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Ontario High School Students Need Better Access to Counselling Services

High School can be difficult at the best of times. Homework gets harder, relationships become more complex, extracurriculars take up free time, and the stress of graduating and getting into university looms over everything. Throw in a global pandemic on top of all that, and it’s no wonder high school students are struggling more than ever.

Talking to a counsellor can help students improve their academic performance and have a better idea of what they want to do upon graduation. It can also help them work through their feelings and get the mental health support they may need.

Unfortunately, there is currently not enough access to counsellors for high school students in Ontario. “The traditional guidance counsellor system in Ontario wasn’t designed to support this many students at once, or the volume of mental health challenges they face today,” says Dwayne Matthews, the Head of School, Innovation & Partnerships at Ontario Virtual School. This is something that needs to change— here’s why.

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Who Can Benefit from Counselling Services?

In short, every high school student can benefit from reaching out to a counsellor. Whether you already have your whole career path mapped out, are taking Ontario high school credits online, or have no interest in pursuing education beyond high school, talking to a counsellor about your academics can help ensure you are aware of all your options.

Academics aside, all students can also benefit from the emotional support that talking to a counsellor can give. Students struggling with their mental health will benefit from speaking to a counsellor as a first step. From there, they may be referred to a doctor, psychiatrist, or another service that can get them access to the help they need. However, you don’t have to be in a crisis to benefit from or merit access to a counsellor. You don’t even have to be aware that you’re struggling to seek help.

Why Counselling Services are Important

Especially now with the pandemic, most students haven’t been able to have the high school experience they hoped for and thus may feel very lost on what comes next. “If a student was in grade 9 or grade 10 at the start of the pandemic, they are now in grade 11 or 12. These students have unanswered questions about pathways to post-secondary,” says Matthews. Talking to a counsellor can help answer those questions for students.

Additionally, mental health struggles can have a negative impact on many different things, including poor academic performance, impaired decision making, and worse health overall. Learning how to work through these struggles in high school can help better set up students for university and beyond.

What a Counsellor Can Help Students With

Seeking additional support can be daunting for some students. However, speaking to a counsellor doesn’t have to be a big deal. Here are a few things that counsellors can help students with: