PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. (WMBB) — Bay District Schools is beginning a new counseling program throughout all schools this week.
Students will now be able to sign up for small group counseling, with other students that are dealing with similar issues. Some groups will include grief, anger management, and anxiety counseling.
“When you bring those experiences in and you’re learning from each other, with a mental health professional kind of guiding and facilitating that group, it allows them to develop some coping skills and not feel so isolated and alone,” Surfside Middle School guidance counselor Kristy Robb said.
Parents interested in signing their child up for the 45 minute weekly sessions can call their child’s school or sign them up through the Bay District Schools website.
“Divorce or grief or loss oftentimes can affect their cognitive skills,” Robb said. “It can affect their ability to have long-lasting relationships. It can also impact their academics.”
Robb expects that students that attend the small group counseling sessions will have improved grades, due to the counseling with their peers.
“They can form some of those connections, be able to have conversations in a safe environment to try to help mitigate some of those risk factors that they’ve already encountered through the trauma.”
