School counselors still offer one-on-one sessions with students who need individual attention, but these days counselors are just as likely to provide services that will make these sessions less necessary.

The current trend in counseling is to prevent problems rather than solve them, said Michele Bernier, a counselor at Kealakehe Elementary School. As a result, many counselors offer guidance programs to help students learn about academic skills, personalsocial skills and career awareness in an effort to help the whole school community and improve student achievement.

"It's no longer of significant value to the school that we spend a lot of time with individual students to help with personal-social issues," Bernier said.

That's not to say that the individual counseling sessions are a thing of the past.

For older students, these meetings may help keep their problems from snowballing.

For instance, when students reach middle school, they encounter a wide range of social, emotional and personal changes and can be readily influenced by their peers. If they are struggling to cope with these changes, they might not be able to focus on academics, say the counselors at Highlands Intermediate.

Bernier said students should seek out a counselor when they feel they need support in academic, personal or social issues, or if they have career concerns.

"The earlier the better," said Malia Park, a counselor at Radford High School. "The more contact we have with students, the more we get to know the student. Hopefully it is before they run into problems."

Park's colleague, George Sumida, said students should feel free to stop in anytime, but especially when their situations change, such as by a move or family emergency.

Parents can also initiate contact with a counselor when they want the counselor to be aware of personal issues in their children's lives that might affect learning or behavior, Park said.

Radford counselor Amelia Hew Sang said parents should feel free to call for an appointment, but should be aware that requests, such as for a class change, will not be readily approved.

Radford college counselor Jean Fukuji said that the sooner a high school student meets with her to start discussing post-high school options, the more prepared they can be. She has started working with some students from their freshman year.

"They become better decision-makers by their senior year if they have been engaged in the search process throughout high school," she said.

Fukuji said students should take advantage of all the resources offered by the school, including counseling.

"While I don't know everything, I am the 'resident expert' on colleges. What I don't know, I can usually find out," she said. "The alpha counselors (Park, Sumida and Hew Sang) are great, understanding and proactive."

Reach Treena Shapiro at tshapiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.