How can Remote School Counseling be More Accessible and Flexible?
As a lot of people know, the education field has been effected significantly during this pandemic. School employees all over the world have been laid off or had their hours cut as a result of budget cuts, and many worry about the instability of their jobs going forward. Many school counselors are struggling with this issue still, about a year into the pandemic. Due to budget cuts, many schools have chosen to eliminate or downsize their school counseling programs, undervaluing what a counselor can bring to the table in a remote environment.
Lisa De Gregorio explains in her blog “Recession-Proof School Counseling: Strategies for Uncertain Times”, what school counselors need to do in order to adapt to the new normal and “recession-proof” their programs to prevent any potential cuts in the future.
De Gregorio’s blog brings up The Great Recession we faced in 2008–2009 and the effects it had on school counselors. She discusses what changes were brought upon schools after the recession and compares it to what schools are going through now and the new recession that the pandemic has brought. This points out that the future is uncertain and to keep school counseling alive, counselors need to improve their programs. She writes how this pandemic “is an incredible opportunity for school counselors to not just adapt, but go even further by reimagining what their role is in a remote learning world and what it could become in the long term”.
Having interned as a high school counselor myself and seeing what both the students and counselors go through, I understand and agree with De Gregorio, who was a school counselor herself for many years. In her blog, she walks through six steps explaining what counselors can do to improve their programs, providing more accessibility and flexibility for students and parents.
The six steps included:
- Staying up to date with or learning new ways to use technology, how to better handle student data and monitor progress, as well as finding more ways to provide academic, mental/emotional, and post secondary support and guidance.
- Be resourceful!
- Become more involved in students education, and advocating for more counseling support.
- Strengthening connections with students, parents and teachers through collaborating with them and offering more flexibility to meet their needs.
- Conduct more outreach and communicate what you have to offer.
- Spread the knowledge and resources you have to everyone around you and in as many ways as possible.
I believe by offering remote school counseling, students and their families will be able to fit meetings in around their schoolwork or jobs more easily. Counselors will have an easier time trying to connect with others by offering their help in a virtual setting and not having to travel to the counselors office.
Reference:
De Gregorio, L. (2020, October 06). Recession-Proof School Counseling: Strategies During Uncertain Times. Retrieved March 05, 2021, from https://www.hatchingresults.com/blog/2020/5/recession-proof-school-counseling-strategies-during-uncertain-times
