Counselors Couldn’t Keep up with Our Growing Mental Health Crisis, so Peers Stepped Up
March 19, 2019
By: Amanda Novak
Source: EdSurge
It’s 7:30 a.m. on a Monday morning. I welcome students into the building with an optimistic smile on my face while teachers give an endless supply of high fives, and students yawn and find a corner to sit with their friends. The bell rings and I head to make my coffee, eager to hunker down and prioritize my tasks for the week. Before I make it to the coffee pot, I hear my name over the walkie talkie and off I go—without caffeine. A student needs me, and so it begins. By the time I return, two students are waiting outside my office and I’ve got two notes on my door. Before I know it, it’s Thursday afternoon and I’ve done little more than triage.
As an assistant principal with a social work background, my experience is similar to that of many school counselors and mental health professionals today. Between the influence of social media, the tragically extreme pressure to succeed and our fast-paced world, our kids need us more than ever—and yet, as we are stretched thinner and thinner, there is less support to go around. How do we address the mental health and social-emotional needs of our students with a severe lack of professionals available? At Westgate Community School, a K-12 school in Thornton, Colo., we responded to this dilemma by leveraging and training our student leaders to offer mentorship and mediation for their peers.