Counselors may also have to address attendance issues by communicating with students or parents (Karunanayake et al., 2020). Like a friend, the counselor may act as a mentor, supporter, advisor, listener, and believer. In teaching social skills, a counselor can act as a researcher, specialist, expert, leader, and consultant (Karunanayake et al., 2020; Popov & Spasenovic, 2020). There can be many tricky situations within the school setting, and the counselor may act as an advocate who guides and negotiates by diplomatic means. Counselors help students identify their abilities, capacities, and interests, preventing dropout (Popov & Spasenovic, 2020). It is important to note that the dominant functions of school counseling may also vary across countries.
Job Description: 9 Roles of a School Counselor
Among the key provisions of the law is the institutionalization of school-based mental health services. Outcome research can be useful in responding to the systemic concerns regarding school counselor professional identity and role within the schools. Relatedly, Schiele et al. found that counselor self-efficacy plays an important role in the effective assessment and treatment of students’ mental health needs. By implementing comprehensive counseling programs, fostering open communication, and integrating mental health education into their systems, schools can address the crisis head-on.
Understanding School Resources for Mental Health
It is about providing counselling as a psychological therapy to improve the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people. It applies to all primary and secondary schools. In these cases schools should be aware that those aged 16 or over are entitled to consent to their own treatment, and their parents/carers cannot overrule this. As a general rule, any individual younger than 16 would require parental consent to access our school counselling services. When there are concerns regarding a child or young person’s mental health then swift action should be taken to promote positive mental health and emotional wellbeing. A specific referral process within the education setting will be discussed and agreed prior to implementing a school counselling service.
Our team
While general or academic school counselors can provide mental health services to students, they are not equipped to offer long-term care. School counselors are mental health professionals who provide holistic guidance to students in elementary, middle, and high school. In recognizing the warning signs that a student might be in crisis or at risk of suicide, providing immediate support, and collaborating with other mental health professionals in cases of emergency, school counselors can make a difference that is, quite literally, a matter of life and death. If a student’s needs exceed the mental health care available within a school counseling setting, counselors may be called upon to provide referral services to outside mental health resources.
- Tips to help parents understand emotionally-based school avoidance and offer support to their child.
- Another important factor of the inner context is the organization’s readiness for implementation (i.e., the commitment to the decision of implementing the intervention).
- K-12 schools are critical partners in supporting the mental health and well-being of students.
- According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), 16.5% of youth aged 6 to 17 experienced a mental health disorder in 2020 — the most recent data due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- “They spend so much time with the children in their classroom that they can see when something is off and a child is behaving differently than they typically do.”
As of April 2022—about 2 years after the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States—69 percent of public schools reported an increase in mental health concerns among their students.1 This Fast Fact examines the prevalence of mental health services in schools as well as the https://www.aasa.org/resources/resource/building-a-districtwide-safety-net major limitations on schools� efforts to provide mental health services.2 Moreover, since school counselors struggled to maintain confidentialitywhile providing virtual counseling, school and district leaders need to protectcounselors’ time and the spaces that enable them to hold confidential conversationswith students. These findings align with previous research on role stressand its negative effects on the counseling profession (Blake, 2020; Cervoni & DeLucia-Waack, 2011; Coll & Freeman, 1997).Drivers of role stress are deleterious because they can compromise the quantity andquality of the social/emotional support counselors are trained to provide. First, school counselors perceived high demand for counselingservices yet had limited time and resources to meet these demands—an exacerbatedform of role overload. Assuch, school counselors’ specialized education, training, and expertise insocial/emotional counseling may be underutilized (Blake, 2020). School counselors improve the mental health of children and adolescents, thereby improving the students’ overall functioning, personal/social development, career development and educational success.
