Traumas Associated with the COVID-19 Pandemic and School Counsellors’ Responses

Abstract

One major issue on the front burner of most nations today is how to survive the COVID-19 pandemic by ensuring the mitigation of its spread. Several efforts have been introduced to achieve this with significant injury to the educational system. As the schools are striving to return to its normal process of helping the learners to acquire knowledge, skills and attitudes that may help them in their future endeavours, school counsellors need to understand the traumas associated with the incidence of the COVID-19 pandemic with the view to help mitigate its effect on the learners, the teachers and the entire school community. Therefore this paper presents a conceptual description of the term “trauma” particularly in relation to the Covid-19 pandemic. It also analyzes the traumas that are found to be associated with the pandemic. It recommends that counsellors help the school administration insisting that members of the school community continue to adopt all preventive efforts against the COVID such as hand washing, use of face masks and social distancing.