As educators, this Coronavirus, COVID-19, really has thrown us for a loop! Frankly, we aren’t the only ones. Our country is lost in this new and uncharted territory. But, I feel the most empathetic towards my education colleagues, simply because we work with children whom we didn’t get the chance to say goodbye to, or prepare them for the world ahead of us.

When this sheltering in-place started my district counseling colleagues and I had a meeting and we discussed how we were going to service our students from home. We have one real “go-getter” on our team who helps keep the rest of us up to date on the techy stuff. This blog right here, this is already more techy than I like to be – but here I am doing. It’s proof we can evolve 🙂

Anyway, my counseling colleague said that she would be doing tele-therapy online using Zoom. I’m not going to lie, the idea of that gave me anxiety. I did not feel like it could be effective, when students are used to having a private setting where they can freely share. Now, they would be home with a captivated audience who probably wonder what exactly goes on in that counseling office anyway. My first thought was no-way, I’m not doing that! But during this time, and the many delays that led to the school closure for the rest of this academic year, I realized that no matter what those students need me.

Why should we offer online counseling?

• For Check-ins: Our students need us. Even if it is for the simple fact of connecting with another human who isn’t sheltered in with them.
• For Child Welfare: I want to know that they are alright both physically and mentally. A check-in online is a great way to confirm this.
• For Resources: As a counselor we have a lot of connections to local resources available such as food pantries, mental health service referrals, clothing, etc. Many families may not have needed these services before, and may not know that we have this information available. It is important that we make sure everyone in our school families is aware of these available resources.

This is what helped me find my place in “Distance Learning” Counseling. I do not host actual 1:1 counseling sessions with students unless the parent requests such a service, but I do invite students to small groups and lessons.

Here are a few of the things that I do in my daily routine to help provide counseling office services students:

• Make phone-calls to student families that I was already contacting regularly.
• Check-in on students families that have expressed a need, follow up to see that it has been met.
• Resume small groups that were happening before: I call them my “Lunch Bunch” and we meet at noon. (I had to start this slowly – one group at a time because it felt very overwhelming).
• Begin larger grade-level meetings with Character Education Lessons and share the information on your public platforms as well as the platforms for your school.

My biggest advice is to remain consistent. I started with one thing, and when I became really good at that, I layered on a new thing. It gets crazy and a little overwhelming at times, but in the end it is worth it because I am getting to connect with some of the kids who I have been worried about. As educators, we are in a very tender and precious position where we get to care for and love somebody else’s children for a large part of our day. Those children laugh with us, share with us and just become a special part of our life. Sometimes they share their not-so-happy moments with us too, and it is hard to stop thinking about that. The best thing we can do is show up in the best ways that we know how and let them know that we still care.