Rutgers University Graduate School of Education (GSE) has awarded a $3.3 million grant to increase the number and diversity of highly trained school counselors to fill the gap in mental health services in New Jersey’s high-needs school districts. Received.
The Mental Health Services Professional Demonstration Grant from the U.S. Department of Education is part of the federal government’s efforts to expand student access to school-based mental health services nationwide and will support the GSE-led School Counseling Intervention Prevention Project. provide funding.
School counseling is an often misunderstood and under-resourced profession. Lack of school counseling can harm youth’s development and health. This project will provide preventive and responsive mental health services by aggressively reducing student-to-school counselor ratios in some of the region’s fastest growing and most ethnically diverse school districts. It’s something that expands. ”
Ian Levy, GSE Assistant Professor of School Counseling and Project Principal Investigator
According to the American School Counselor Association, the student-to-school counselor ratio in New Jersey is 308 to 1, higher than the association’s recommended ratio of 250 to 1, limiting students’ access to mental health services and needed resources. I am.
Over a five-year funding period, the project will enroll 30 new school counselors who will enroll in GSE’s Master of School Counseling program and will be trained and placed in K-12 school districts in New Brunswick, Rahway, Franklin Township, and Neptune. will cover all tuition fees. . Project organizers will prioritize recruiting typically underrepresented trainees from participating district partners, Rutgers University, and minority-serving institutions.
The first group of school counselors is expected to begin the program in 2025.
Those involved in this project will also work to develop and implement a school counseling course curriculum that supports existing programs’ ability to teach culturally sensitive, evidence-based mental health practices for educational settings. .
“These efforts not only elevate the importance of school counselors as mental health professionals, but also educate school counselors on how to work with culturally, racially, ethnically, and linguistically diverse students within their schools.” This reinforces the need for training,” Levy said. “As a result of this project, students will have greater access to school counselors, especially school counselors who can practice culturally sensitive and evidence-based mental health practices.”
Kathy Shoemaker, assistant professor of professional practice at GSE, is co-principal investigator on this project.
Counseling and Educational Consultants assist in the development of course modules in some of the following content areas:
Social and emotional learning, racial justice, and healing for culturally and linguistically diverse students. Advocates theory and practice of students in the environment. Participatory action research with youth in school counseling practice Creative expressive arts in school counseling practice. trauma-informed school counseling
“This grant will allow Dr. Levy and Dr. Shoemaker to ensure that school counselors are not just concerned with solving problems after they have been identified,” said GSE Dean Christopher Spann. said. “Instead, school counselors will be able to reduce the challenges that young people may experience before they occur and produce the best possible outcomes. It serves as a vital national model for proactively creating and implementing strategies that can prepare them to be their best selves. ”
