Counselling Transformation

Since the advent of the Annual Fund, the school's investment in counselling services has resulted in more than a two fold increase in counsellor time for students. Next year, we will continue this trend with Ms. Payne and Ms. Moore being joined by Ms. Diakow. In addition to student resources, software licensing and counsellor specific professional development, we will also introduce a whole new Counselling Centre.

 

Demands on our counselling services have increased over the years, especially as our students increasingly explore university options beyond British Columbia. In fact, this year our graduating class sent applications worldwide and were accepted at more than 60 universities in Canada, the US, England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, China and Singapore. In response to this changing reality, we see this investment as both timely and beneficial to most (if not all) students.

 

On behalf of the Counselling Department, Julie Payne explains that, “the brand new Counselling Centre will open this September.  The new room, located directly above the current Counselling Centre, will serve a number of purposes. First, all three counsellors will be located in the Centre, so students can always find someone to speak with about personal or academic issues. The larger space will serve the Peer Tutors in a new capacity. Students will have access to brand new, wide-screen computers, allowing tutors to review lessons online and access additional study material. The space is also more conducive to both group and silent study, with new desks and chairs arranged throughout. The doors will be open for students to spend some time before school chatting with a counsellor, studying at lunch for an upcoming quiz, or hearing a university presentation after school.”

 

In the end, our Counselling team is committed to this investment in infrastructure to be, “a place to build resiliency and learn strategies to help overcome barriers to success, whether academic or personal.”