CAREER SPOTLIGHT: School Counselor Adam Heller

By Amir Muhammad | April 19, 2022

Adam Heller has been working for Francis Scott Key (FSK) since 2021 and has become someone students trust and go to for guidance.  

This is my last year of middle school, and I will be going to high school next year in the fall. I have started thinking of jobs I would be interested in doing in the future. Heller talked to me about my concern with going to high school and the future. He eased my mind on the entire process. After leaving his office, I wondered to myself, “What else does he do?”

So, I set up an interview to understand what his job entails in hopes that it helps you in the future as you branch out into the world or are looking for a job that fits your personality.

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

 Amir Muhammad: What would you say to a younger person who wants to be in the role you are in?

 Adam Heller: Yeah, that’s a great question. So I would say, know what you are getting into and know yourself. If this is something that you can really see yourself being. Play that out in your head and see if that is a position you can see yourself being in. The other thing I would say is it’s a position where it’s a lot of continuous learning, growing and changing. If you are the type of person that does better with a set plan of things you need to accomplish or a set of instructions it might just be a little bit different. You definitely have to be interested in helping young ones and know which age group you would work best with. Some people work best with high schoolers and talking with them about going to college. Other people do the same position in school counseling, but it’s elementary and it would be completely different if the highschooler counselor tried to do elementary and vise versa. So it’s a lot of options

AM: What would you say the hardest part of your job is?

AH: Yeah, I would say it can be hard to separate personal feelings about a situation from what you have to do and what's best for the student. I also found that peer mediation can be hard. When you know two students have a situation going on and you’re trying to mediate and find a solution, that can be hard. Because there’s always an infinite possibility of situations and arguments that can arise. So it’s tough just finding that middle ground for students. I mean there are a lot of tough parts, I'll be honest. Yeah but I would say that's a big one. Just taking other people's challenges all on yourself and kind of internalizing them and being objective about things.

AM: Have you ever done something like that?

AH: I don’t think it has happened too much or too severely, but I would say students have definitely asked me things or talked to me about things or expressed things that I disagree with. But it would be inappropriate to show that I disagree with them and would be pointless to show them that I disagree because it wouldn’t help them gain any progress. So, one thing that comes to mind is, a student had talked about how they don’t have their vaccine and their reasoning behind that. I wasn’t about to dispute them on that. Everyone has reasons for doing what they do. I have been able to work around it and it hasn’t been a problem. 

AM: Is there a resource that people who want to be like you should read or watch to gain knowledge on the job you have?

AH: There's no better resource than coming to me and just talking to someone who is in the job and also other mental health professions. Because they are all very similar and they all work together. Exploring those to brush up on how they all work together and which one is the best fit for you. I would say just researching the schools and program tracks that will lead to that.