It started slowly, and then all at once. My daughter—bright, curious, endlessly creative—began not sleeping. Not because she was excited or had somewhere to be, but because her body was on high alert. Then she couldn’t get out of bed at all. The school day felt impossible. Her world shrank to a series of panic cycles and questions I couldn’t answer.
I didn’t recognise it at first. But the truth was simple, and devastating: school anxiety had overtaken her.
What made the difference wasn’t a magic fix or a new routine. It was a counsellor named Anne. I spoke to her every week, sometimes more. She never rushed. She never blamed. She listened, helped translate my daughter’s needs to the school, and gently steered her back to shore. With Anne’s help, my daughter made it through that patch—and went on to graduate and start university.
That’s what a good school counsellor does. They don’t just provide crisis management or career advice. They build the bridge between distress and stability. And in that gap, learning becomes possible again.
Counsellors are the only professionals in the school system specifically trained to address the emotional, psychological, and relational needs of students. They help children navigate anxiety, grief, trauma, peer conflict, and identity formation—challenges that, left unaddressed, derail learning entirely. Research consistently shows that access to qualified school counsellors reduces rates of absenteeism, self-harm, bullying, and disciplinary actions. But just as critically, counsellors play a protective role for kids whose pain doesn’t show up in obvious ways—until it does. One trusted adult, checking in regularly, can prevent a quiet withdrawal from becoming a lifelong detour.
In British Columbia, the student-to-counsellor ratios are among the worst in the country. Some schools share a single counsellor across multiple campuses. Others don’t have one at all. The result is predictable—and painful. When children can’t access mental health support, they disengage. They act out. They give up.
And then we blame them for it.
The truth is, we cannot afford to treat mental health as an add-on. A child who is drowning in stress, fear, or disconnection is not in a position to learn. Emotional support is not a “bonus.” It is the baseline. It is the difference between surviving school and belonging there.
We talk a lot about preparing students for the future. But sometimes, the most urgent work is just helping them make it through today. Counsellors do that work. Quietly. Steadily. Often invisibly.
And it is time we made that work visible—by funding it, respecting it, and making sure no child in this province has to navigate their pain alone.