Have you ever been to your school counselor?

[Up In The Clouds]

What was it for? What did they do?

[Nomophobia]

yes i have

initially it was because i was being bullied, but then i started opening up about stuff going on and it turned into a more drawn out thing.
all that happened was i met with the counselor once a week, talked to her and she gave me advice on all sorts of things. she was great with the bullying, she spoke to my head of year and had me move tutor groups and classes and was a great support!

[MegaMadness]

I have, just because I could really. Got outta class a few times to chill.

[Dez]

Well, it was in middle school and not high school where I went for my own problems. At first my mother made me go because I had a horrible body image, but I started talking to her about my self harm and what was going on in my life. I found that she really helped me out.

In high school, I haven't been to my sophomore counselor, but in freshman year, I saw the one I had then once to talk about what I was gonna do with my life or something...?

[Le bonheur*]

Yes. My high school counselor because my friends told her about my self-harm.

[Awakening]

I talk to my currently one frequently about school. Scholarships and things like that, nothing serious.
When I was in middle school I also did, but that wasn't by choice. She had found out about my self harm. Let's just say it didn't go over well.

But that's only because I wasn't willing to listen. If I would have had an open mind it would have gone a lot better. I encourage everybody to talk to their school counselor if they need to. They're really are there to help you out.

[sassygurlone]

Yes, I talked to my counselor all the time. She was informed of all of my issues the first time I went in to the hospital. The first month I was in residential I was still allowed to go to my regular school because it was right down the street from the residential treatment center I was in so during that month I had to check in with her pretty much every day and all of my teachers were informed to. My guidance counselor was really cool. She didn't judge me and she really cared.

[moyshi239]

I went once when I was going through a rough time. During the time we mainly talked about a family issue that was going on and what I should do about it. She was nice, she listened to what I had to say, and helped me decide on what to do next. I didn't meet with her again, but it did help a bit.

I would really recommend going to talk with a school counselor. Some of them are really great and it's nice to get extra support from an actual professional. :]

[bailatyvm]

Ugh; yes. They found out about my self-harm and it ended miserably. I wasn't giving in to them, because...it was bad bad bad. That was honestly one of the worst parts of my sophomore year. Urgggggh. Never again.

[Heartlines.]

I've been to my school counselor many times. I mostly used her to vent to and ask questions to. She was a good person to talk to. She would listen to me, and offer up genuine advice. She was really, really great when my eating disorder was real bad. Mind you, at first it was hard to just vent to her, but it got easier. It was definitely real helpful though! And I'm glad I went to see her. It was also a way to get out of class when I was feeling overwhelmed and stressed out. She was real good about letting me just sit in there while I calmed down. :]

[ReluctantPegasister]

Yes I have. Mine does shit. She screws up my schedule, doesn't help me with my arthritis, got me in trouble with my mother, and is never where she is supposed to be. She comes in late, leaves for lunch, and then leaves before the school day is up so the only way to see her is to miss class.

[KeepOnDreaming]

Long time ago. In 4th grade. They called difice. :/ I can honestly say that my counselor didn't help a single problem of mine, just made everything worse. And all the crap that came after that...

[volleyballchick751]

Yep, a few times. At first cuz my mom talked to him about the fam issuess, then i told him about my sh. He didnt do anything, other than be more spiritual, and try harder to quit. FAIL. so I havnt gone at all this year.

[Peppermint Tea.♥]

I was in regular counseling with the school counselor for self harm, but I didn't like her much. She got me to talk through what had happened each week and how I felt, asked me if I had self harmed since we last spoke and then did some activity, like colouring in mood things or playing in the sand pit. I was about 13 and it didn't really help so I stopped going.

Recently the school got a new counselor and I went to see him. He was nice, but he mainly listened and then spun what I said back to me in a weird way. So I said I wanted to die and he said I was stressed. Which I found very off putting because although he meant well I felt as if I was being belittled.

I finished school, so I stopped going. Now I'm back in sixth form I'm considering seeing him again to do with eating issues.

I've had a couple of not so great experiences, but nothing terrible happened and you should keep trying until you find a counselor who suits you, even if it means you have to go to your doctor.

For one off visits I found speaking to the counselor very beneficial, it was only when it started becoming more regular that it stopped working.

[Kate*]

In middle school I was forced to go because the teachers noticed that I didn't have any friends. I had PLENTY of friends, but I didn't have any classes with them because we had 2 seperate sets of teachers. My mom said that the teacher's weekly "meetings" seemed to her to be an excuse to gosip about students. Neither my mom or I had any warning and I didn't even talk to the counselor. I talked to my spanish teacher because she was working on her master's in school counseling (I guess they figured it was ok because I already knew and trusted her) I have NO IDEA what she was saying to other people or who she was saying it to because it never occured to me to ask her about that.

[Loxxi Deloxity]

I was forced to see mine because i was mentally and emotionally unstable and self harmed. My counsellor convinced me to tell my mum and get mental help ASAP. Kind of helped but they can annoy you at times if they start to challenge you xx

[Aletheia*]

Yes. I seen my school counselor for drug addiction. I was put into a group of about 7-8 other girls who were suffering from addiction problems, such as drugs or alcohol and girl's who were the children of abusers. I happened to be a part of both groups. We would meet every Monday during alternating classes (First meeting would be during first period, the next week's second period, and so on) throughout the first and second semester's of school. We had our regular school counselor, and we had an addictions counselor come in from a rehabilitation facility nearby to aide in whatever we were talking about. We'd discuss different topics every session, and over all, it helped me quite a bit. I also seen my counselor for relationship and family issues. They're there to help you, and to get you through whatever possible issues you might be facing at that point in your life.

