As counselor, Brownyard is there to listen
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“I would counsel them, as all teachers do, but with an entire class I didn’t have the time to listen to them and encourage them like they needed and at the time there was no one certified in school counseling I could send them to,” she said. “That’s how I developed my interest in school counseling. I felt I had a gift for listening and giving comfort to students with struggles and trials.”
So after 16 years in the classroom, Brownyard decided to return to college to become certified and licensed to be a school counselor, a position she has held for the past 15 years.
However, during her first few years as a counselor, dealing with students’ serious personal problems, she said she began to doubt her decision to switch jobs.
“For those first three years I thought I couldn’t stay. The burden was too heavy. I learned though that prayer helps a lot to lift that burden. Now, after I do all I can for the students, I just lean on God,” she said.
As trying as those years were, she said the hardest for her was the 1999-2000 school year, which followed the summer when Hickory Creek Elementary fourth-grader Jessica Watts was brutally murdered in a triple homicide.
“Her class needed counseling all year for the loss of their friend. It was very hard on them. It was hard on me too, she was also my student. I guess we helped each other that year,” she said.
Brownyard said there is no such thing as a typical day for her. Some days she will spend teaching classes, like anger management, to whole classes. On other days she might do nothing but individual and group counseling.
Additional duties include acting as a consultant to teachers and parents and as a referral agent to community resource agencies.
“There are a lot of rewards,” she said. “When students leave my office and say they feel better, or just say ‘thank you,’ it’s the high point of my day.”
When not at school, Brownyard said she enjoys spending time with her family, including husband, Roger, son and daughter-in-law, Alan and Erin, and grandson, Caden. She also enjoys walking, going to the movies, reading and taking in part in church activities.