Elementary School Counselor

Mr. Ryan Comunale

Dear Parents and Guardians,

I hope you and your family had a fun and relaxing summer.  It is my hope that this school year will be full of successful experiences for all students.   Through regular classroom lessons, small group counseling, and individual meetings with students, I will be able to provide important social-emotional support. 

The primary goal of the Northfield Community Elementary Guidance and Counseling program, is to help all students reach their full potential academically, socially, and emotionally. In a caring way, we are helping students become aware of their own strengths, weaknesses, interests, values, and feelings.  The School Counselor may see students for:

Individual Counseling - The counselor will work with students who are self-referred, teacher-referred, or parents-referred. No concern is too big or too small to bring to the counselor’s office.

Small Group - Small Groups will be broken into categories based on student needs.  Some groups may include: managing emotions, managing stress and anxiety, family changes, grief, and building self-esteem. 

Social Skills Counseling Groups - The school counselor will be running two groups for social skills throughout the school year.  One group will be in the fall and be available for Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grade students. The second group will be held in early spring for 3rd and 4th grade students.  Each group will be 10 weeks long with each session lasting for 20-30 minutes. 

If you wish for your child to participate in either one-to-one counseling or small group counseling, please sign and return the permission slip/parent questionnaire form.  The permission slip can be found on the school website under the Elementary School Counselor tab. If you have any questions, please contact me by email at rcomunale@ncs-nj.org or by phone (609) 407-4000 ext. 8522.  Thank you

Sincerely,

Ryan Comunale
Northfield Elementary School Counselor