Guidance counsellors will be more important than ever

I’m a Grade 11 student from Toronto. When the Ontario government announced their plan for school reopening, I was angry and disgusted, but not surprised.

In June 2018, Premier Doug Ford cut millions of dollars from public education, causing thousands of teachers to lose their jobs and programs and courses to be decreased or cut altogether. Now, amid a pandemic, history is repeating itself. The Ford government has, quite simply, not provided enough funding for a safe school reopening, and is now refusing to do more despite the public outrage.

It’s infuriating, discouraging and despicable that our premier values dollar signs over Ontario’s children.

But amid the outcry about social distancing and masking, there’s one crucial element of a return to school that no one is talking about: guidance counsellors. This is an area that is already critically understaffed, with most high schools having one guidance counsellor for every two grades (about 500 students). And the need for mental health support is going to multiply. We are living through an unprecedented situation. We have been in lockdown for over four months, with limited socialization and no idea when life will return to normal, and we’re expected to return to school full (or in secondary students’ case, part) time and just be fine with that?

Kids who needed support before the pandemic will need even more, and those who have never set foot in a guidance office will be making appointments. We need extra funding to hire more counsellors — at the very least, one per grade.

Mental health is not usually regarded with the same importance as physical health, yet every year, one in five Canadians experiences a mental health crisis, according to CMHA National. Teenagers are especially affected by mental health issues, such as anxiety and depression. Everyone is going to need help in order to process what has happened to us.

Don’t let students’ mental health take a back seat.

Emma Russell-Trione, Toronto