Indian Hills welcomes new counselor for at-risk teens





Randi Klein, a registered psychotherapist with a private practice in Agoura Hills and a consultant in the Las Virgenes Unified School District substance abuse program, Choices, has been hired as a half-time alternative education counselor at Indian Hills High School in Calabasas.

“Beyond the substance abuse issues, Mrs. Klein also focuses her counseling on underlying issues of anger management, coping and communication skills, education and future planning, depression and anxiety and behavior modification skills,” said Steve Hanke, assistant superintendent of personnel for the district.

Klein said students attend the alternative high school for a variety of reasons. “Many students come seeking an alternative, smaller educational setting.”

While some students come to the school because they have to complete school credits to graduate, others have experienced “persistent school failure,” or have a lack of motivation in their classes at a comprehensive high school. Some students, she said, struggle with substance abuse issues, social difficulties or mental health or medical problems.

Klein comes to the new position well qualified. In addition to being a licensed marriage and family therapist, she earned a pupil personnel services credential which licenses her to counsel students in public schools.

She has been the student group facilitator for the Choices program for five years, and will continue to oversee the student component of the program. For the past three years, Klein has worked as a consultant for Indian Hills High School, and holds certifications in both child welfare and attendance, and anger management.

“We are excited to have a new part-time counselor on Mondays and Wednesdays,” said Stan Lyons, principal at Indian Hills High School. “The school board made an important commitment by providing a counselor to work with our youth who seek nontraditional learning programs.

“As public school funding has become a critical factor in serving our at-risk youth, LVUSD administration leadership continue seeking practical solutions to these difficult funding issues. My hope is that a counselor will be funded eventually to cover Monday through Friday at Indian Hills High School,” said Lyons.

Klein will accept referrals from parents, teachers, staff or students themselves to assist youth.

Klein says that it’s important to look at each family or student as an individual. “(Each) student brings their own situational, environmental and emotional circumstances to the crisis at hand,” she said. Once the contact has been made, Kline assesses the situation, contacts family members and staff—if appropriate—and “devises a plan that best meets the student’s immediate needs.”

Sometimes, however, students need a more comprehensive approach. Klein said a long-term plan is created once she and other members of the team know that the student is safe.

“As the counselor, it will be part of my duties to help organize some counseling support groups for the students and their families to address some of these issues,” Klein said.

Klein said students face many challenges, from “peer pressure, drugs, high expectations, low selfesteem, lack of motivation and social issues.” Students, she said, get “derailed,” because of the choices they make about how to behave, or their inability to manage emotions and “conflictual relationships with others.”

She suggests a student can avoid some of these pitfalls by getting involved in art, sports, or an after school job. She also recommends that when students begin to slip, they should increase time with their families and educate themselves “regarding relationships and self discovery.”

Klein said she gets a lot of satisfaction helping students.

“The light turning on moment,” she said, is another meaningful event to Klein, especially when “a student or family ‘gets it,’” that one thing that has been in their way of success. She also finds satisfaction when a student tells her they want to be sober and mean it.

Other significant moments as a counselor include “teaching students and families alternatives to communication and watching them use the skills successfully.”

Then there’s the simple joy of watching a student who has few, if any, friends, forge a new friendship.

“I get to be a part of all of these amazing moments as a therapist/ counselor and more,” Klein said.


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