A New Approach: Rethinking Counselling in High Schools 

June 2013. Shifting back and forth uncomfortably in my seat, I stared vacantly at the floor in that cramped office. Across from me, my high school counsellor hunched over her computer, her eyes scanning my transcript. It was the second-to-last week of school, and although I knew her name in passing, this was the first time I’d ever introduced myself, visited her office, even said a single word to her. Like so many high school students, I wouldn’t have even considered a visit to the counsellor’s office—and were it not for the fact that I intended to drop Calculus 12 that day, just hours before the final exam, I probably never would have.  

My experience was similar to that of the majority of high school students then; students who wouldn’t dare walk through those doors except to confirm they were on track to graduate. Twelve years later, attitudes surrounding mental health have shifted seismically, yet high school counselling has changed relatively little, continuing to be underutilized and stigmatized by the majority of students. Meanwhile, those who rely on it remain under-served by overburdened, under-supported counsellors and an unreliable, disconnected system that’s failing them. 

For high school students especially, research has shown that seeing a counsellor has benefits for educational outcomes, social skills, classroom behaviour, self-esteem, and post-secondary preparedness (Lavik et al., 2022). The increasing acceptance of counselling in the public consciousness has been a huge step forward for mental health in recent years, but there are systems in place that haven’t yet changed to reflect or support this. By familiarizing students with how to seek out counselling at a younger age, while changing the way we approach counselling services offered in schools, my hope is that this will prove beneficial to the well-being, success, and preparedness of students for life beyond school. Hopefully, values continue to trend in a direction that reflects an understanding of the importance of seeking help and speaking up regardless. Schools can help facilitate this change by providing more comprehensive, involved services, like integrating counselling with other health services, accessible in and out of school, and in new ways, like online and anonymous counselling options, if they want to help students facing new problems. 

High schools lagging behind: Counselling is much more accepted by the public today than in the past, but high school counselling services in British Columbia are struggling to keep up with the needs of a growing student population. 

Budget 2025 

On March 4th, the provincial government of British Columbia announced “Budget 2025: Standing Strong for B.C.” (Government of British Columbia, 2025). Included in this new budget is a $370 million commitment over the next three years to supporting students from K-12, stating that money will be invested in “hiring additional teachers, special-education teachers, teacher psychologists and counsellors.” (Government of British Columbia, 2025). Adding counsellors is sorely needed— two years ago, there numbered 577,024 students in 1,586 public schools throughout B.C., but only 1,040 full-time counsellors (Government of British Columbia, 2023). That means at least 500 public schools in B.C. without a full-time counsellor, and even more when you consider that some schools can have up to five on staff. 

The massive amount of money the provincial government is committing to education, counselling included, is promising, as is the budget’s seeming concession that we need to redefine  what a counsellor’s role should be—hence the separate mention of school psychologists. Former fellow Capilano University student Jessica Price wrote extensively a few years ago for this very publication about a need to redefine the role of school counsellors (2022). Three years later, many of the issues she detailed then still persist: a poor counsellor-to-student ratio in public schools, barriers faced by prospective counsellors to become qualified for work in schools, and the intense number of responsibilities heaped onto counsellors who get hired—much of which is not counselling kids. 

Pledging to hire more counsellors sounds like enough in theory, but it raises even more questions. First, who are they hiring? Hiring more helps, but only if there’s a pool from which to pull talent. Removing the teaching requirements from the job description would be a massive step towards increasing that pool, and would allow many who are currently only part-time counsellors in school transition to full-time. Second, the requirement for a Master’s degree in order to become a counsellor in Canada is a bit perplexing—not because it’s an easy job to do, but because almost none of the training for such a prominent career in that field occurs in undergraduate programs. Psychology undergraduate programs still skew far more towards research and theory than they do clinical and applied settings, meaning most psychology students won’t even start learning the skills they need until graduate school—if they’re fortunate enough to be selected to a program, that is. 

Density an issue?: With more than 30 public high schools in the Greater Vancouver Area alone, the distribution across the province is another logistical obstacle to addressing the high school counsellor shortage in British Columbia. 

The University of British Columbia has one of the more in-demand graduate programs for psychology in Canada. Per their website, they receive roughly 300 applicants to their MA and PhD clinical psychology each year (UBC Department of Psychology, 2024). Of those 300, only four to eight applicants are offered a spot. Now, that’s only one program at one school, but for comparison: B.C. public school enrollment went up by 1,730 from the 2021-22 school year to 2022-23. When coupled with the requirements for teaching certification and experience, the bar for entry is already high to obtain all the qualifications needed for the job. Perhaps its for that reason that psychology program undergrads have a 10% lower likelihood of working in their field after receiving their bachelor’s degree when compared to graduates in any science and engineering fields, and there are about half as many MA holders in psychology as there are BA holders (Lin et al., 2018). No doubt money for new hires will help, but it may be time to rethink the education and qualification pathways required to becoming a counsellor. 

