When I heard about the shooting at Annunciation Catholic School, my heart sank. As someone raised in Minnesota and now serving as a school counselor in Davis School District, I felt both the pain of my home state and the weight of my role in helping students process such tragedies.
School shootings have become a familiar headline in the United States, shaking communities and sparking urgent calls for action. After each tragedy, political leaders often stand before cameras promising to expand school-based mental health services as a preventive measure to identify and support at-risk youth. Yet year after year, those promises rarely materialize into sustained funding. When money is allocated, it is often too little to make a meaningful impact.
After the Robb Elementary shooting in Uvalde on May 24, 2022, Congress passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which authorized $1 billion in federal grants to expand school mental health services. But those grants have since been pulled back by the U.S. Department of Education, citing conflicts with administration priorities and civil rights concerns. Once again, schools are left waiting.
What makes tragedies like these even more difficult is knowing that many of them might be prevented if schools had more school counselors. School counselors are trained to recognize warning signs, withdrawal, shifts in behavior and emotional struggles that can reveal deeper issues. Too often, students slip through the cracks not because no one cares, but because there are simply not enough school counselors to give every child the time and support they need.
Despite repeated pledges, most states, including Utah, continue to underfund school-based mental health. Right now, Utah has one of the highest student-to-counselor ratios in the nation. On average, there’s only one counselor for nearly 500 students, almost double the national recommendation of 250-to-1. This means many children go without the individualized academic, emotional and social support they need during their most formative years.
When proposals to increase funding for school mental health services reach state legislatures, they are often stalled, watered down or replaced with one-time grants that do little to address long-term needs. The cost of this inaction is steep. Warning signs go unnoticed because counselors cannot realistically identify and support every student who needs help. Many children struggle in silence as depression, anxiety and trauma go untreated, harming both their learning and overall well-being. In the absence of adequate mental health staff, the burden falls on teachers, who are left to manage crises they were never trained to handle.
Meanwhile, school shootings continue and each time, we repeat the cycle of grief, outrage and hollow promises. Had there been greater access to school counselors, perhaps Robin Westman, the shooter at the center of this latest tragedy, could have been identified earlier and connected with help. Instead of isolation, Westman might have found someone willing to listen. Instead of despair, Westman might have seen a way forward.
School counselors don’t have all the answers, but we offer a lifeline, helping students process emotions, build resilience and know they are not alone. Moments like this remind me why my work matters, and why it is urgent that communities and policymakers take mental health in schools seriously.
Counselors can’t stop every tragedy, but with proper support, we can change trajectories, if only we are given the chance to reach every student who needs us.
(Terra Bingham) Terra Bingham is a school counselor in the Davis School District, an adjunct professor at Utah State University, a Utah Teacher Fellow and a doctoral student studying education policy and Leadership.
Terra Bingham is a school counselor in the Davis School District, an adjunct professor at Utah State University, a Utah Teacher Fellow and a doctoral student studying education policy and leadership.
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