How AI has become a trusted ally in overburdened school counseling

School counselors across America are facing overwhelming caseloads, but one innovative educator is using artificial intelligence to extend her reach and impact. Elementary school counselor Hanna Kemble-Mick, a finalist for 2025 School Counselor of the Year, has developed AI chatbots that provide immediate support for students dealing with social-emotional issues, career exploration, and academic assignments. By strategically deploying these digital assistants while maintaining her crucial personal connections, Kemble-Mick demonstrates how AI can serve as a powerful complement to human expertise in addressing the national counselor shortage.

The big picture: With 450 students under her care—nearly double the recommended ratio—Kemble-Mick has created AI tools that provide immediate support when she’s unavailable in person.

• The American School Counselor Association reports a national average of 376 students per counselor, far exceeding recommended levels and limiting counselors’ ability to provide timely intervention.
• Kemble-Mick emphasizes these AI tools aren’t replacements for human counselors but rather assistants that ensure students always have somewhere to turn.

Key innovation: Kemble-Mick’s most popular creation is “Pickles the Classroom Support Dog,” a chatbot that provides immediate emotional support and coping strategies.

• The chatbot guides students through deep breathing exercises and helps them formulate “I feel” statements when they’re experiencing emotional difficulties.
• She reserves these AI tools for students in grades three through six, noting that “younger students might have a hard time understanding that this isn’t a real person.”

Beyond emotional support: The AI tools also help students explore career possibilities without the limitations of stereotypes or biases.

• Students enter their interests and hobbies, and the AI suggests career paths they might not have considered—like recommending “esports manager” to a student who enjoys dirt biking, organization, and video games.
• “By the time kids are 9, they start to develop stereotypes of what they think they can and can’t be based on their ZIP code, gender, race,” Kemble-Mick explains. “This doesn’t know any of those things about you, and so it disrupts the bias and allows kids to really dream.”

Academic applications: Kemble-Mick has expanded her AI toolkit to include personalized academic support, creating character-based chatbots for specific assignments.

• For a third-grade history project, she developed chatbots representing historical figures that students could interview and interact with.
• “The engagement is high,” she notes, acknowledging the challenge of competing for students’ attention in today’s digital landscape.