Giving Compass' Take:

• Julia Taylor and Emily Goodman-Scott describe the supports that schools can provide for counselors in order to make them more effective in their work. 

• What support is in place for school counselors in your area? What role can funders play in developing additional supports? 

• Read more about the importance of school counselors. 

State-licensed school counselors are mental health professionals with specialized training to work in educational settings. They can support students in addressing the social-emotional needs integral to their success and be the first line of defense in helping students who are in distress and may be tending toward violence. Yet 80 percent of students who need mental health services do not receive them.

One reason is that 14 million students attend a school that prioritizes police over any school counselors, psychologists, social workers or nurses. In schools that do have counselors, they are often saddled with overwhelmingly high caseloads. While the American School Counselor Association recommends one school counselor for every 250 students, the average ratio is nearly double that. And many are asked to perform additional tasks that have nothing to do with counseling, like coordinating standardized tests, acting as substitute teachers and serving as lunchroom monitors — all while a wait list of students in crisis continues to pile up. This is a disservice to students in need and does not make fiscal sense.

We must invest in funding to lower student-counselor ratios and remove non-counseling duties to improve students’ access to care. Sen. Ron Wyden’s Elementary and Secondary School Counseling Act, for example, would provide dedicated funding to bring the ratio down. Consider what would be possible with five-year, renewable federal grants to school districts across the country to expand mental health services and staffing.

Further, schools must give counselors the time and space to provide prevention-focused services for students in crisis, and we must educate stakeholders — superintendents, administrative teams, teachers, parents/caregivers and students — on the proper roles and functions of school counselors, and utilize them accordingly. If students believe they should go to a counselor only when they need a schedule change, they are not likely to reach out when a mental health emergency is looming. We can do better.

Read the full article about school counselors by Julia Taylor and Emily Goodman-Scott at The 74.