Seven schools in northern Illinois are sharing in a five-year $6.8 million grant for school counseling. Katie Shevokas of LaMoille School is a counselor who wrote the grant application with the Arukah Institute of Healing in Princeton. It’s the biggest grant she’s participated in. It’s coming from the U.S. Department of Education to help counselors get ahead of problems instead of reacting to them.
Shevokas believes the full effects of the pandemic on young people’s mental health have yet to be understood. Having counselors detect problems ahead of time is better than reacting to them.
Being sent to the school counselor used to be something kids joked about. Or it was seen as punishment because it happened after a student did something wrong. Shevokas says the view of counseling is changing so it’s not seen as punishment.
The schools getting the grant for counseling are Ottawa High, Princeton High, Mendota High, LaMoille, Hall High, DePue, and Bureau Valley High.