Introduction

My name is Morgan and I am a senior at the University at Buffalo. As a psychology major, I am interested in studying individuals. I’m interested in their thoughts and behaviors and the choices they make. I am a strong believer that ones environmental factors play a huge role in how people think and how they act. These could be factors anywhere from how a child was raised, to the TV programs they were exposed to growing up. Education and proper school counseling are huge influences on children and the guidance they receive in school is extremely important.

As everyone is aware, the past year has not been normal, for students especially. Students of all ages were forced to make the abrupt switch to virtual learning. This posed a lot of problems for many at first, but over time, things have been slowly coming together and most are adjusting to the “new normal”. The same goes for school counseling. Guidance counselors have been working hard from home to meet the evolving needs of students and their families.

I have been interning throughout my senior year of college as a remote guidance counselor in public high schools. I have seen and understand the pros and cons on both the counselors and the students sides from working in person versus online together. Although it may not be what some prefer, I do believe that there are more advantages than disadvantages to keeping school counseling remote. School counseling is something that effects everyone at some point in their lives so it is important to address these changes happening to the career. Are students even ready for this to be a permanent change? Is being virtual really more accessible and flexible? Is it efficient and are there more opportunities for receiving or providing help to students remotely? What do we do to address the cons of staying with remote counseling?

In this blog, I will be discussing each of these questions and I hope that the future of school counseling will be one that benefits all students.