Take Care About Uphold Patient or Report Student

A school counselor should most definitely uphold patient privacy when they are engaged by a student who is at risk or displaying signs that they may become unstable; however, that does not mean they do not help and align this student with the proper channels for receiving the proper treatment for what they are displaying.

A school counselor needs to gain the trust of their students, and then respect the trust they gained, because if they do not, they will have less and less students wishing to seek out their assistance. Respecting the student’s right to patient privacy does not mean they cannot bring the proper attention and light to the situation and head off a potential incident either. It just means they are not going to report the student in such a way that instead of them receiving help and treatment they will receive discipline actions and carry a stigma around because every one knows they may be having some mental instability issues. You might first cause the student to become unstable if you report them and discipline takes the place of actually helping them obtain the proper understanding and treatment for what they are experiencing.

Also, if school counselors start tracking every student who comes to them and deeming some as potentials for becoming unstable, how do we know they won’t abuse it and misdiagnose a potential problem that was never there? It is better to help the student seek out further professional help and monitor them while they are receiving it.

Sure, if a student is really unstable in a threatening way, a school counselor may not be equipped or skilled enough to handle that situation or condition. Then, they may have to seek a more skilled professional or report them to the proper channels. There is a great difference between unstable and threateningly violent.

Do we want to start tracking every shy and introverted student that gets bullied and report every one of them because they might become unstable? Well unfortunately, this is happening in many of our public schools. Counselors are reporting the shy and introverted, while “Joey Jock and his clique” often get away with being the verbally and sometimes physically abusive student. It sounds like school paranoia is causing more pressure and harm to these shy and introverted students and sending out a wrong message.

In the majority of school violence cases in recent years, these students that have become unstable and violent were students that faced isolation and bullying from the popular kids. You know the popular kids who have mommy and daddy so involved in school politics that they are untouchable when it comes to anything they might do wrong. It is no excuse for these unfortunate ostracized students to act out in violence, but when they are often silently betrayed by school politics and have no where to turn or are told the wrong information to resolve the situations they often deal with daily, they are walking time bombs created by the very school system that wants the right to report them as unstable even though they may be wrong. I think that could open the door to more stigmas placed on students that happen to be different or not like the cool cliques.