The School Counsellor
Youth mental health refers to the mental and emotional well-being of young people during the developmental phase of their journey into adulthood. For young people, mental health is part of their overall health and emotional well-being and is about how they feel, think, and behave, and about how they cope with stress and the ups and downs of everyday life. It is also about their self-esteem, confidence, and ability to ask for help and to access support. (Reach Out, 2005).
There is substantial evidence that mental health promotion programmes in schools when implemented effectively, can produce long-term benefits for young people in emotional and social functioning and improved academic performance. A supportive school environment where high expectations and aspirations are the norm for all young people can of itself contribute significantly to lifelong health and well-being. Dungarvan College currently provides a range of evidence-based supports and interventions that address the emotional health and well-being of young people.
These include:
- The effective and consistent implementation of SPHE as part of a whole-school approach to mental health promotion,
- The coordinated implementation of the whole-school guidance plan,
- Promoting a whole-school approach to health,
- Building positive interpersonal relationships and addressing anti-social behaviour e.g. bullying impacts the mental health of young people,
- Ensuring that young people are aware of the range of supports provided within the college as well as those offered by external agencies.
The My World Survey (Headstrong, 2012) found that the presence of one supportive adult in a young person’s life is critically important to their well-being, sense of connectedness, self-confidence, and ability to cope with difficulties. Over 70% of young people reported that when they had problems, they usually talked about them with someone they trusted.
Some of the benefits of Counselling for Students include:
- Clarifying a problem
- Managing anxiety
- Improving personal skills
- Developing increased confidence
- Coping with depression
Some of the most common counselling concerns students face range from depression, stress and anxiety to difficulties with family members, classmates and friends.
Counselling is well known for its problem-solving techniques and effectiveness in dealing with addiction, depression and anxiety. Counselling is also a way to establish your daily emotional awareness.
Through counselling, students can work with emotion, and interpersonal relationships in ways that help them manage their emotions and see things from a different perspective. In other words, the student doesn’t have to go through trauma or a huge life event to benefit from counselling. Talking to a professional allows them to get a sense of how they appear to people, offers insights on how their emotions affect their daily lives and helps them to get feedback on whatever they are feeling.
In today’s highly competitive and busy society, it’s easy to feel like we must do everything alone. However, research shows that we are better together. One of the major benefits of counselling for students is that it brings massive support when it comes to having someone to talk to and offer guidance. There’s scientific evidence to support the notion that social support can help build resilience against stress – a useful tool for students facing various stressful challenges.
Another huge benefit to a student of speaking to a trusted, professional counsellor is that it helps them work toward a goal, which can bring peace of mind, confidence and ultimately, more meaning to life.
In many ways, counselling helps to align everything into place and shape students into responsible and confident adults.