A study by the American Psychological Association regarding Stress in America of over a thousand students and over two thousand adults from all over the country showed that, “Teens' average stress level was 5.8 out of 10 during the school year and 4.6,” during the summer, while, “Adults reported average levels of 5.1 in the past month.” On top of that, due to the stress they felt, “40% of teens report feeling irritable or angry; 36% nervous or anxious” (Jayson).
Students are more stressed during the school year than adults, which had negative effects on those teens. The reason for students’ high stress levels is that students are struggling to deal with the levels of stress that school brings, and this level of stress is leading to undesirable behaviors. This study reported that a majority of teens in America feel this way, and therefore, this also applies to students at Summit Shasta. The stress that students are feelings is also causing negative emotions in students, and is leaving them short-tempered and high-strung. If students were able to learn better and healthier ways to deal with stress, then they would be able to reduce their level of stress. Therefore, Summit Shasta needs counselors in order to introduce students to healthy methods of dealing with stress. Additionally, in the same study, a significant number of students reported experienced high levels of stress. In the previous study, “More than a quarter (27%) say they experience "extreme stress" during the school year,” however, when the survey was done again in the summer, “13% (of the students)” reported high levels of stress, “and 34% expect stress to increase in the coming year” (Jayson). More than a fourth of students reported very high levels of stress in the school year, and a third of students expect their current stress level to go up as they advance into the next year. Students are not only reporting that they are feeling stress, but they are feeling intense amounts of stress, and they simply expect that amount of stress to go up. Not only are students feeling stress and high levels of that stress, but that stress is also beginning to negatively impact their behavior. Because the amount of students who report high stress levels decreases in the summer, we can accurately say that this stress can be contributed to school. Therefore, this makes it even more essential that students have the opportunity to learn these skills and to have easy access to professional counseling within school. Furthermore, when students expressed worry over the mental health at Summit Shasta, they …show more content…
However, only 25% of the people surveyed reported that they receive help for a mental illness.
A survey done of a fifth of the students at Summit Shasta reported that while more than a fourth of students have been officially diagnosed with a mental illness, exactly a quarter of students receive help for their mental illness. Not every student who has mental illness is receiving help for it, and there are likely still students who have not yet received official diagnoses. While the amount of students diagnosed should be the exact same number as students who are receiving treatment, that is not so. Students need to be able to access mental health care readily, and so Summit Shasta should have …show more content…
Emotional intelligence is defined by Google as being, “the capacity to be aware of, control, and express one's emotions, and to handle interpersonal relationships judiciously and empathetically.” While these are skills commonly taught to students by counselors, our teachers do not have the same qualifications that a counselor would. Additionally, while mentors are meant to be support system for a student, they fill an academic position, rather than a psychological one.
As shown, professional counselors require additional training, whilst teachers are not required to have these same qualifications.
A website detailing the requirement for becoming a counselor listed the academic requirements. To be a school counselor, one must have a master’s degree or higher “in counseling from a regionally accredited university” and they also “must have a minimum of 48 semester or 72 quarter hours of graduate-level academic credits in counseling” (National Certified