Read about the divide between high school counselors and students, how it affects mental health, and how this gap can be closed through communication.
Edited by Kayla Luga
Many high schoolers each year go through the struggle of immense stress, whether that is due to personal issues, classes, extracurriculars, or other aspects of student life. High school administrators understand this, which is why they have guidance counselors-- people who are supposed to provide emotional, social, and academic advice for their students. But does the average high schooler truly trust their designated helper? A study by Western Michigan University shows that around 61% of high schoolers nationwide do not trust their guidance counselor with personal issues. This level of distrust could be accredited to the decreasing number of guidance counselors in schools, but it could also be combined with the decline of mental health in high schoolers. From a student’s perspective, teenagers recognize the difference of position and power between a counselor and themselves. The professional boundary allows for the association of counselors to all of school, the good and the bad. The New York Times put out an open comment section for students to express their opinions on their school’s administration. One comment by a student named Sarah stood out, saying “It feels like they care more about our grades than us”. Other students have similar grievances about bullying, punishment, and others. For students, it feels as though they would be confiding in a complete stranger, with many of them never meeting their counselors until it comes to college applications. The disconnect between guidance counselors and students also starts with the many assumptions each have about each other. In order to bridge this gap between administration and students, it is important to hear the perspective of the guidance counselors as well. To quote an anonymous guidance counselor from Wisconsin, “The days of the school counselor just preparing the college-bound kids with applications and resources are antiquated. Part of our job is to judge the climate of a school and to provide a place that kids can go to when they need to talk to someone.” Guidance counselors recognize the increasing mental health crisis in adolescence, and it makes it increasingly difficult taking the wide spectrum of mental health into consideration. To many students, mental health seems like a battle that they have to fight alone, and the resources at school might seem unapproachable. The first step on both sides is to listen; after all, that is their role. Guidance counselors should be an immediate mediator, not a person for desperation. With more mental health outlets offered inside and outside of school, the job of guidance counselors and students would be much easier. The social, emotional, and academic improvement of students is contingent on schools making a better effort to show students that their guidance counselors are safe, accepting people to open up to.
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