February 12, 2023
Access to Counselors in Pennsylvania
Executive Summary
“Three leading pediatric medical organizations have declared a national state of emergency in children’s mental health” according to the Education Writers Association. In fact, 70% of US schools have reported an increase in the number of students seeking mental health help while only about 56% of students perceive they have been provided assistance for their mental health issues. In Pennsylvania, the 2021 PAYS Survey found:
40%
of students were depressed or sad most days
18%
of students reported self-harm in the last year
28%
of students felt that sometimes life is not worth it
21%
of high school students seriously considered suicide
12%
of high school students attempted suicide
38%
of students experienced a death of a friend or family member in the past year
Further, in a recent Penn State College of Education webinar, school district leaders feel frustrated because they cannot provide enough people to address the mental health needs of their students and even report students cannot access mental health providers outside of school.
One strategy to address this critical issue is to provide greater access to school counselors and ensuring the counselors actually have time to provide real counseling to students. The American School Counseling Association recommends that a counselor serve no more than 250 students.
In Pennsylvania, 6% of students and 15.6% of Black students were enrolled in schools without a full-time (FT) counselor in 2022. About 85% of students are enrolled in schools that do not meet the recommended 250:1 student-counselor ratio. More specific results for 2018 and 2022 are included in the remainder of this document.
The remainder of the report can be found below.