School Counseling and Positive Mental Health: When Does 1 + 1 = 3?

Abstract

School counseling and guidance services are specifically intended to develop and maintain positive mental health among students. Although some school counselors have been highly effective, the majority have been only moderately effective because of the difficulties they have encountered in this mission. Personal, academic, and vocational counseling and information processing from either remedial or preventative perspectives are currently the most common functions within school counseling services. The factors limiting the effectiveness of these and other school counseling functions include discrepancies between school counseling training and practice, school counselor professional isolationism, lack of understanding of school counseling roles and functions, and the poor professional attitudes of some school counselors. As the school counseling profession develops, these inhibiting factors should be overcome as a result of changes in school counselor roles and activities and associated changes in school counseling and guidance services.