Preferred Name
Liz Dinwiddie
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Date of Graduation
5-9-2024
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Department of Graduate Psychology
Second Advisor
A. Renee Staton
Third Advisor
Joseph LeBlanc
Abstract
Youth mental health concerns, both diagnosed and undiagnosed, are a global public health concern. These concerns inevitably manifest in school settings, where K-12 youth are spending significant portions of their time. While schools, districts, and state and federal policies are working to expand mental health support in school settings, school counselors are still the most consistently/universally present mental health professionals in school settings across the United States. The combination of school counselor placement in school settings and training to identify and support youth mental health make them incredible assets in this work. Despite this, school counselors have historically managed inconsistent expectations across schools and districts, decreasing their potential effectiveness in supporting youth mental health. This dissertation seeks to understand the current role of school counselors as mental health advocates and proposes student-centered solutions to increasing their effectiveness in this role.
