O ver the past 13 years, I have dedicated my career to developing mental health services and models within the academic setting as a school counselor, mental health therapist and now as an assistant professor in counselor education, where I engage in community action research to develop mental health models

On average, there is one school counselor for every 482 K-12 public school students in the U.S. This number has decreased slightly from the previous year’s average of 491-to-1. The American School Counselor Association (ASCA), a division of the American Counseling Association, compiles a report each year on student-to-school counselor

Although 13 Reasons Why gives us pause for its poor portrayal of effective suicide intervention, we feel that the series raises awareness and, at its core, advocates a community-level response to suicide prevention. This message to “look out for each other” is aligned with more intervention-oriented gatekeeping.

Children in schools today come from increasingly diverse and complex families. As illustration, more than 1 million families are impacted annually by divorce. In fact, approximately 13.7 million single parents are raising 21.8 million children, and 1 in 3 Americans are stepparents, stepchildren, stepsiblings or part of a stepfamily. Furthermore,

U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. was preaching to the choir at last week’s Reach Higher Convening when he said school counselors could make a powerful and long-term impact on the lives of students. “I am here because of the difference educators made for me. I know you

A school counselor’s first and foremost focus should – of course – be their students. However, to maintain a healthy, safe and resilient school community, school counselors need to include parents in the equation. Counseling Today spoke with several counselors who have experience in school settings for a cover article on