Senior Ian Mcintyre said he understands the importance of talking about problems, even if it’s over break when access to school counselors are limited.

“If you don’t have counselors, you have just one friend or family member or even a dog you can vent to. It is so important to get your emotions out there,” Mcintyre said. “For me it’s really hard to get my emotions out and same goes for a lot of people. But if you get it out you can work through it.”

According to ninth grade counselor Barb Nelson, despite not being able to help students during break, beforehand the counselors will make sure students are safe and have what they need.

“I think that being really cognizant of (issues) and acknowledging (those issues is important),” Nelson said.

Nelson said there are different solutions for a variety of problems students might face going into break.

“Depending on what their needs are, there a lot of kids that we’ve seen on a regular basis and know of their home situation then, we will really suggest or encourage them to sign up for the Birdfeeder or work with them to establish an outside of school counselor,” Nelson said.

Mcintyre said there is value in reaching out to someone over break no matter how long the break may be.

“Winter break is one of the longer breaks we have, but even with a short break like Thanksgiving break it is important to have a resource available to vent or just to (talk) with someone,” Mcintyre said.

According to Nelson, Park works with many different counseling groups to help students in different ways.

“There’s Teens Alone or Move Forward, which is a counseling group that can come to the school. We have an outside group of therapists that are here that require parent permission, as does Move Forward,” Nelson said. “There is an organization called StreetWorks, that if a student was really struggling and couch-hopping they can meet with them and provide some management through that.”

According to Mcintyre, crisis hotlines can be useful even if it is not a life or death situation.

“I think if someone needs help there are crisis hotlines. I know that sounds extreme but those crisis hotlines aren’t just there for people considering suicide, they are there for people who are experiencing these hard times or difficult things and these people are there to talk through problems,” Mcintyre said.