Mental health can have a big impact on different areas of life. It can affect your academic, work, social and personal life, and physical health.
Anyone can experience mental health issues regardless of their gender or age. However, students’ mental health can often be overlooked. We may criticize our children when they fall behind in school or act out. Yet, we do not realize that there can be an underlying issue that is presenting itself in the form of aggression, inattentiveness, or more.
What is school counseling?
School counseling has three primary goals. It aims to eliminate obstacles in academic achievement, promote social and emotional development and help in college readiness. Thus, school counselors are an important part of any school’s team. Not only do they focus on academic issues, but they also aim to relieve students’ psychological distress. So, students can go to counselors for their academic and personal issues. Moreover, they also help students choose a career and college that matches their interests and capabilities. Counselors can also help students develop essential social or other skills that they may require for their future.
Due to the increase in awareness regarding the importance of school counselors’ role, their demand has increased. A graduate degree in school counseling is required to start practicing in schools since it covers the essential areas of psychology, career, and life span planning. Even teachers can take an online masters in school counseling and make a career shift. As a result, they can help guide and influence students by providing moral and psychological support.
Advantages of seeking counseling
Let’s take a look at some of the amazing benefits of counseling:
Help understand and eliminate bullying
The main reason students resort to bullying is problems in their personal lives. One out of five students reports that they have been the victim of bullying. Thus, it is safe to say that bullying is a major problem. Bullying can also be attention-seeking behavior if students need help, but their issues are ignored or overlooked. On the other hand, some students are not taught how to respect others and act up to gain power.
No matter the cause, a school counselor can help identify and alter the student’s attitude and behavior. Thus, allowing the student to focus on school and develop healthy peer relationships.
Help the victims of bullying
Experiencing bullying can have several negative impacts on a student’s mental health. It can cause self-esteem issues, social withdrawal, depression, and anxiety. All of these factors can cause a student to fall behind in school. Such cases can manifest themselves in various ways and cause problems in a student’s adult life.
So, school counselors help such students deal with mental health problems caused by bullying. Moreover, they teach them healthy coping mechanisms as well. Counselors can also teach other students strategies to use when they witness bullying.
Helps to resolve academic issues
Counselors play an important role in helping students solve their academic problems caused due to any number of reasons. These reasons can include difficulty understanding a subject, a teacher’s discriminatory behavior, or difficulties in personal life.
So, counselors can help students overcome these problems by devising various strategies. For instance, they can provide techniques that can help students learn better. Moreover, they also teach students time management to eliminate procrastination.
Help in choosing a major
High school can be a pretty confusing time for students. It is a stage where many students experience an identity crisis. To add on top of that, they also have to choose a career for themselves. So, counseling can make this process easier. School counselors can help high-school students in the following ways:
- Help identify students’ interests.
- Provide career options that match their interests and capabilities.
- Provide information regarding different careers and their scope.
- Help in choosing colleges.
- Help in writing college essays, filling financial aid forms, and more.
Help in eliminating the achievement gap
The achievement gap is a major problem in education. It refers to the imbalance in academic achievement between students that belong to different groups. These groups can include students from different races, ethnicities or belong to other socioeconomic classes.
For instance, at the end of high school, black and Hispanic students’ mathematics and reading skills are similar to eighth-graders who are predominantly white. Moreover, children from well-off families have better vocabularies than students from low-income classes.
School counselors can play an important role in closing or at least minimizing this achievement gap through interventions that target students’ weaknesses and report the results.
In addition, students who face discriminatory behavior based on their race or other factors can consult a counselor. Counselors can help them alleviate the psychological distress caused due to bias. Moreover, they can also report such situations and report staff or students engaging in racism or similar activities. It can help students study in an unbiased environment and keep up with their peers.
Acts as a student advocate
A school counselor also acts as a student advocate. They listen to the student’s problems and help in solving them. Moreover, counselors counsel students based on their concerns. It can help eliminate any problems at home or in the students’ personal lives that may create academic achievement barriers.
Similarly, students can also face academic or mental health issues due to teachers. Thus, the counselor’s job is to convey these issues to the teachers and help resolve them.
Provides assertiveness training
Assertiveness can be defined as the ability to communicate their opinions, feelings, wants, or needs respectfully. It means standing up for yourself without seeming aggressive or rude. When it comes to students, there are often two groups. One group includes passive students, who get trampled on but never stand up for themselves. In contrast, the other group includes students who get aggressive and try to get what they want. So, assertiveness teaches students to get what they want (if it’s right) without getting aggressive or letting anyone walk all over them.
Hence, counselors provide assertiveness training to passive or aggressive children and teach them how to voice their opinions and get their rights without going to extreme measures. This quality does not only help them in their student life but also acts as an essential personality trait needed to get through and face challenges in adult life.
Concluding thoughts
Maintaining your mental health is crucial for everyone, especially students. Mental health issues can hinder students’ academic success and more. Therefore, schools must make school counselors a vital part of their team.
School counselors can make student life easier in numerous ways. For instance, they help prevent and deal with the consequences of bullying and eliminate academic issues. Moreover, they help students make one of the most important decisions of their lives, choosing the right college and career. So, counseling can impact students’ academic achievement and is also great for their overall well-being.
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