More Minnesota students are suffering from mental health problems, academic challenges and trouble at home according to a recent report.
Minnesota 20–20, a non–partisan think tank, found these growing problems put an additional strain on school counselors.
But counselors in the state can be hard to come by as Minnesota rank's 49th out of 50 when it comes to counselor–to–student ratios.
Lee Oling, the counselor at Cloquet High School says during the current budget crunch, the counselors that are still left in the region are often asked to complete non–counseling duties.
"Minnesota school counselors are the only ones that can address those three issues of academics, of personal social and career, and we have a masters degree, that's what we're trained in, so we're just asking, this survey is fantastic, we're just saying, give us a chance to do our job and support our school staff."
The study surveyed school counselors across the state and their answers indicated family problems, depression, aggressive behavior, anxiety, and ADHD have all increased in the last two years.
About half the counselors surveyed said they spend only about 10–percent of their time addressing mental health issues.
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