The Evolving Role of Guidance Counsellors: Toronto Star Features Linden
By Vawn Himmelsbach, Special To The Star
Evolving with their students: Guidance counsellors are helping with new problems such as social media bullying, the Toronto Star, February 17, 2018.
These days, not only do students face a highly competitive academic climate and uncertain future, they’re also bombarded with challenges that didn’t exist a few decades ago — such as the prevalence of social media — that create additional sources of stress and anxiety.
As student needs have evolved, so too has guidance counselling. In the private-school system, supports tend to be multi-faceted, focusing on everything from academic success to coping with emotional distress.
“We are an academic school and we do have high-achieving students — and that can bring with it other needs, (such as) perfectionism and how to manage that,” said Ruthie Cowper Szamosi, a full-time guidance and learning counsellor at the Linden School, an all-girls’ school in Toronto. “Students should be learning through making mistakes, but that can be difficult if you’re a high achieving student.”