By Hannah Bernstein
Mental illness pervades young America. According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, “Up to one in five kids living in the U.S. show signs or symptoms of a mental health disorder in a given year.” This is reflected microcosmically amongst students at the Little Red School House and Elisabeth Irwin High School. One of the most important tools LREI provides to combat this crisis is a school guidance counselor. The American School Counselor Association asserts that, “[b]ecause of school counselors’ training and position, they are uniquely qualified to provide education, prevention, intervention and referral services to students and their families.” At LREI, the person filling this essential role is Lauren Feiden. However many students are unaware of Feiden’s services.
Guidance counselor Lauren Feiden is covering for Alexis Kahan while Kahan is on her maternity leave, which may play some role in the lack of people’s awareness of her availability. Feiden describes her job as “[helping] with stress management stuff or just creating a space where kids want to talk.” Yet, even though Feiden is new to the school, she recognizes the lack of promotion of her work. “It’s something the school doesn’t necessarily put out there that might be helpful for students to just know about,” she said thoughtfully.
One of the aspects Feiden thinks contributes to a sense of confusion is that the location of her office is “a little hidden.” Since the office is in the basement by the bathrooms, Feiden believes “it’s not the same way that the Nurse is there; everyone knows where the nurse’s office is. People don’t necessarily know the psychologist is a resource.” Some students know that the school has a guidance counselor but are unsure of where and who she is. “I think her office is next to the bathroom and I might have walked past it a couple times,” remarks Junior Sarah Katz. “But I have no idea who she is or what she looks like! But I know she’s there.” Junior Emily Lu had had similar experiences over the last two years with the previous guidance counselors. “They kind of just stay in the basement,” she quips.
So, how do students find their way to the psychologist if need be? According to Feiden, “the person has to ask for help in order to get some of these resources.” While she thinks that this is in line with the progressive model that requires students to start dialogues with teachers, it still doesn’t account for the simple fact that most of the student body might not even know there’s a physical counselor there to ask for help.
Some students think there should be direct communication about the resources available, considering that certain students are not equipped to ask for help. “The resources are there, if you seek them out, but it’s also hard to seek them out, or like, uncomfortable,” comments Lu. Katz agrees: “It’s definitely a resource at our school that I think is important that people just don’t know about,” she says. “People might feel embarrassed to go.”
Lu thinks introducing the school guidance counselor at the beginning of the year or even having students establish a one on one conversation with Feiden before any issues arise could solve some of these issues. “I feel like everyone would have to go so it’s not like ‘you one person are singled out because you need therapy,’” Lu commented.
One anonymous student who has been helped by visiting the school guidance counselor still recognizes the lack of knowledge of her services. “I think she does her job well, I just think that the school doesn’t promote her enough,” they sighed. One solution this student offered was “maybe every year the administration can remind the student body where and who the guidance counselor is during an assembly.”
In a world where mental health is becoming more and more prevalent, LREI’s resources could mean the difference between a good and bad high school experience. Having a guidance counselor at Elisabeth Irwin is thus a great asset to many students. However, Feiden’s important work is being underutilized due to lack of awareness. Feiden believes the solution is “letting it be known more, that this is a resource, what it means to see the school psychologist, and what services we can provide.”