandated services?
  Consent is not required. Counseling support professionals should continue best practices with informing parents and guardians as it pertains to crisis counseling, social-emotional and college counseling supports, at-risk sessions and check-ins. Provide the parent with information on the schedule of sessions, how to access the appropriate platform (e.g. Microsoft Teams, Google Meets), and the list of participants in the session. Use best practices to address limitations on confidentiality and privacy that arise during remote counseling. Although you do not need to engage parents of students over 18 years old, you should use the same standards in parental engagement that you would use in a non-remote setting.
• How should I document remote counseling services?
  Counseling support professionals should exercise professional judgment and continue to document interventions in the same manner as they would in a non-remote setting. Counseling support professionals currently using ILOG to document intervention and outreach efforts in ATS should continue to do so. ATS can be accessed remotely on the "remote access" section of InfoHub. If you have trouble accessing ATS, consult DIIT instructions or contact the DIIT help desk. If you were using another strategy prior to transitioning to remote learning, you may continue to do so. There is no requirement to use multiple platforms.
• What digital platform can I use for guidance lessons?
  You must use FERPA compliant digital platforms for providing counseling services, regular check-ins and other guidance lessons such as social-emotional learning. Google Classrooms and Microsoft Teams have been confirmed by the DOE to be FERPA compliant. Please note that conducting counseling sessions by telephone, and not through digital platforms, is permissible. If you are already conducting counseling sessions by phone, you may continue to do so.

Read the full guidance

As always, thank you for all of your hard work during this challenging time. Stay healthy and safe.