Virtual(ly Nonexistent) 

This isn’t the first such investment the B.C. government has made in recent years. In 2020, they committed an extra $2 million to high school mental health services in an attempt to help offset the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic (The Canadian Press, 2020). During this time, B.C. high schools were making the switch to virtual classes as they were forced to close their doors. One might assume that one of the few positives that came from the pandemic was the establishment of some sort of online infrastructure in schools, similar to how many businesses have continued to accommodate work-from-home or hybrid models since the pandemic, yet only a few years later, virtual counselling services are a rarity in schools, and no government mandates have been discussed to enforce online alternative options as a mandatory service. Additionally, schools were allowed to decide how to use the additional funds; no plan or roadmap was put in place for them. 

Surveys dating back as far as 2002 have found that almost three quarters of people find it easier to talk about their problems online, and that half are likely to only discuss certain problems in virtual settings (Committee on the Science of Changing Behavioral Health Social Norms, 2016). In youth, these numbers are even higher, with the anonymity provided in online environments having an empowering effect on what they feel comfortable sharing (Committee on the Science of Changing Behavioral Health Social Norms, 2016). No matter what one thinks of it, kids are becoming increasingly at-home with online interaction. There are alternatives outside of school for students in need of virtual counselling, but then why have in-person, in-school counsellors, when most students might be better off using a service they don’t provide? 

Organizations like Foundry offer virtual drop-in, same-day counselling free of charge for youths aged twelve to twenty-four (Foundry, 2024). Video, audio calls, or even text chat are all options for clients, providing a virtual space that allows maximum comfort and anonymity. Originally named the BC Integrated Youth Services Initiative, Foundry was created in 2015 via funding from the provincial government and a number of organizations and donors with the aim of creating a dedicated space for holistic, integrated care for youth (Foundry, 2024). Mental health support is one of five core services offered by Foundry; they also help treat substance use, physical health, provide peer support, and social services. This type of comprehensive approach to treatment is an attempt to solve the ongoing problem of “pinballing”—repeatedly bouncing around children in need somewhere else for care, school, treatment, homes (Balfour, 2024).  

Supply & Demand: The provincial government has committed to hiring new counsellors, but with Counselling Psychology programs like the University of British Columbia’s only accepting a maximum of eight applicants per year, they may have to rethink the job requirements. 

Dr. Jennifer Balfour, a pediatrician from Victoria, wrote with concern about pinballing children in need last December for the Times Colonist (2024). In that opinion piece, she pointed out the obstacles created by the need for communication (or lack thereof) between governing bodies. “The complicated intersection of three ministries — Health, Education, and Child and Family Development — creates a system of pinballing children where nobody is adequately accountable.” She went on to point out that a visit to one specialist often results in a referral to another. This is unfortunately not an issue unique to children; perhaps, like me, you’ve waited months for an MRI only to find out you’ll have to wait years for a neurosurgeon. However, with how often psychological disorders occur early in life, the need may be even stronger for young people to cover all bases at once. 

“A lot of my referrals actually come from people already at the clinic”, commented registered counsellor Alexandra Pesa, speaking of the private clinic she works at along with registered massage therapists, chiropractors, physiotherapists, and more (A. Pesa, personal communication, 2025). This has become the norm for many private clinics like this, offering an all-encompassing centre for all health needs, physical, mental, or emotional. Not only is this more cost-effective for clinics, it also allows for maximum communication between practitioners and can even allow for multiple types of intervention in a single visit. 

Mental Health Stigma 

Attitudes around counselling do seem to be trending in a positive direction for adults. In the U.S., 17.1 percent of men and 28.5 percent of women (ages 18 and up) sought out some form of mental health treatment in 2023—though these may seem low, that’s an increase of roughly 7 and 9 percent, respectively, in a five-year period (Vankar, 2024). Yet there remains documented stigma around seeking out counselling services at the high school level. One 2022 survey found that one third of high school students who considered seeing their school counsellor for help outside of career services decided against it due to concerns of judgment or thinking their problems weren’t worth their counsellor’s time (Modan). An even higher number said they had doubts that their parents would take their problems seriously, or stated they wouldn’t want them to know that they had been seeking help (Modan, 2022). 

