This school counselor says her job is hard, but it also “strengthens the soul”

In a new series, “Role Call,” EdSurge is elevating the experiences of the countless school staff members who help shape children’s lives. This month, we feature school counselor Leighanne Mainguy, who shares how she came to this job, what people don’t understand about it, and what she wishes she could change.

The following interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

EdSurge: How did you get here? What led you to this position?

Leighanne Mainguy: I didn't start doing therapy until I was 38. I've always been a natural helper. As a child, that brought me great joy. When I went to college, straight out of high school, I majored in psychology and knew I wanted to pursue that field, but circumstances didn't allow it for quite a while.

For years I helped my husband pay for his college education and we were having children. We lived in Michigan and I had a good job at an American company. Then we moved to Nevada and with my husband's support I started a master's degree program. In most states, you need a master's degree to work as a school counselor.

I could have been a mental health professional, I could have gone into something like that, but I'll be honest with you: I love the school environment. I love working with kids. Plus, it's given me the opportunity to spend a lot of time with my husband and four kids because they were in the school district (my husband is a teacher).

It's something I think I was destined to do, but how I got here was a very, very long process.

When people outside of school ask you what you do (for example, at a social event), how do you describe your job?

In my profession, especially for people my age and older, the term used to be “guidance counselor.” Now we prefer to be called school counselors, because a “counselor” used to be seen as someone who helped you finish your credits, who you might have only seen in high school and helped you decide what direction you would take after high school.

Now, a lot of school counselors do level one counseling, which is working with all of the students; level two counseling, which may be small group support; and then we may do level three, which is individual counseling for short periods of time. I don't remember that being the case when I was a kid. I think I saw my guidance counselor once or twice, maybe, my senior year. Now we're in elementary schools, we're in middle schools, we're in high schools. So it's more of a well-rounded job.

Most of the time, I get a pretty positive reaction when I tell someone I'm a school counselor. They're like, “Cool, that's great. You're an educator.” But if someone would let me go that deep into the topic, that's what I would say.

What is a hard day like in your role?

Tough days can be very emotional. I think most counselors are pretty good at compartmentalizing the bigger issues so we don't bring them home at night, but we can deal with some of the tougher things that a child, or even a staff member, will see.

I've had kids come in the day after a parent died. I've had to talk to them about some pretty horrible things that have happened in their homes. On top of that, the days when we have to implement suicide protocols (after students have expressed thoughts of self-harm) are probably the most emotionally draining. We take that very seriously.

I mean, some days are a little crazy just because you have so much work. I never know what my day is going to look like. I can come in one morning and have a plan to teach three classes and talk to five kids, and then find out that a student is having some suicidal ideation first thing in the morning and I have to help them deal with that by contacting their family and handling the aftermath with their teachers.

Larger events can also be very difficult. We had a huge, traumatic event in our district with the Shooting on Route 91 On October 1, 2017, in Las Vegas, many families in our community were affected. More than 500 people were shot and 59 died.

These are big days where you're like, “Okay, throw it out.” You change course and you have to manage everything. You have to step back and ask yourself, “How are we going to support our students as a school? How are we going to support our staff?”

What does a really good day look like?

Field day is always a great day. We've had some professional athletes, from the Golden Knights and the Raiders. They put on these events where about 50 kids can practice with the Raiders on our field. We put on picnics where parents come to our school and we all go out on the field and eat with the students.

Every time we feel like we are a community, every time we can do something great with the kids and see them smile and enjoy themselves, I would say those are my best days. There is nothing like seeing a child rejoice, seeing a child laugh. It is comforting to the soul to see them having fun.

What is an unexpected way your role shapes children's days?

School counselors are out and about all the time at our school. The day starts and we're in the hallways with the kids. I think knowing that there are other people at school besides their teachers who care enough to know their name, to know about their families, to ask how their football game went last night, to know that they have a big test coming up… I think for some kids, that's unexpected. For some parents, that's unexpected. And I think that makes them feel important and seen and heard.

What would you like to change about your school or the current education system?

I wish more people were willing to ask questions about what we do, like you do, and listen to our answers.

There are a lot of assumptions about the field of education these days – not just about teachers, but also about my role.

I think if I could change anything, it would be to get people to listen better, because I think a lot of the people who are making decisions about public schools haven't spent any time in them and they don't ask good questions about what we need to support our students.

Your role gives you unique access and perspective on today's youth. What have you learned about young people through your work?

They give me hope as an adult. I think we get so overwhelmed by the day-to-day stuff – paying bills and being an adult can be so hard. I’m not even going to talk about politics and all the scary things that can happen. But children give me joy and hope.

I know it's not necessarily a reflection, but I'm reminded of all the good things in life. Even though I hear about some of the worst things that have happened to them, I'm reminded of all the good things in this world. So I guess my reflection is that as adults we need to be a little more present in our day to day lives and learn to be a little more like children.