I have gone to many therapy sessions in my life. The earliest was a psychiatry appointment where I had left with three new titles on my back that were too complex for my 9-year old mind to understand just yet. I was not taught what Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) was, secondary PTSD, or Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). So instead of being consoled about it, I sat in mom’s car after the appointment and cried. Much to mom’s confusion, saying my life is not going to change because they put a label to my anxious vomiting.

I still don’t fully understand them to this day, and all I’ve got is that I can’t regulate my focus, I’m scared of everything, and I flinch at the same things my dad flinches at. So imagine living with that in school. It feels like hell to control my sweaty palms and try to act normal in social scenarios without screaming and running away.

I moved to Georgia after my 6th grade year. As we know, around that time was the height of the pandemic where schools were in and out of session, calling too many virtual days.. My god it was bad. For all of us, it was miserable. I had been enrolled in New Providence in Tennessee, but because of this fluctuating, confusing schedule, mom had bought me and my little brother at-home laptops, and got us on Connexus Academy for the rest of the year. I didn’t do well in virtual school, long story short, and I hardly knew my courses, teachers, or what I was being instructed to do. I learned absolutely nothing in 6th grade. Socially, and academically.

So when I’m put into a public school for 7th grade, my GAD had already impacted my social abilities, now adding a year of pointless homeschooling and the inability to leave the house, ‘lest we get “the plague,” I’m stressing. What am I doing here, why are trends different, who are these people, what state am I in for crying out loud?!

Straight up therapy has never helped as much for me. But those who did help were school counselors.

School counselors, in my opinion, are highly overlooked. It’s no secret teachers and other school faculty are not rewarded with an appreciation that definitely does NOT encompass all of what they do for the students running around their hallways. I hear too many accounts of “oh this teacher is so annoying” and “my counselor isn’t helping.” I wished my peers could look deeper and appreciate what they try to do for us instead of just giving up on the future generation

I had a 7th grade school counselor that I visited very often. Ms. Cristelli. This lady was my rock. What she did for me in school was absolutely revolutionary for me. What she did was probably more than any counselor would ever be expected to do for one student.

At least once a week, after Ms. Cristelli had caught notice of my issues in school, she called me in, asking me to talk if I felt comfortable. Somehow, after enough sessions, it got to a point where this counselor was my best friend in a sea of other people I couldn’t relate or talk to. She would occasionally call me out of class on particularly stressful days and distract me with the chance to assist with a school bulletin board, or even a simple talk. At some point we had conjured together one of those bulletin boards with different pockets where students could take out a little encouraging note to help them get through the day. And the notes would correspond with an emotion – say a student felt anxious, they would take from that pocket and have a little note to encourage them to keep on keeping on.

I even visited the same counselor in 8th grade when I was assigned someone totally different. And this counselor was not the only one working wonders for me.

As I am now a sophomore, counselors are now assigned by last name instead of by grade. I was assigned Ms. Le. Yet another absolute saint on earth, in my opinion. I may not get to visit her as often, given the increase duties high school counselors have – again referencing how the appreciation is lacking in the simple stuff we don’t know about – but she has also helped me get through panic attacks, stressors that included other people, school work, and even at home problems and other problems I’ve encountered in school. I also would not have gotten my future on the road for early graduation and a potential passion if not for her wisdom and willingness to help.

School guidance employees already go through so much education to help with the demographic they’re in. It not only takes the basic requirements of learning the general school work you’re already going to get getting into the field, but then you’d have to learn for a specific age group. So your counselor didn’t flippantly choose this job because it was easy – which it certainly is not, they chose this job because that counselor wanted to work with people like you, and help people like you.

My appreciation for school counselors is never going to waver. I hold massive respect for someone who’s willing to deal with the younger generation and their struggles – and not only deal with it, but help that student thrive.