It’s not easy to be a high school counselor these days. If you’re like most school counselors, you’re serving around 400 students — far above the recommended 250. The U.S. is short 100,000 mental health staff in our schools at the same time that the need for youth mental health care has skyrocketed.
“When the pandemic hit, kids were already having difficulties with mental health,” says Cindy Topdemir, Coordinator of the Counselor Education Program at the University of South Florida and a licensed mental health counselor. According to Topdemir, during the height of the pandemic, it wasn’t just kindergartners and first graders who missed out on developing social skills.
Preteens and teens lost key opportunities to learn how to resolve conflict, build friendships, manage peer pressure, respond to bullying, and develop healthy coping and other crucial interpersonal skills. “As a result of that, I think we are seeing a lot more anxiety in our kids and a lot more depression,” Topdemir says.
The data is clear. In a 2022 New York Times survey of 362 school counselors, 94% said their students were showing more signs of anxiety and depression than before the pandemic, and 88% said their students were having more trouble with emotional regulation. That’s why we’ve compiled these school counselor mental health strategies that promote student mental health and emotional well-being.
Here’s one of the most important things you can do for your students: advocate for the counselor’s role in student mental health. “When you get hired, you really need to make sure your administration knows what a school counselor is supposed to be doing,” says Topdemir. “You’re working with students. You aren’t doing unnecessary paperwork. You aren’t doing lunch duty. You aren’t doing car duty, bus duty, whatever.”
Even if a task is within your job description, you may have to delegate it. Topdemir knows this from experience: she served as a school counselor for 14 years in Pasco County, Florida and still works with students part-time. When her principal asked her to manage the monthly Character Trait Bulletin Board in her office, she delegated the responsibility to parent volunteers who were happy to take it on. That way, she could make more time for students.
“It’s a really tough position right now, working with students and their mental health needs, and there’s not a lot of support,” Topdemir says. She advises school counselors to take care of themselves so they don’t burn out. “We want [school counselors] to stay in the field.”
Try to attend monthly professional learning communities where you can meet with other school counselors. “It’s really helpful to be able to get together with … peers and consult, share resources, help each other,” says Topdemir.
Most of all, give yourself grace: “We can’t do it all,” says Topdemir. “Oftentimes, we do need to refer students for mental health counseling outside of the school.”
Students can find themselves on a long wait list because community counselors are overwhelmed, just like school counselors. You can easily feel pressured to fill that gap, but remember that your role isn’t to provide long-term, individualized therapy sessions. Instead, compile a list of clinics that can get your student in for an appointment sooner. (The best people to help you with this list are your school’s social worker and your district’s school social worker supervisor.) If cost is a concern for your student’s family, some districts will pay for a number of outside counseling sessions, or your school social worker may be able to refer them to a more affordable clinic.
Sometimes, students need a literal “safe space” where they can take a break, uninterrupted by the chaos of the school day. “That’s really helpful, especially to our students that are experiencing anxiety, to have that place,” says Topdemir. Partner with school administrators to create a relaxing, quiet area, and fill it with items like:
While it may seem like fidget toys and stress balls skew younger, some counselors have found that even high schoolers benefit from these tangible objects. “I created and used calming bottles and stress balls for all grade levels to help students keep their focus and stay calm even when I couldn’t assist them,” says a Maryland-based counselor interviewed in the New York Times survey.
On a much deeper level, the school itself should be a safe place. But that’s not always the case these days as students frequently don’t feel safe to be themselves. How do you address this?
Topdemir suggests that you start by visiting all classes at the beginning of the school year so students know and trust you. After that, continue to reach out to them by leading occasional classroom lessons. Lessons can teach students to embrace their differences, advocate for their peers, and show them how to be an ally. Not only will this create a more inclusive environment at your school, it will also signal to students that you’re an adult who’s on their side. Affirming posters and resources in your office can help, too.
Creating an inclusive school environment also means recognizing our own prejudices. Admitting we have biases doesn’t mean we are bad people; on the contrary, it’s the work we do to overcome unconscious and implicit stereotypes that reflects positively on our character. “We must all consider and address our bias and privilege to facilitate compassionate, authentic conversations around race. Listen and let your students know that you will do better to work for change, that you want to learn and that you will support them unfailingly,” says Derek Francis, manager of counseling services for the Minneapolis Public Schools’ Department of College and Career Readiness. You can read more of his tips on how to handle racial incidents here.
Rather than waiting for issues to arise, try to proactively address topics such as racial injustice and LGBQ+ rights. If your school administration is understanding, you can work together to implement programs and policies that make students feel supported, including student affinity groups and equity-based professional development.
You’re just one person, and you can’t keep your eyes on 400 children at once. But if you train teachers to recognize signs of concern, you’ve suddenly enlisted an entire crew of support. “If they can spot things early, that’s the sooner we can get kids help,” Topdemir says. “[My students] will train teachers on how to look for different signs and symptoms of various mental health conditions.”
Training teachers on stress management can also indirectly benefit students. “Students tend to be more stressed when their teachers are, which in turn hurts their academic performance and classroom engagement,” according to this EdWeek article. That’s why Topdemir asks students in her school counseling program to offer teacher training session on topics like self-care or mindfulness. This can help create a healthier class environment, reduce educator burnout, and encourage teachers to model positive coping skills.
Group counseling can be a valuable way to teach the socialization skills and foster the connection lost by students during 2020. As this American Counseling Association resource says, “Group counseling can help reduce social isolation and negative emotions, as well as increase positive peer relations and a sense of belonging.” This is exactly what students crave post-pandemic.
“It’s so beneficial for students to be in these types of group counseling experiences,” says Topdemir. “You can see it on their face when they realize, everybody in here lives with a grandparent. Or everybody in here is going through a divorce in their house. Or everybody in here has anxiety. It’s such a lightbulb moment for them.”
Topdemir recommends directly teaching students the social-emotional skills they lost in the pandemic, especially around relationships. Help them understand what a healthy relationship looks like and how to identify and address abuse or violence. “Teaching them those types of skills, I think, are so important for high schoolers to learn.”
You may also need to communicate to parents and families about the meaning of “social-emotional” learning, because this term has become politicized. “There’s very little disagreement that parents want to send their child somewhere where they’re cared about and where they’re safe. But the initiatives and programs that help enhance those things are the very things that they are scared into thinking are harmful and terrible,” observes Jennifer Akins, the president of the Texas school Counselor Association, in the American Counseling Association article. Focusing on open communication and common ground — we all want our children to feel safe — can help rebuild parent trust.
Preparing students for college usually means making sure students are academically ready, but preparing students for emotional success in college is just as crucial. That’s why many counselors lead Life Skills groups. According to Topdemir, these topics might include:
For some students, anxiety stems from barriers to the college admission process. Topdemir suggests school counselors get ongoing training for what to do in specific situations, such as when:
We know preparing students for college isn’t always easy, which is why we offer a counselor toolkit with helpful resources. If you have any questions about USF, our admissions office is ready to help. Reach out to us online, or give us a call at 813-974-3350. We appreciate the hard work you do for students!