Empowering Conversations During National School Counseling Week

In honor of National School Counseling Week, we want to highlight the invaluable role that your child’s school counselor plays in shaping their lives. School counselors support their students in many ways, from addressing their academic questions to helping them manage emotions to empowering them to make healthy and responsible decisions. This matters because conversations matter – and when kids feel seen and heard, they thrive.

Recent research from the National Institute of Drug Abuse’s Monitoring the Future Survey found that alcohol consumption among America’s teens is at or near record low levels and below pre-pandemic prevalence rates. In fact, eight out of ten 8th graders have never consumed alcohol, and lifetime consumption among 8th graders has declined 25%, proportionally, over the past decade. 

Establishing a partnership with the school counselor or support staff at your child’s school will extend the lessons learned in school and empower you to have conversations with your kids. A shared voice between an educator and a caregiver lends consistency and shows kids that we are stronger when we work together.

Brian Coleman, Responsibility.org Educational Advisory Board member and 2019 American School Counselor Association’s (ASCA) School Counselor of the Year, shared some tips with us about how to have effective conversations with your kids. Check them out below!

To school counselors everywhere, THANK YOU! And to parents and educators who work hand-in-hand to keep kids alcohol-free, THANK YOU, too!