Tips for Responding to Social Media Attacks on School Counselors
/From time to time, we receive questions from school counselors and other educational leaders about how best to navigate emerging challenges. For example, we have recently seen an increase in social media attacks directed at school counselors. Many of these attacks have been related to approaches that have been considered longstanding best practice in the field of school counseling and education in general. Determining how best to respond to these targeted attacks in an ethical and professional manner can be a process in itself. The answer is not as clear as we might think.
We are grateful to guest newsletter contributor and school counselor leader Steve Sharp for sharing his perspective on this difficult topic. Keep reading for tips on how - and even whether - to respond to these social media attacks. If you have any feedback on this article, Steve can be reached at stephensharp.mail@gmail.com
In late July, national attention was drawn to school counseling through social media, as a series of online attacks began to surface.
Stemming from increased political polarization, over the past year there has been an increase in attacks on educators, and specifically school counselors as noted in reporting by Salon and Mother Jones, respectively. The attacks emerged on the national stage from Chaya Raichik (“Libs of Tik Tok”) and later picked up by activist group “Moms4Liberty” and other users. The “calls to action” encouraged parents not to let students meet with counselors without parents being present, as counselors were accused of driving a “transgender cult” and promoting “anti-American” values. Individual counselors were also attacked on social media being called “pedophiles, groomers, and criminals.”
As school counselors, our jobs carry both primary and secondary trauma from our work with students. Supporting students through challenging times is often what draws us to the profession. Personal attacks, even online, against the actual work and values that draw us to school counseling or malalignment of the work can be damaging or even traumatizing to school counselors themselves as well as have a negative impact on students’ access to mental healthcare.
We are trained to identify and work with criticism and even emotional feedback. Criticism often has a stated concern or problem, has supporting evidence, and even an invitation for dialogue or resolution. With the chaotic nature of both social media and education, there can be uncertainty on how or when to respond. We are guided by our Ethical Standards through a range of complex, ambiguous, and challenging situations. School counselors collaborate with families in support of students in the school setting and educate them on the role of the school counselor for the benefit of ALL students.
“Actively respond to incidents of bias or hate, demonstrating a commitment to equity and promoting a safe, inclusive school community.”
We also recognize and learn that educational systems historically and currently advantage and disadvantage groups of students, and awareness of these systemic barriers and practices helps school counselors interrupt and begin dismantling those systems. When presented with incidents of racial, gender, and other forms of bias, counselors actively respond, demonstrating a commitment to equity, and promote a safe, inclusive school community.
School counselors have and continue to work to support students in their healthy identity development, including gender identity. Knowing that transgender and nonbinary students have a FERPA-protected right to privacy, school counselors with their extensive legal and ethical training recognize these rights, as should all educators. However, school counselors’ stated positions and/or responses on the internet could be interpreted as a district's position, stance, or policy. Understanding the school district’s policies and guidelines regarding social media communication should be considered, especially if you’re using a social media account that reflects your professional persona. Take care to be mindful of district policies and guidelines, contextualizing both the personal accounts and any educational statements as not representing the district/organizational position, and using tools like the ASCA Ethical Standards and Position Statements to guide most discourse online.
Still, the long-standing ethical school counseling practices and educational best practices were the focus of the July 2022 attacks. Similar to attacks in years prior, the focus was on areas of racial and gender equity, with a clear pattern of online harassment. Where meaningful engagement and public dialogue can be healthy for education, school counselors understand that identifying the difference between communication and harassment is one of the key skills to managing online conflict.
Online harassment includes: ‘trolling’ - making inflammatory comments or statements to posts to prompt an emotional response; ‘cyberstalking’ - using the web to threaten, intimidate or harass an individual; and ‘doxxing’ - publishing the personal information of an individual to encourage harassment or intimidation.
When presented with unwanted online content, there is a wide range of practical strategies and approaches:
IGNORING is the easiest and most practical approach to unwanted content. Most online harassment, like trolling, simply moves on to other users, topics or posts. There are other online tools, as well.
MUTING can also be a great feature to clear the flow of negative communication. Mute will temporarily or indefinitely remove posts from the view of a specific user, limiting interactions without their knowledge. Meta (Instagram & Facebook) can also “hide” unwanted comments, making them only visible to the original commenter.
DOWNVOTING is a feature on platforms like Twitter, Youtube, and Reddit. The feature deprioritizes unwanted content (or comments) for the user and other members of the digital community. TikTok users can also long-click on a video to select “not interested'' to limit such content on their feed.
BLOCKING users can create space from specific users, and limit ongoing harassment, keeping a user from seeing your profile or other posts. Many of the posts and comments noted above, directed at school counselors, would be considered in violation of the Community Standards for social media companies.
REPORTING content (using the three dots *** above post or comment) also can be a useful tool; specifically regarding doxxing, misogynistic, misinformation, or misgendering content. Reporting does not always provide timely responses, but in the long run, can be a good tool to remove unwanted posts or harassing users so that their misinformation does not spread.
As many forms of online harassment are rooted in total opposition, most forms of direct engagement tend to be unproductive, either in the use of time or as responses that may lead to further escalation.
If you are to RESPOND, there are several strategies to consider to support effective messages and outcomes:
Value-based messaging can be a powerful narrative tool. Values such as opportunity, respect, dignity, and safety can be powerful to anchor conversations specifically regarding social justice issues like race, gender, and sexuality.
Definitions are another tool for navigating difficult conversations to create a common language. However, avoid “myth-busting” (restating facts). The definition, the simple affirmative definition or statement, can provide more focus in a discussion while re-stating multiple points against misinformation may promote further resistance in the discussion.
Storytelling or narratives can be powerful tools to shape conversations. Narratives of marginalized individuals can demystify problems, humanize and create a broader perspective of the shared values. While creating more human narratives, it’s important not to villainize those who might have opposing views, continued focus on educational growth or influence on the impact of politics on education can produce a more productive focus.
“Leading with VALUES creates broad points of agreement and shared goals that will resonate with nearly any audience.”
Ultimately, social media, even when one is not directly under attack, can take a toll. Taking planned breaks can help balance the emotional weight of the constant information flow. Curating specialized feeds in your social media also can create mini-breaks for users, whether a list, channel, or group specifically focused on a pastime like art, music, or cooking, or intentionally following channels or users who simply post positive and affirming quotes or messages. Finally, engaging and investing in real-world social networks, like professional associations (ASCA and your state school counselor association) can provide opportunities to reflect and network with fewer distractions or intrusions.
In the 21st century, school counseling is more important than ever, despite the rising volatility. Virtual spaces and platforms are still meaningful places to share, engage, advocate, and network and can continue to be done so safely. First, recognizing that social media attacks may occur in the future, even while organizations like Moms for Liberty and Libs of TikTok are banned from platforms. Ignoring or using social media platform tools to downvote, mute, block or report will help you to manage most online encounters. Most importantly, when engaging with individuals who are challenging commitments to educational equity and opportunity, using language tools like values-based messaging and storytelling can help us build a safer and better education system for everyone.
