Counselling refers to therapeutic support provided by a trained professional to help a student process emotions, develop coping strategies, and navigate stress or mental health challenges. Counselling can be helpful when children need a safe space to talk, build emotional skills, or recover from difficult experiences. However, counselling is not a substitute for appropriate educational supports or a safe learning environment. In school contexts, families are sometimes asked whether their child is in counselling when the real issue is that the child’s needs are not being met at school. When a student is experiencing anxiety, distress, or behavioural challenges because of unmet accommodations, sensory overload, bullying, or exclusion, the primary solution should be to address those conditions. Relying on counselling alone can shift responsibility onto the child to “cope” with an environment that is not accessible or supportive. For example, students with disabilities may be experiencing distress because their learning needs are ignored, their accommodations are inconsistently implemented, or staff misunderstand disability-related behaviour. Treating this distress only as an emotional issue can obscure the underlying barriers. Counselling can play an important supportive role, but it should complement—not replace—changes that ensure the student’s school environment is safe, accessible, and responsive to their needs.