COUNSELORS
B1 Pablo:
FROM
I was already seeing a lot of anxiety and stress from school pressures, as well as just socialemotional middle school pressures. After the pandemic we definitely saw a lot more of that. Students having a hard time coming to school, students telling me they’re having a hard time adjusting from what used to be a 3-, 4-hour day online to a 7-hour day in person.
I see a lot of students struggling behaviorally. They are having a hard time getting along with peers and are nervous about interacting with peers and adults. They essentially don’t know how to school anymore. They are having a hard time remembering what it was like to behave in school, abiding by school expectations and adult expectations. Normally throughout the year we see a lot of grief and anxiety in December. I thought that after the school year had died down that it would go away, but there’s been a spike in it again.
I think it comes from all different facets and multitudes of factors. I think it’s from being at home with their siblings for the last year or two ... from stress and anxiety ... from some of these families’ basic needs not being met.
Araki: As we know, students have experienced a lot of trauma for the past couple years. Trauma has been a variety: compounded mental issues students had before the pandemic, students have lost a lot of family members, parents, aunts, uncles; some families it was multiple family members. We had students that had to get jobs to support their family. Families lost jobs.
Hjalmarson: While we did see some increase for some of them in anxiety and social-emotional challenges, we also saw a lot of resilience. I would say there’s a couple of challenges that we’re getting through and things are getting better every day. First challenge was during those first few weeks — separation anxiety, we never had separation anxiety like that. We had quite a
few students, TK, kindergarten and a couple firstgraders that really struggled being dropped off in the morning. But they’ve all settled in and are doing amazing. What I’m seeing now is a lot of concerns from pre-COVID: family changes, moving, impulse control, so it’s kind of settled into being fairly typical for me.
What do you do to
help students? Pablo: It’s a lot of normalizing the behaviors, hearing them out and making sure they understand we understand things are different right now. I find myself doing a lot of deep breathing with students, finding ways for them to calm down so they can think clearly and make good decisions, and just supporting them and making sure they know that they’re cared about and they’re
loved ... giving them grace, letting them know staff, students and parents realize we’re still bouncing back from a difficult time and we know they’re doing their best. A lot of us counselors are going into the class to teach about coping strategies: positive self talk, positive affirmations, being mindful and self-reflective and aware, recognizing your strengths, how to recognize stress itself.
Araki: To support them virtually you just have to be persistent in your ways to connect with them, whether it’s phone calls, virtual meetings in person — whatever works best for the student is what I will accommodate to. When students know you care, they will connect. First, I have to make sure that they’re safe, that it’s something they’re not at risk to harm themselves or others. I want to make sure they get help, help beyond school. I get involved with getting counseling services outside the school for the student. While it’s scary to go into counseling or therapy, it’s the healthiest thing that they can go to themselves.
Hjalmarson: To be able to find students that maybe aren’t connecting with other students and playing on their own, I do spend time out on the playground. But in between, it’s doing class lessons at our school. Our students get 30 minutes of social skills in (the) Second Step (curriculum) every single week, so that’s teaching them empathy and problem-solving and emotional management. We also meet with students individually, meet with students in groups, meet with parents and consult with staff on ways to support our students.
Anything else you
want to add? Pablo: We are grateful as school counselors that everyone else is recognizing now the need for mental health supports and how imperative it is. However I hope ... that people don’t forget to continue to invest in counselors and student supports to ensure that they’re able to thrive. Essentially, I hope that we don’t go back to cutting resources.