The evolving role of school counselors

School counselors are not the guidance counselors of yesterday.

A school counselor's primary role is no longer scheduling and working with students on college applications or helping them prepare for the workforce. As students deal with more behavioral and mental health-related issues in the classroom, counselors are there to listen, teach them coping skills and build relationships with them.

'You could be working with a kid on scheduling, then shift your mindset to work with a student who is talking self-harm,” said Melissa Rediger, school counselor at Mid-Prairie High School. 'It is a huge balance.”

The American School Counselor Association recommends one student counselor for every 250 students, but many school districts don't meet the guidelines. Rediger serves 380 students at Mid-Prairie High School. Ashlei Venghaus, a school counselor at Mt. Pleasant Community High School, serves just over 600 students. And the New London Community School District has one school counselor for 260 students in sixth-through 12th-grade, and shares responsibilities with a school counselor from the Danville Community School District to serve 500 elementary students.

Rediger, who is in her first year as a school counselor at Mid-Prairie High School, said she switched from teaching to counseling because of her passion for building relationships with students.

'I love getting out into the hallways, the classrooms, the lunch room and being visible for kids to see me,” Rediger said.

While Rediger focuses on meeting with students during the day, that leaves a lot of emails and behind-the-scenes work for the evenings, she said.

The days of a school counselor are never the same - and never go according to plan, Rediger said.

Just a few weeks ago, she was in a meeting with a student about their class schedule when she had to shift gears and meet with a student who made an 'alarming accusation” on social media. That student was later taken to the hospital for psychiatric evaluation, something that has happened twice in three months since Rediger became a school counselor.

'To me, that's pretty significant,” Rediger said.

Venghaus, at Mt. Pleasant Community High School (MPCHS), said she also sees students transferred to the hospital or mental health facilities. Venghaus was unable to say how often it happens because she didn't want to break confidentiality, but she did say it happens more than she thought it would.

Venghaus is in her first year as a school counselor. Even at the beginning of her teaching career, she knew she didn't want to be in the classroom forever and had a lot of students who nudged her into her role as a school counselor.

'(Students) need to know that somebody cares about them,” Venghaus said. 'Students want someone to listen, to believe in them, to tell them they do have this bright future.”

A lot of Venghaus' job is reactive, she said. She wants to be more proactive by teaching students coping skills, working with small groups to meet with more students at one time, and thinking outside of the box in other ways to reach more students.

Rita Alspach, a school counselor in the New London Community School District, said some days she will only meet with one or two students individually. Other days, they come knocking on her door one after another.

Alspach said a lot of the students in New London who come to her already see a counselor outside of school. Alspach is a 'buffer” between counseling sessions, she said.

'When I was in school, you went to a guidance counselor for academics and college stuff. I don't ever remember going to my guidance counselor for mental health and problems at home,” Alspach said. 'It's sad kids are going through this, and I wish we could help them all.”

Counselors muse that the rise in mental health related issues correlates to the rise in social media usage.

'I wish I had the answer to why there are so many mental health issues today,” Alspach said. 'A lot of it is kids just don't have coping skills. I tend to blame it on social media and a lot of screen time on phones and computers. It's almost like they don't know how to communicate effectively.”

Alspach said she also thinks home life is a contributing factor in declining mental health among youth. Alspach said she doesn't blame the parents, but a lot of it could be the environment of their home life.

'Whether there's not communication in the home or the parent has not given them the tools they need to work through their problems ... I wish I knew why the mental health issues have gotten worse.”

School counselors, administrators and teachers are trying to be proactive rather than reactive in treating students' behavioral and mental health problems.

Alspach said she attends trainings and conferences with teachers in the New London Community School District that deal with mental health issues among students.

Mid-Prairie High School focuses on training their staff on working with students dealing with trauma during professional development days.

'It's being aware and cognizant of where students are coming from - being understanding and empathetic with that,” Rediger said.

The Mt. Pleasant Community School District began working with Four Oaks to implement trauma informed care strategies into their schools this year. Venghaus said the tactics are 'life-changing” for a teacher and counselor.

'It's so hard being in the classroom these days,” Venghaus said. 'You are held to such a high standard to get all your academics in ... On top of that, you're dealing with those behaviors that are masking a need for something, whether it's relationships, they didn't have a meal, or their mom or dad is working really hard and unable to come home, or just trauma.”