In my case, I never fathomed seeking out counselling until a disastrous first year at SFU in which I was uninterested, unmotivated, and unhappy. By that point it felt like an admission that something was wrong with me if I chose to seek help. “If you were an A student all throughout high school and then you go to university and things get real, real hard, real fast, it almost starts to threaten that sense of things like identity,” says Alexandra Pesa (personal communication, 2025). She focuses on two fundamental needs in her work: the need for attachment, and the need for authenticity. “We need a sense of belonging to live a fulfilling, happy life. (…) I find that the need for authenticity often gets cast aside in order to appease the need for attachment” (A. Pesa, personal communication, 2025). 

In a high school setting, this is a fact of everyday life. Worrying about cliques, popularity, fitting in, all the cliches are well-known at this point, but they’re mainstays of the high school experience that have persisted across generations. It can be daunting for kids to be their “true self” when they believe it could be at odds with fitting in, and keeping up with friends, trends, fashion, and pop culture can be a full-time job at that age. However, attachment isn’t just important with regards to high school popularity; it can also determine how effective counselling can be. 

A Solid Foundation: Complementing their online services, Foundry has seventeen centres across British Columbia, with several more in development. 

Starting out in counselling can be tough for a number of reasons, especially for younger people. One study from 2022 found that at first, it can actually cause even more problems: “during the initial phase of therapy, clients described feeling overwhelmed by fear and shame” (Lavik et al.). That may not be the ideal long-term outcome, but if counselling is something one only considers once there’s a problem, it may be inevitable—at least with the way things are structured now. The study goes on to add that “positive relational development occurred when these emotions were successfully accommodated and replaced with a growing sense of safety with the therapist” (Lavik et al., 2022). 

“When I was growing up it was more of a solutions-based approach,” says Alexandra Pesa, “Coming to therapy with the expectation that [your] problems are going to be fixed and it’s going to be quick and it’s going to be easy, it’s very unrealistic” (personal communication, 2025). 

How then could we address this, simultaneously getting students acclimated and familiar with their counsellor, avoiding the stigma that comes with seeking treatment in schools—especially when one must walk by their peers just to get through the door to their counsellor’s office—and building that relationship in a healthier, more sustained manner? Forcing students into counselling would backfire, warns Dorothy Stubbe, program director of residency training and medical director at Yale School of Medicine’s Child Study Center (2018). Putting aside the likely backlash from parents, children themselves have actually been found to feel additional stigma when placed into counselling involuntarily (Stubbe, 2018). So why not find a way for students to meet their counsellors outside of a typical counselling session? 

A New Approach 

Rather than waiting until help is needed, schools could arrange for all new students, whether it’s the new eighth grade class or incoming transfers, to meet one on one with their counsellors in the first month of school. It’s a lot harder to stigmatize that first visit if everyone has one, and it allows students a chance to get to know their counsellors in a context where they feel more like an equal and less like a dependent, hopefully dispelling the usual anxiety or fear they would face during an initial session. However, if schools chose to expand that to once a term, the workload may add up. At that point, additional hires would definitely be necessary. So too would redefining the job description; career and academic counselling are also extremely important, but they’re also very different areas of expertise from mental health work. If the B.C. government plans to spend a sizeable portion of that budget on mental health in schools, then hopefully schools could have dedicated career and academic counsellors alongside mental health counsellors assigned to specific cohorts, that way students could maintain and build upon those same foundations of trust throughout high school. 

However, what about the issue of pinballing? If school counsellors end up having to refer to outside specialists to address a child’s needs, doesn’t this negate any positive change? That’s where comprehensive care can help offset some potential problems. “Creating a network between not only school counsellor, but doctors as well”, suggests Alexandra Pesa, “Creating more conversations between practitioners” (personal communication, 2025) 

Foundry has thus far served as an alternative form of treatment, but it should be viewed as proof of concept for far more than that. Why not treat the counselling offices in a school as a separate entity? Rather than forcing counsellors to be accredited teachers, allow accredited counsellors to work independently, or at least free of the burden of the added paperwork of school staff—that at least takes one of the three ministries out of the equation. Foundry could serve as the model for how regular treatment centres can be structured, allowing staff from those centres to serve in schools and thus avoiding the dilemma of school and external counsellors or other practitioners not communicating. If children need more than just that one initial meeting, or one per term, or however many are structured, then they’ll be able to book virtually too, and receive the help they need outside of regular school hours with the option to meet anonymously. We may never be able to eliminate the stigma of stepping through that door, but we can make it so that they never have to.

An Integrated Approach: In addition to her own practice, Alexandra Pesa also works as a counsellor at Parallel Wellness and Strive Health & Performance, both of which offer several other health services to their clients.

