Counseling Services

The Brentwood Counseling Department strives to improve the personal, emotional, social, academic, and career development of all students through a variety of services and interventions. These include individual counseling, small group counseling, classroom guidance lessons, and teacher/parent consultation. The small group counseling topics offered are: anger management, social problem solving, coping with divorce and family changes, girls in real life situations, and loss of a family member. If interested, please contact your child’s teacher for a parent permission slip to join.

Classroom Circles at Brentwood

Brentwood is proud to be incorporating peacemaking circles into many of our classrooms! We were one of the first schools that were trained to do this by the Sarasota County District. When a class participates in a peacemaking circle, students sit on the floor or in desks in the shape of a circle and take turns talking or answering questions. They pass around a talking piece in order to tell whose turn it is, which helps students practice listening. Circles can be used for academic lessons or as a format for students to share their thoughts on various topics.

Teachers may ask get-to-know-you questions in the circle, such as “What is your favorite food?” or “What do you like about the story we read?” Circles also allow students to speak more deeply about their feelings, so teachers may ask questions like “When was a time that you felt angry?” or “What would you do if you were the character in this story?” Many of our teachers are currently using circles in their classroom as a daily or weekly team-building exercise or as a response to conflicts in the classroom.

Second Step

Students in grades K-5 may be receiving classroom lessons from Ms. Benitez using a curriculum called Second Step. Students will receive lessons on skills for learning, empathy and social problem-solving.  They learn the importance of thinking about how others feel to help them be a more respectful friend and classmate. Parents, you can promote empathy in your child by reminding him or her to consider the emotions of others. For example, while watching TV or talking with your child about a book, encourage him or her to use feeling words, ask him or her to make guesses about how characters in books or on TV are feeling or ask your child to consider times when he or she felt the same way. Parents can access the Second Step by typing in the activation key for their child's grade level. For Grade 3, enter SSP3 FAMILY73. For Grade 4, enter SSP4 FAMILY74. For Grade 5, enter SSP5 FAMILY75.

If you have any questions about the services offered by our school counselor, please contact:
Ms. Audrey Benitez (Grades K-5), audrey.benitez@sarasotacountyschools.net