Celebrating School Counselors |
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Students cannot thrive academically or socially unless they feel safe and connected at school. School counselors play a vital role in ensuring students get the mental health support they need. So this week for National School Counseling Week, we’re taking a moment to celebrate the amazing school counselors we work with!
School counselors provide a safe, secure place where students can talk about their stress related to school, family, past trauma, or COVID. But what’s the difference between a school counselor and a therapist?
According to Audrey Mosquera, school counselor at Lincoln Elementary School in Santa Rosa, “School counseling is focused on factors impacting the student at school, such as their self-esteem, challenges with friends, or difficulty advocating for themselves in the classroom. It is also meant to be brief. When there is trauma or a significant home situation, or when students need extended support, I refer them for therapy.”
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Anne Belove, 5th grade teacher at Valley Vista Elementary School in Petaluma, says having Side by Side on campus is a gift. “It is so wonderful to have this augmentation to our limited school counseling resources. It also allows us to determine and provide the best counseling fit for the needs of each referral.” Belove says she also appreciates that Side by Side clinicians are able to provide counseling for the whole family when needed, as well as bilingual (Spanish) support, and that they step up and help with coordination, paperwork and outreach, which has increased tremendously during the pandemic.
According to Behrens, her team is seeing a lot of new students who have never been in counseling before. “This new COVID variant is causing a lot of stress as we head into our third year of the pandemic. When you are in a constant state of trauma, hyper-vigilance and alertness, your brain is spinning. We’re also finding that because trauma takes many years to process, the state of constant stress caused by the pandemic and the new variant has brought up past trauma for many of our young clients.”
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In addition, missed school that results from a positive COVID test causes not only academic stress, but also a sense of disconnection, which exacerbates the existing mental health challenges. “I’m just so grateful for our strong school partnerships which allow us all to continue to support these youth. It continues to be an unprecedented time of challenge for them,” Behrens says. |
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The good news? It’s working. Behrens is working with a 16 year old from Honduras who was referred to Side by Side by her school counselor when she arrived in the country five months ago with no English. “This youth had suffered two suicide attempts in her own country before arriving here, and was cutting herself every day when we first started working together,” says Behrens. Three short months later, she is no longer cutting and no longer has suicide ideation. “It makes me feel so grateful that I can keep her safe,” says Behrens. “That is one of my primary goals as a social worker, a clinician and a human. I am helping her access the power to feel she wants to live.”
We want to give a huge shout out to all of the school counselors who are the first line of defense and who enable real change for their students. Your partnership is key and you inspire us to keep doing what we do, walking side by side with youth through their challenges.
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BUY TICKETS NOW!!
Support Side by Side's Counseling and Early Intervention Programs in Sonoma County
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NEW DATE: Thursday, May 19, 2022 from 6-8pm
Griffo Distillery, 1320 Scott Street, Ste A, Petaluma
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