The importance of effective school counsellors

Children are also heavily affected by the pandemic. (Unsplash pic)

Like adults, children and teenagers are not free from the grievances of everyday life.

They are also heavily affected by the pandemic.

Besides dealing with stress from academic pursuits, personal issues can have psychological effects on them as well.

Moreover, teenagers are in a vital stage of their brain development.

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, the mental and emotional changes in an adolescent’s brain may make them more susceptible to mental health problems such as anxiety and depression.

Knowing this, it is evident that children and teenagers would benefit from counselling and guidance.

Many schools have stepped up to the task by providing counsellors on their campuses to assist students whenever needed.

However, as an integral aspect of the education team, a school counsellor’s duties encompass more than aiding students mental health-wise. Some of their responsibilities include:

  • Helping students achieve their academic or career goals
  • Helping students develop skills necessary for academic success
  • Addressing social or behavioural issues
  • Identifying issues that hinder school performance
  • Teaching students and staff about problems prevalent in schools, such as bullying and drug usage
  • Reporting possible cases of neglect and abuse

School counsellors also serve as a bridge between parents, teachers, and students.

They help teachers and parents plan the best ways for their children to succeed in school, and direct children and their parents to the proper resources for the help they need.

Students would greatly benefit from counseling services provided by their school. (Pexels pic)

These counsellors provide invaluable input in consultations and crisis counselling with teachers and parents, and overall, look out for the mental and academic health of the child.

It should be noted that children of different ages have different needs, and therefore counsellors in primary and secondary schools have responsibilities that reflect that.

For example, a primary school counsellor ensures children develop the foundational skills necessary for learning and socialising, and secondary school counsellors help students create academic and career plans and develop crucial skills to ace in class and beyond.

As a result, all bases are covered, with the children having the counselling best suited for them.

With that in mind, here are some of the benefits that students can get from having a school counsellor:

1. Assistance with mental health

Teachers can only do so much to help, and parents may sometimes be too busy to help their children.

With a school counsellor, children can seek out proper guidance on how to best deal with social and psychological issues and even learn valuable skills on how to handle those problems in the future.

2. Academic and career guidance

While teachers can pinpoint where your child needs to improve in class and give advice on that, they cannot always help everyone individually. That is where school counsellors step in.

Many counsellors give advice to students on careers and jobs, and even help them plan out an academic and career plan that best suits them. Through one-on-one sessions, school counsellors can help a student determine the best path for them and how they should go about it.

3. Counselling sessions

While teachers mainly focus on grades and class achievements, counsellors are there to guide students through social and mental difficulties, such as a fallout between friends or a bad mental episode.

Furthermore, many school counsellors are trained to help students with special needs.

4. Counsellors can help identify issues

Many students face all sorts of pressures in school ranging from bullying to drugs. Fortunately, school counsellors can help curb these issues by steering students away from these inclinations before it gets worse.

Plus, counsellors often watch out for cases of neglect and abuse in their personal lives and can inform teachers or parents about these incidents that may disrupt a student’s academic and personal progression.

5. Students have an outlet to open up to

A school counselor’s responsibilities allow him or her to have a more open and personal line of communication with their students.

As a result, students are more comfortable sharing their problems with the counsellor and would most likely come to him or her should issues arise. This allows for students to feel more content, knowing they can have someone to turn to for help.

Students feel more content knowing they have someone to turn to for help. (Rawpixel pic)

Of course, there is an extent to what they can do. For example, school counsellors are not licenced to diagnose clinical problems such as depression or ADHD; however, they can recognise the symptoms and suggest students visit a doctor that can help them further.

Evidently, counsellors play a vital role in students’ development with their extensive responsibilities that go beyond helping with students’ mental well-being.

Acting as beacons of support for students, counsellors carry with them an ocean of secrets that cover students’ personal lives including family, friends and relationships matters.

Based on recent findings, children are wary about going to counsellors due to the risk of being found out by other teachers or students.

Some students have had experience of their secrets that were told to counsellors being exposed to other teachers.

Instead of getting the help that they needed, they now had to face discomfort from other people talking about their problems behind their back.

Students fear school counsellors may hurt them more than they can help.

Therefore, the issue of confidentiality should be considered as school counsellors’ primary responsibility before anything else.

Counsellors must be able to keep secrets as students need someone they can count on and confide in without feeling they might be jeopardising their reputation for sharing personal matters.

Not every school comes equipped with a counsellor—this is mainly due to budgeting.

Nevertheless, the significance of what counsellors can do in schools outweighs the costs, and there are countless students who are struggling both academically and mentally who would greatly benefit from the guidance and help that only school counsellors can give.

Now more than ever, schools need to start investing in counseling services.

Schooladvisor.my provides information on private and international schools, extra-curricular activities as well as other education-related topics in Malaysia.