Salon Publishes Op-ed Advocating for More School Counselors

A Salon op-ed by School Counseling (M.S.) Assistant Professor Cameka Hazel, Ed.D., calls for expanded access to school counselors as a concrete strategy for improving youth mental health.

School counselors are trained to help K-12 students reach their goals by addressing academic, career development, emotional, and social challenges. Their skillset goes beyond assisting students with navigating classroom conflicts and college readiness; they also are trained to recognize mental health warning signs. And yet they remain all too uncommon, Hazel writes.

“If we’re to have any hope of reversing the alarming youth mental-health deterioration, we must improve access to school counselors,” Hazel notes. Nationwide, all schools should be required to provide counseling services to students and maintain appropriate counselor-to-student ratios. At the state level, curriculum designers should incorporate social and emotional learning as standard practice for K-12 students.