Hello fellow 523 students,
I’ve imagined an App that directly links to what I do in managing my school’s post-secondary guidance department. What if there was an app that enabled connection with guidance counselors and access to resources for the many students who are placed with schools with untenable guidance counselor-to-student ratios? Please check out the Genially creation I embedded here. It was designed and formatted for mobile devices, so I encourage you to try that. If the embedded version does not work for you, please find the link HERE.
Thanks!
Steve
Hello Steve,
I appreciate the valiant effort to tackling mental health issues and counselling needs in schools, something that continues to be a growing trend in which we as educators should take a collective stance and approach to tackling. I do feel that the use of technology can help alleviate some of the issues regarding to the low ratio counsellor to student population. I was curious though to see if the app could provide a multi-layered solution rather than building a network of counsellors, and personally would lean to DIY type approaches that would equip and provide agency to youth towards building strong mental health, fortitude, and resiliency. I find that often, when speaking to colleagues, that experts are great to have to come and help, but I found the courses when taking my UBC Education program, which thoughtfully included Psychology courses, gave me some of the most important tools being a front line teacher to addressing these mental health issues.
Hello Steve,
I appreciated the concise and transparent manner in which you presented your material using Genially. As I reviewed your information, I thought this app could be an excellent resource for students who don’t have easy access to guidance counsellors, whether over the summer, on weekends, or in homeschooling situations for example. This could be a valuable tool for students in those scenarios.
Thank you for sharing this innovative idea.
Joel
Hi Steve,
Thank you for addressing this important topic. Your presentation is brief yet well explained. And your take about making this application a way to earn extra income is also interesting. I definitely believe there is a need to make counselling more accessible to students and educate them about reaching out for help from a young age.
Momina
Hi Steve,
Great idea! I often have students who are struggling to figure out what they should do after high school. Many students enjoy talking with me about their plans because they can’t get a meeting with their guidance counsellor, or they don’t receive the help they need. I can take an hour out of my lunch to help them explore programs across Canada, whereas their counsellor meetings are only 15 minutes at best. Being able to chat with or hear from someone about their ideas or specific programs would be extremely valuable. This would also be a great idea to use in Careers classes and have an assignment based on their interactions.
Thank you,
Jasmine
Hi Steve,
I appreciate the idea of this app. I know that the in-school counsellors (guidance or otherwise) are often overwhelmed with the need in many of the buildings in our school district. Being able to connect/schedule appointments through an app based on their pre-determined schedule would be beneficial. I wonder if this would change now that certain provinces have banned mobile devices in K-12 schools including Alberta, as of September.
Thank you!
Jeannine
Steve,
Excellent work on this! Very concise, specific, and well-referenced. Access to Guidance Counseling is a major issue in my school district, with ratios comparable to those you mentioned in your Genially. I think that you are correct about the affordances of mobile technology in this case; most of my interaction with parents of my students, and much of the interaction between family members, is done on mobile devices, and I can visualize that being a very helpful way to access counseling.
Logistically, I wonder if this App idea could also be used by schools and districts as well, in addition to the private sector? A colleague who works in guidance at my school has often said she would love to have some sort of streamlined platform that allowed her to schedule and conduct meetings on her phone. The work of an in-school (or multi-school) counselor seems to have them moving around a lot, so perhaps mobile technology could help.
Nice job, thanks for tackling this topic.
Sam Paterson
Hi Sam and Steve,
I would also like to weigh in on this idea of mobilizing counseling. When I was working as an outreach teacher for an alternative education program, the site in which I taught–one room for grades 9 to 12–was too far away for a counselor to attend regularly. After lots of emails to my principal and district defining the need for support, there ended up being a 9:00 to 12:00 window once every two weeks where students could meet with a counselor; by that time, needs were either disregarded, forgotten, or dealt with in a much less positive way. The students who needed to talk to someone, probably the most in the district, simply could not. This app would be an amazing resource for at-risk youth, alternative education, and remote communities. The distance to a site should not outweigh the need for counseling support. This app is a fabulous idea, and I am just imagining all of the time counselors could spend assisting instead of driving. What are your thoughts?