Advocating For Student Mental Health Starts Here

Republished By Plato

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Key points:

It is imperative for school leaders to understand the dire need for student mental health support

Partnering with a care coordination service can help bridge mental health support gaps

See related article: Why student and teacher wellness comes first

For the last 17 years, I have devoted my career to advocating for comprehensive school counseling programs. This is my passion and the focus of my efforts every day. But I did not choose this career path because I had an amazing school counselor in middle school. In fact, it’s the opposite. I did not have access to a school counselor at all. I was in the academic middle and did not need school counseling. Right? WRONG! I was desperate for guidance about my future and was overlooked due to the high student to counselor ratio.

I do not want what happened to me to happen to other students. School counselors play a vital role in a school’s ecosystem–and it is absolutely paramount to ensure every student has access to the support they need–especially today.

The latest data shows the ratio of students to school counselors is headed toward its lowest level in 36 years, with an average of 408 students for every counselor. While this is good news, and while I’m proud of the progress we’re making, it is still missing the mark, according to the American School Counselor Association’s (ASCA) recommendation of 250 students to one school counselor.

With increased awareness of student mental health and the need for student support, many districts are asking themselves: How do we elevate the impact of our school counselors? Here’s how we achieved this at Livingston Middle School in rural California and my advice for other schools looking to improve school counselors’ reach and, in turn, boost student outcomes.

Alma Lopez, Lead School Counselor, Livingston Middle School & ASCA 2022 School Counselor of the Year

Alma Lopez is a lead school counselor at California’s Livingston Middle School. She was recently named the 2022 School Counselor of the Year by the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) and the 2021 California School Counselor of the Year. Lopez is the first Latina School Counselor of the Year. A graduate of California State University – Fresno, Lopez has been a school counselor for 17 years and serves as Livingston Unified School District’s school counseling coordinator.

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