Counseling is a necessity to many students facing stress and poor mental health. However, many students are unable to get the help they need due to financial instability at home, unavailability to attend outside of school due to transportation and other factors. 

Pastoral Care, sponsored by social worker Ngun Sung, hopes to help.

“It really helps them work through whatever they are going through so that they can be successful here,” Sung said.

Emmanuel Church, a church that has a close relationship with Perry Township, sends unlicensed pastors to SHS that act as counselors. They are properly trained by a supervisor and most are in school to become a counselor in the future. 

The counselors come in every Wednesday during iPass to talk to kids that need help. They’re only able to help three kids each week because that’s as many counselors they bring to school.

“Being able to have a free service here in our school is really great,” Sung said.

To be recommended for Pastoral Care, the student or parents have to reach out to Sung and she will determine if it’s a good option for them. Parents do have to know if a student is talking to one of the counselors since they’re from outside of school.

Although the service is run through Emmanuel Church, counselors are there to aid students, not talk about religion. 

Religion is not allowed to be brought up unless a student talks about it first due to the First Amendment in the Constitution separating state and religion.

 Lucas Klipsch, the supervisor and counselor trainer of Pastoral Care, is the one who brought up the idea to Sung. He used to be an Assistant Principal at Perry Meridian High School, so he trains the counselors on how to effectively talk to hand help students.

“As long as it’s done correctly,” Klipsch said, “I think it’s an amazing thing.”

 The idea for a Pastoral Care service at school is not a recent proposal but rather a traditional one. Other schools such as Southport Middle school have been offering Pastoral Care for many years. 

SHS is just recently developing this service with the help of Klipsch as he believes this alternative resource for counseling will accommodate many students with a support system for their mental health.

“There’s a lot of kids struggling with anxiety and depression that they can’t get support for throughout the day,” Klipsch said, “and so it’s a great opportunity to have a positive adult … and give them someone to talk to.”

A student, who requested to remain anonymous, has been helped by this service immensely. They have been able to regulate and control their emotions, which they struggled with, since beginning this service.

Having a trusted adult who can help this person that they are able to open up to has been amazing to this student. To those who are open about therapy, they recommend trying it out wholeheartedly.

“It is very helpful,” The anonymous student said, “It’s a safe space.”