When counselors are not burdened by administrative and clerical responsibilities, they can put their prevention-oriented training to use. Less and less reactive counseling is then required. Granted, counselors are not commonly seen as integral to systemic change. Few are able to work sufficiently with prevention, even though many do their best to incorporate prevention-oriented materials and activities. The lack of attention to school counselors when school violence is in the news is, in part, understandable.
Counselors generally do their work quietly.
Bound by confidentiality, they cannot talk about their work. Traditional training also did not emphasize being active outside of the counseling office. That was then. Societal changes have now made the work of school counselors often like triage during disasters. Some days may be entirely crisis-oriented.