HELPING STUDENTS DREAM BIG IN 2023

by C Scott

School guidance counselors are amazing in-school support for a student’s social, emotional, and academic functioning. From offering individual support, classroom groups, and possibly even additional social skill group settings, their jobs are no easy task February is known as the month of love, but this year love should spread to our school counselors in honor of National School Counseling Week from February 6-10, 2023 This year ’ s theme is “Helping Students Dream Big ”

National School Counseling Week aims to highlight the great impact these professionals have in supporting student success and career planning From the outside looking in, school counselors may appear to have a simple job description However, when you factor in barriers such as school administration, environmental factors, lack of resources, and the global pandemic, the odds seem to not be in their favor.

COVID-19, in particular, presented significant barriers that all school personnel were forced to adapt to. Since the pandemic, schools have been battling against teacher burnout, staff shortages, and other challenges that are still crippling in 2023 Many school counselors have had to shift to spend more time supporting other school needs besides their counseling duties According to Teach For America, A 2020 survey of 7,000 school counselors found that many had been required to serve as substitute teachers, perform temperature checks, and take on other tasks due to the COVID-19 crisis

Additional counseling tasks have included but are not limited to contact tracing, administrative work, lunch duty, coordinating student tests, and more In addition, youth mental health needs and teen suicides are on the rise! So what can parents and community members do to support our school counselors? Social and emotional learning is a step, and it starts at home. Here are a few ways in which parents can support social and emotional learning with their child at home:

Be a good listener

Model the behavior you seek

Nurture your child’s self-esteem

Respect differences

Take advantage of support service

It’s also possible for parents and community members to support SEL needs at the school level. Here are some simple tips to help guide you:

Investigate your school’s current SEL efforts

Organize guest speakers

Get involved

Celebrate diversity

Begin the discussion

The next time you are at your child’s school, ask your school counselor how you can support them. It takes a village. Thank you to school counselors around the globe.