[Unicorn ♥✿]

Originally Posted by MegaMadness

I have, just because I could really. Got outta class a few times to chill.

This, she was a stubborn cow who never listened, so I gave up with her (home problems she dealt with too) and just used her to get out of classes

[Live Aloha]

All the time. The senior counselor is super cool. I'm pretty much in her office every day to cruz and not go to class. That's seriously the gathering place if you don't want to be in class! Everyone is in there. Haha!

[LostTeen011]

Well my high school counselor would always call me in to talk about academics.....I hated her. Ever since I was a freshman she wouldn't say very encouraging things to me. In fact they were very discouraging and the ONE day in my senior year when I needed to talk about my personal problems really bad.....she wasn't there. Also, I had classes with a boy who mercifully teased and taunted me until I was in tears for years. I went to her to ask if I could change my classes and she said absolutely not because she wouldn't entertain that and we would have to learn to get along. Luckily, he changed his class schedule.

[Fairy Poppins]

Yeah, I went to see a school counselor once.

But she wasn't of much help because she said she could only see me until the end of term, in other words, my problems needed to be "fixed" in a few weeks.

Realising that this was impossible (severe OCD and depression don't disappear that quickly), I didn't go back and got referred to CAMHS* by my doctor instead.

School counselors are great if you just need someone to talk to, but if your problems are severe enough to need some kind of therapy/treatment, look elsewhere.

*Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services

[TakeTheLeap]

Yes. When I was in high school, I saw my guidance counselor pretty frequently. My sister, brother and I all had the same counselor (they went by last names), and because my brother was a bit of a troublemaker (but he trusted our counselor), our counselor would come and check on me for no reason - he used to pull me out of class just to see how things were going and he always knew when I was lying (I would say I was okay when I wasn't) because he already knew what my family was going through at the time. We discussed my brother abusing me, my dad's health problems (my senior year, my dad had quadruple bypass surgery and it hit me really hard), academics, extra curriculars, and just life in general. It wasn't always bad though. We talked about anything and everything.

I also had an incident back in 10th grade where I had a classmate hit on me in a very creepy manner. I went to my counselor about switching to a different class, and they ended up switching the creepy guy to a different class because they didn't want to punish me for his stupidity.

And, OF COURSE... My senior year, my counselor was doing all of the college counseling with me - applications, scholarships, going through the waiting games, etc.


Sadly, Dr. Bennett passed away in March 2008, during my freshman year of college. He was a good man and I do miss him... a lot. This was us at the end of my senior year:

RIP Dr. Bennett. <3

[Dez]

I can now say I have started seeing my high school counselor for more with self harm. It went better than I thought it would. My parents are pissed and pretty much put a stop to the SH that way, but the counselor is pretty much there for me now. She's young so she understands pretty well, and she can be pretty comforting. I dunno, she's willing to give hugs or a caring touch and for some reason it actually makes me feel better.

[savealife723]

In ninth grade, I always went to my school counselor. He was so cool, and so nice and I trusted him a lot. He was the best.

Sophomore and Junior year though, I haven't been to my counselor for anything. I don't really have to, and with so many kids at my school and not enough counselors, they don't really have time for me anyway.

[Sincerely Yours ♥]

I went to my designated school counselor for changing classes & discussing colleges all throughout junior high & high school

I went to a peer counselor once, which led to me seeing another school counselor when they thought I was suicidal. I was having some problems my freshman year.

[Nicole!]

I only went once and that was to switch classes

[Iridescence]

Nope. I go to an out of school counselor. Our school counselor is such a bitch

[hopefaithlove]

Yes. I went to her on my own during my junior year in November. She was worried, so I began going every few weeks. By January, I was there every day during my free period or lunch. It continued like that until I graduated, but wasn't as often as I recovered. She is one of the most influential people in my life. I talk to her every so often (junior in college now). I miss her.

She saved my life- yes, there were INCREDIBLY difficult conversations and times she called my parents which sucked, but in the end, I know it was so important and she is a HUGE part of who I am today.

[Marguerite]

Yes. For a few reasons in years 8-10. Not frequently and never about the actual problems I had funnily enough.

Once I got into a fight with a bunch of girls. They were total bogans (chavs, trailer trash) and were always going around insulting and being rude to people, then just expecting them to take it. I'm not that kind of person so I told them where to shove it. I got in heaps of trouble and the school counselor wanted to talk to me. She was all "I heard it was a group of girls against one. Who was the one that you were fighting with?" I said "Me..." and she didn't believe me at all, the stupid cow.

Then some bitch pushed me over in front of her office and when I got up I was about to kill her. Of course the counselor only came out when I was yellling and I got in the trouble.

Then about my attendence. I hardly ever showed up. She just asked me if I was depressed about 20 different ways (are you blue? Feeling down? In a rut?) I was depressed but I just lied about it. Then she asked me if I was a lesbian. What the freaking hell stupid cow.

[Dream]

I was sent to the school counselor because my teacher thought something was wrong with me. This happened more than once if I recall correctly.

They asked me if there were any problems at home or anything like that. I didn't give them much information because there weren't really any problems at home. I was unwilling to talk about myself and didn't understand myself back then, so basically it was just a waste of time that accomplished nothing.

[MegaMadness]

Just thought I'd add one of them at my school was so hopeless. He told to go on youtube if I ever felt depressed. Best advice he coulda gave ay

[Briana]

I went once. It was either freshmen or sophomore year. My two friends went with me...well actually they forced me to go, because I was struggling with bullying and a few other things, at the time. I hated it. I loved my friends being there, but talking to a counsellor about my life, was horrible.