This also puts children who need additional support, or different kinds of treatment or care, in direct contact with a care centre who can provide all that they need much faster and much more efficiently than if they were to go through the process of never-ending referrals the Canadian care system is rife with. As for the cost? The government has already declared their financial commitment to address these issues, so why not address them systemically instead of symptomatically? Instead of offering to hire from a limited pool to serve until inevitably burnt out, change the job itself. Make it more desirable, more useful, and more attainable. Don’t just hire more counsellors, motivate more students to want to be counsellors, and perhaps more importantly, stay counsellors. The cost to commit total reform might seem higher, but it’s a lot less expensive than periodically burning money with no direction. 

In addition, it presents an opportunity to hire a more diverse field of practitioners—one survey found that students from racial or ethnic minorities are less likely to feel they have adults at their school they can trust, while LGBTQ students reported having “poor mental health” almost 40% more often than heterosexual students (Modan, 2022). Virtual video, voice, and text chat options also make counselling more accessible for students with a wide range of needs. 

Conclusion 

There’s plenty of research backing up the benefits of counselling, and this is not just coming from someone who hopes to one day be a counsellor, but maybe more importantly from someone who once saw no upside, all downside to it as a high school student, like so many others before and since. Many mental health disorders begin in adolescence, so it’s imperative we do all we can to lay the groundwork for student support systems in a way that’s de-stigmatized, non-discriminatory, comprehensive, and accessible to every child. They don’t even have to use it, maybe some feel better without it. However, they deserve to know that system is there for them, and in order for that to happen, that system needs to change. 

I’ll be the first to admit, the likelihood of things changing so drastically is slim. There’s every incentive to make a change, but when the change involves tax payer dollars, parents, Canadian health care, and the school system, it may seem unlikely. However, if this helps shed light on the issue of counselling in schools, or informs someone of how to approach treatment for their child, or even how NOT to approach it, then it was worth writing. If by some miracle this were to all come to fruition, and I could work as a school counsellor one day in the future, without also having to teach physics or gym, or sleep under a pile of paperwork three days a week when I should be helping students, or scan the next kid like me’s transcript so he can drop calculus right before the final exam? Then I’ll proudly be a part of that change. 

References 

Balfour, J. (2024). Comment: “Pinballing” children means they don’t get help. Times Colonist. https://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/comment-pinballing-children-means-they-dont-get-help-9950814  

Committee on the Science of Changing Behavioral Health Social Norms; Board on Behavioral, Cognitive, and Sensory Sciences; Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education; National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2016). Ending Discrimination Against People with Mental and Substance Use Disorders. In National Academies Press eBooks. https://doi.org/10.17226/23442  

Foundry. (2024). Foundry – where wellness takes shape. https://foundrybc.ca/  

Government of British Columbia. (2023). Education by the numbers. BC Gov News – Education and Child Care. https://news.gov.bc.ca/factsheets/education-by-the-numbers  

Government of British Columbia. (2025). Standing strong for B.C.: Budget prepares to defend British Columbians. BC Gov News. https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2025FIN0010-000165  

Lavik, K. O., McAleavey, A. A., Kvendseth, E. K., & Moltu, C. (2022). Relationship and alliance Formation Processes in Psychotherapy: A Dual-Perspective Qualitative Study. Frontiers in Psychology, 13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.915932  

Lin, L., Ghaness, A., Stamm, K., Christidis, P., & Conroy, J. (2018). Do psychology degree holders work in psychology jobs? Monitor on Psychology, 49(9). https://www.apa.org/monitor/2018/10/datapoint 

Modan, N. (2022). Survey: Third of students reluctant to seek help for mental health issues. K-12 Dive. https://www.k12dive.com/news/survey-third-of-students-reluctant-to-seek-help-for-mental-health-issues/624200/#:~:text=Almost%20a%20third%20of%20students,be%20judged%2C%20according%20to%20a  

Price, J. (2022). School Counsellors: The Stressed-out Mental Health Experts. Capstone. https://capstone.capilanou.ca/2022/05/27/school-counsellors-the-stressed-out-mental-health-experts/  

Stubbe, D. E. (2018). The Therapeutic Alliance: The Fundamental Element of Psychotherapy. Focus, 16(4), 402–403. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.focus.20180022 

UBC Department of Psychology. (2024). Program & admission details – UBC Department of Psychology. https://psych.ubc.ca/graduate/research-streams/clinical/program-admission-details/  

The Canadian Press. (2020). B.C. schools receive $2-million cash boost to promote mental health. CBC News. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-schools-2-million-boost-mental-health-1.5709679  

Vankar, P. (2024). Mental health treatment or counseling among U.S. women 2002-2023. Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/666461/mental-health-treatment-counseling-past-year-us-women/#statisticContainer  

Vankar, P. (2024). Mental health treatment or counseling among U.S. men 2002-2023. Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/673172/mental-health-treatment-counseling-past-year-us-men/#:~:text=In%202023%2C%20around%2017%20percent,counseling%20in%20the%20past%20year