Five Ways School Counselors Can be Great Assets to Your Children

School counselors can help your child in a variety of ways. Not only do they help students navigate their emotional lives, but they also help nurture them, reflect with them, and assist them in setting goals. San Diego Christian Counseling can complement these efforts by providing additional support for emotional and spiritual growth. Another principal role of high school counselors is working with them to discover a career path they may want to pursue.

School counselors can help kids navigate the next steps in their careers in many ways. Because kids don’t always know what they want to do with their lives at the end of high school, school counselors can be a safe place for them to talk regarding their strengths and weaknesses. Likewise, a counselor can help the teen think through what the best fit might be for a career pathway given their personality, passions, and goals.

Here are four ways school counselors can be a great asset to your children:

School counselors can assist with goal setting

No matter how ambitious your child is, they may have difficulty seeing the future. Kids often only look at the temporal, short-term circumstances facing them. They have difficulty setting goals for a myriad of reasons. This can be because parents don’t take the time to help them set or achieve goals. Their parents may not have goals themselves and are simply going through the motions of life.

Teens also have problems setting goals because they have a hard time envisioning what their lives will be like or even what they want their lives to be like five, ten, or twenty years from now. Society teaches them instant gratification and because of this, it makes it difficult for kids to delay gratification to achieve a goal that exists months or years away.

Additionally, they may struggle to get organized in school, think about assignments, and focus on tasks completed that day. However, school counselors help keep them accountable and help them set goals for their future. If a child uses a school counselor by their sophomore year, they can set reasonable goals regarding good grades and SAT scores. The counselor can help them create a plan for getting into the college program that would be the best fit for them.

They can give a broad perspective

They can dispense advice and help offer alternatives. It is typical for teens to change their minds regarding their future occupations. Counselors can help them set goals so that it doesn’t matter what program they want to go into, the goals they set will help them not only to get into college but thrive there as well.

Furthermore, counselors are trained to administer specific tests that help pinpoint a child’s strengths and steer them toward the best major. There are written tests children can take called career inventories that will help them take stock of what they like to do and what they don’t. Because choosing a career can be so overwhelming, the teen may need the help of a counselor.

School counselors can help teens identify their strengths

A counselor can create a safe environment for teens to deal with their emotions effectively and ultimately see their worth, value, and strengths. Due to their professional training, they are equipped to help teens process complex feelings and emotions they may experience during this tumultuous time in their lives.

Issues at home, such as addiction, divorce, and blended families, as well as school difficulties, like bullying, grades, and relationships, can leave teens feeling overwhelmed and uncertain about their future. Counselors can support and advise students and also refer them to further professional help if needed.

As teens go through puberty, they often struggle with self-esteem and achieving a healthy self-concept. Counselors understand this and can see the child’s strengths and weaknesses. This perspective is helpful as a child grows. As counselors get to know the teens, they will be able to speak affirmation and clarity into their lives.

As trust builds throughout the years between the counselor and student, the counselor can offer a student another perspective than a parent or other figure in their lives. A counselor can also help them understand that their emotions and feelings during this time are normal, do not need to be feared, and can be embraced.

They can help build confidence

Teens may sometimes know what occupation or career they want, but they may feel afraid to assertively pursue that program out of fear of rejection or failure. Counselors can help encourage students to take risks, as the first step, to help them to achieve their goals. Teens may not want to listen to their parents but are willing to listen to the trusted advice of a school counselor.

Counselors can see them from a different perspective, encourage them, and allow the teen to leave school confident that they have made the right career choice and come away with a healthy self-concept.

School counselors can help with financial aid

One of the big fears for teens going off to college is the financial piece of it. As teens face adulthood, having financial burdens weighing on them can be scary. Counselors not only help kids choose their preferred program or college, but they can also point them toward scholarships, grants, and other financial aid that may help them get there. This helps ease the teen’s financial burden and makes them more confident to make the right choice in their career.

Since the financial burden is a heavyweight, young people want to have as minimal debt as possible. Counselors can help students choose a good school that’s right for them and direct them toward financial aid opportunities.

School counselors can play a significant role in a child’s life. As children grow, it’s good for them to have an adult who will encourage them, validate them, and help them seek their goals to realistically achieve them by the time they leave school. Some counselors can offer great wisdom to teens who are fearful and hesitant. Counselors can be a great asset to the kids in their school and a great resource for students to achieve positive life goals.

Getting help

A school counselor offers a wide variety of services and support. However, if you notice your teen seems depressed, unmotivated, or exceptionally disconnected from plans for their future, it might be wise to make an appointment for your child with a therapist at San Diego Christian Counseling.

A school counselor can be helpful, but your child might need psychological support to be in a place to plan for the future. If this feels true for your teen, please reach out to our office today at San Diego Christian Counseling for an appointment with a trained therapist in San Diego, California.