Counsellors concerned after Catholic schools cut contract
Former school counsellors are concerned students may fall through the cracks after a budget shortfall led Prince Albert’s Catholic school division to end a partnership with Catholic Family Services at the start of this school year.
Louise Zurowski, executive director Catholic Family Services, said the school division’s funding for three full-time elementary school counsellors was cut in September. Students looking for mental health support or counselling are still referred to their organization, Zurowski said, but they are now forced to pay for the service. The sessions are no longer held in the schools, she said, and students are forced to wait on the same list as everyone else.
“We’re going to have to tell people to go on a wait-list because we simply can’t manage the demand,” Zurowski told paNOW. “We have to be up front with people and we’ll tell them there’s a two-to three-week wait list to get in.”
Zurowski said Catholic Family Services had between 150 and 200 open files when the partnership ended, and she believed many of those cases will no longer have access to mental health supports. Many students do not have the financial support or transportation to attend and pay for counselling, she said, and in some cases young people cannot ask a parent for help.