Unlocking Children's Potential: The Crucial Role of School Counselors

The mental health of every child is exceptional. Children can explore, understand, and overcome issues that are causing them distress and confusion through counseling.

Today’s world is hurtling, and our children are living in times where human feelings are shared through the touch of a mobile phone. Children who feel lonely are often deprived of healthy peer relationships. They feel excluded. This feeling can be quite damaging to their self-esteem. We might ignore it, but the child is likely communicating through a medium where virtual reality wins out over human emotion.

School plays a crucial role in a child’s life. The foundational years are the most critical period of human life. Focused and relevant interventions in these foundational years can have a lasting impact on a child’s long–term development, learning and later life outcomes. Hence, it is mandatory for schools to offer counseling services for children.

These days, many children enjoy and seek to meet the counselor at school. Children have concerns like managing friendships, strong emotions, resolving conflicts, parental abuse, etc. The school counselors build trust and operate under the laws of confidentiality. They try hard to work through their problems and resolve the same. There are times when children may resort to self-harm. In such cases, the counselors involve parents and have a positive plan in place to help them.

In a school setup, some children are prized intellectuals. Such pupils may feel isolated in a regular classroom setup. The school counselors play the role of the motivator and conduct therapy that helps refocus and restructure important things in their lives.

The school counselor’s role is one of support. However, the therapy conducted in a school setting is not long-term. The counselor also guides the parent in locating a therapist who can more closely provide services when needed.

Counseling is about creating a bond between the counselor and the seeker. Parents must be included at every step of the way. Parents might sometimes hesitate to meet the school counselor as they might have a fear of being judged. However, school counselors are trained to do their job, and parents shouldn’t worry.

It is important to know that the school counselor is someone who listens without judgment and guides without bias. Children are stronger than we think. We just need to show them their potential and it's okay to ask for help and reach out!