Emily Goodman-Scott, PhD, NCC, NCSC, ACS, LPC, is a professor in the Department of Counseling and Human Services at Old Dominion University. She emphasizes that while School Counselors and community-based Mental Health Counselors often share similar graduate-level training, their roles within schools are distinct, yet highly complementary. 

At the center of this collaboration is the Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) framework, which helps clarify how each professional contributes to student well-being, according to Dr. Goodman-Scott. 

“MTSS provides a useful structure for schools to organize academic, behavioral, and mental health supports,” says Dr. Goodman-Scott. “It is a schoolwide approach where the School Counselor serves as a member of the leadership team, working alongside administrators, teachers, specialists, parents/guardians, and even students.” 

MTSS consists of three tiers of support, each with a different focus. 

Tier 1 centers on universal prevention. These schoolwide efforts are delivered to all students and may include classroom lessons, social-emotional learning initiatives, cultural and climate improvement efforts, staff training, and equity-focused programming. 

“School Counselors play a central role at the Tier 1 level,” Dr. Goodman-Scott explains. “As members of leadership teams, they influence systems-level decisions, use schoolwide data to guide programming, and promote access and equity for all students.”

Tier 2 focuses on targeted support and provides short-term counseling interventions for students with elevated needs, while Tier 3 is based on intensive intervention, delivering individualized and often longer-term support for students facing significant challenges. 

Dr. Goodman-Scott differentiates the role of the School Counselor from the work of school-based Mental Health Counselors or community providers embedded within schools. When aligned effectively, especially within an MTSS framework, they can create a layered support that benefits students across the full spectrum of need. 

The scope of School Counselors remains broad, serving the entire student population at the Tier 1 level across academic, career, and social-emotional domains. As a result, while they do contribute across all three tiers, their direct counseling at the Tier 2 and 3 levels is time-bound. 

“School-based Mental Health Counselors, on the other hand, typically focus more exclusively on Tier 2 and Tier 3 Counseling services,” Dr. Goodman-Scott states. “With smaller caseloads, they may provide longer-term and clinically intensive individual and group counseling, such as cognitive behavioral therapy for anxiety or addictions.”   

Increasingly, education leaders, including organizations such as The Education Trust, are emphasizing systemic accountability rather than focusing solely on “fixing” individual students. When students present with anxiety, depression, academic struggles, or behavioral challenges, Dr. Goodman-Scott advises schools to consider whether their symptoms are purely individual or whether inequitable practices, access gaps, or systemic barriers are contributing factors. 

“There’s a saying that I've been hearing more and more from the Ed Trust, which is, ‘instead of changing only the student, we need to change the system,’” says Dr. Goodman-Scott. “This shift toward systemic change strengthens Counseling within both schools and community and family partnerships.”

While the destigmatization of mental health has increased demand for services, Dr. Goodman-Scott acknowledges that it has brought challenges, sometimes making these collaborations trickier. Quite often, the only mental health supports youth receive are those within their K–12 schools. 

“Long waitlists among community providers, limited access in rural regions, transportation and time barriers within families, insurance and financial constraints, and cultural mismatches between providers and youth are realities that underscore the importance of embedded school-based mental health professionals and strong referral pathways,” says Dr. Goodman-Scott. 

Whenever clinically and ethically appropriate, family collaboration can also enhance outcomes. Students arrive at school through the care and commitment of families and caregivers. Dr. Goodman-Scott recommends engaging parents, guardians, and extended family members to help strengthen continuity between school and home environments. 

When families, School Counselors, and Mental Health Counselors work in partnership, interventions are more effective, culturally sustaining, and supportive of the whole child, according to Dr. Goodman-Scott. 

Another essential consideration for today’s K–12 professionals that Dr. Goodman-Scott highlights is their own well-being. Burnout, initiative fatigue, and escalating student mental health needs have placed significant strain on educators, including School Counselors. Mental health professionals working with youth should prioritize self-regulation, professional boundaries, reflective supervision, and personal wellness practices. 

“Dysregulated adults cannot effectively support and regulate children,” says Dr. Goodman-Scott. “In the current educational climate, tending to Counselor wellness is not optional. It is foundational.” 

Ultimately, Dr. Goodman-Scott emphasizes the clarity that the MTSS framework can provide for Mental Health Counselors partnering with schools. 

“As collaboration deepens between school systems and clinical providers, the shared goal remains the same: serving the whole child within a proactive, responsive, data-informed, and equitable system of care—where every student is successful,” concludes Dr. Goodman-Scott. 

Dr. Emily Goodman-Scott, NCC, NCSC, ACS, LPC, is a professor in the Department of Counseling and Human Services at Old Dominion University in Virginia, where she is proud to be teaching the next generation of School Counselors, Clinical Mental Health Counselors, and Counselor Education doctoral students. She spent several years prior as an Elementary School Counselor, a special education teacher, and in multiple mental health settings counseling youth. She has presented across the United States, offering training, keynotes, pre-conferences, and district partnerships, including presenting her School Counseling research to the Biden White House. She is the lead editor of the book A School Counselor's Guide to MTSS (2019, Routledge), and with colleagues authoring the book Making MTSS Work (2020, ASCA). Dr. Goodman-Scott also co-coordinated a national network of School Counseling faculty through ACES, was president of the Association for Child and Adolescent Counseling, and represented Virginia at several White House School Counseling Convenings under First Lady Michelle Obama. Most recently, she is a board member for the American Counseling Association, an associate editor for the “Professional School Counseling journal, an ACA Fellow, and a multi-time recipient of the ACA Research Award.