Overview

School Counselor Jobs in Kenya at ReliefWeb

Title: School Counselor

Company: ReliefWeb

Location: Kenya

Kenya

School Counselor

Organization

  • Shining Hope For Communities

Posted 28 May 2026 Closing date 9 Jun 2026

Role Overview

The School Counselor at Sankoré is responsible for advancing student well-being, belonging, and holistic development across a diverse and complex school community. This role operates at the intersection of academic success, social-emotional health, and community context.

Working under the Head of Support and Belonging, the counselor plays a central role in ensuring that every student is known, supported, and equipped to navigate both school and life. The position requires a practitioner who can operate across individual counseling, systems-building, and community engagement—while remaining grounded in Sankoré’s values of dignity, equity, and student agency.

Core Responsibilities

  • Student Counseling and Direct Support
  • Provide individual and small-group counseling to students across grade levels, addressing:
    • Social-emotional development
    • Mental health challenges (e.g., anxiety, trauma, stress, identity)
    • Behavioral concerns
    • Peer relationships and conflict
  • Develop and implement individualized student support plans where needed
  • Maintain accurate, confidential records of all counseling interactions
  • Identify early warning signs and intervene proactively
  • Safeguarding and Student Protection
  • Serve as a key point of contact for student safeguarding concerns
  • Identify, document, and escalate cases of abuse, neglect, or risk in line with school policies
  • Work closely with leadership and external partners where necessary
  • Ensure all safeguarding practices are trauma-informed and culturally responsive
  • Whole-School Social-Emotional Programming
  • Design and deliver structured social-emotional learning (SEL) programming
  • Integrate well-being practices into the broader school culture
  • Support the development of life skills including resilience, emotional regulation, and decision-making
  • Collaborate with teaching staff to embed SEL into classroom practice
  • Student Belonging and Inclusion
  • Actively contribute to a school culture where all students feel safe, respected, and included
  • Support students navigating identity, marginalization, and exclusion
  • Work with the Head of Support and Belonging to implement inclusion strategies across the school
  • Facilitate student voice initiatives related to well-being and belonging
  • Family and Community Engagement
  • Engage families as partners in student well-being, particularly in complex or sensitive cases
  • Provide guidance to caregivers on supporting children’s emotional and behavioral needs
  • Navigate diverse family contexts with cultural sensitivity and respect
  • Connect families to relevant external resources when needed
  • Multi-Tiered Support Systems (MTSS)
  • Contribute to the design and implementation of tiered student support systems:
    • Tier 1: Universal well-being and SEL programming
    • Tier 2: Targeted small-group interventions
    • Tier 3: Intensive individualized support
  • Use data and observation to inform interventions and track progress
  • Participate in regular student support reviews with school leadership
  • Collaboration with Staff
  • Serve as a resource to teachers on student behavior, well-being, and classroom dynamics
  • Provide training or guidance on trauma-informed and inclusive practices
  • Participate in multidisciplinary meetings to coordinate student support
  • Support staff in responding appropriately to student needs
  • External Partnerships and Referrals
  • Build and maintain relationships with external service providers (mental health, social services, health systems)
  • Refer students and families to specialized support where appropriate
  • Coordinate follow-up and continuity of care

Contextual Expectations

The Sankoré School Counselor must be able to operate effectively within a diverse and high-need community, where students may face:

  • Economic instability
  • Family stressors
  • Exposure to trauma
  • Gaps in access to services
  • Complex identity and belonging dynamics

This Requires

  • Cultural competence and humility
  • Strong ethical judgment
  • The ability to balance empathy with clear boundaries
  • Comfort working across school and community ecosystems

Reporting Line

Reports directly to the Head of Support and Belonging

Qualifications And Experience

  • Degree in Counseling, Psychology, Social Work, or a related field
  • Professional certification or licensure in counseling
  • Minimum 3–5 years of explicit counseling experience working with children or adolescents in schools. International Schools preferred.[1] [2]
  • Experience in school-based and/or community-based settings strongly preferred
  • Demonstrated experience working with diverse or underserved populations

Core Competencies

  • Strong counseling and interpersonal skills
  • Ability to build trust with students from varied backgrounds
  • High level of discretion and professionalism
  • Systems thinking: able to operate beyond one-on-one counseling
  • Clear communication with students, staff, and families
  • Crisis management and safeguarding awareness
  • Organizational and documentation rigor

Success in This Role Looks Like

  • Students feel seen, supported, and safe
  • Early interventions reduce escalation of student challenges
  • Teachers are better equipped to support student well-being
  • Families are engaged as partners, not external observers
  • The school demonstrates a coherent, structured approach to student support
  • Belonging is not abstract—it is visible in student experience
  • is this the case? Not sure if it is for this one
  • up to you – this was in to stave off that one parent who was going to be applying but a certain person who is (kind of?) our boss didn't want to hire.

How to apply

Interested Candidates Should Submit

  • CV
  • Cover letter highlighting the experience in the area of the specialization

Application Deadline: 9th June 2026

Send applications to: [email protected]

Subject Line: School Counselor

SHOFCO is an equal opportunity employer. Women, youth, and persons with disabilities are strongly

encouraged to apply.

Job details

Country

  • Kenya

Source

  • Shining Hope For Communities

Type

  • Job

Career category

  • Other

Years of experience

  • 3-4 years

Theme

  • Education

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