How School Counsel(l)ors can use Canva and its AI Capabilities to Make Their Work Even More Impactful and Creative

Canva, with its incredible AI features, can help you create engaging resources, infographics, and much more. Let’s explore how to use these tools in your role as a school counsellor.


Section 1: Creating Engaging Visual Content

Personalized Posters: Start with the basics – design personalized posters for your school events, workshops, and counselling sessions. Canva’s AI suggests colors, fonts, and layouts that resonate with your message.

Emotional Intelligence Infographics: Use Canva’s AI to visualize emotional intelligence concepts. It can help simplify complex topics and make them more relatable to students.

Section 2: AI-Powered Design Assistance

Layout Recommendations: Canva’s AI suggests optimal layouts for your content. It considers the psychology of design to make your materials more visually appealing and effective.

Color Harmony: Let the AI assist in choosing color palettes that convey the right emotions. For example, soothing colors for relaxation exercises or vibrant ones for motivational posters.

Section 3: Interactive Quizzes and Surveys

Interactive Content: Create quizzes or surveys for students to self-assess their well-being or mental health. Canva’s AI can even help generate questions and answer options.

Section 4: Personalized Guidance

Custom Templates: Design your own templates for school counselling materials. Canva’s AI remembers your preferences and suggests relevant templates for future use.

Section 5: Data Visualization

Visualizing Progress: Utilize AI-powered charts and graphs to track and showcase students’ progress. This can help in sharing results with teachers and parents effectively.

Section 6: Mindful Content Creation

AI-Enhanced Quotes: Canva’s AI can suggest quotes that resonate with students’ emotions. Incorporate these into your materials for an extra dose of inspiration.

Relaxation Exercise Videos: Use Canva’s AI to edit and enhance relaxation exercise videos. It can help you create a soothing and calming atmosphere.

Section 7: Collaborative Projects

Group Projects: Collaborate with students on creative projects. Canva’s AI can facilitate brainstorming and design suggestions for group initiatives.


Canva’s AI capabilities open up a world of creative possibilities for school counsellors like you. It can help you connect with students in innovative ways, making counselling sessions and resources not just informative, but engaging and fun. Embrace the magic of AI and inspire your students to thrive!

Here are 20 ways school counsellors can use Canva ‘s AI tools

  1. AI-Curated Reading Lists: Canva’s AI can help school counsellors curate personalized reading lists for students based on their interests and needs. This can be a valuable resource to support students’ personal development and provide them with relevant content to enhance their understanding of various topics.
  2. AI-Enhanced Videos: Create educational and motivational videos for school counselling sessions. Canva’s AI can be used to edit and enhance video content, adding subtitles, visual effects, and animations to make the material engaging and informative.
  3. AI-Generated Affirmations: Generate daily affirmations with Canva’s AI. These affirmations can be used in daily routines or as part of counseling sessions to boost students’ self-esteem and promote positive thinking.
  4. AI-Generated Playlists: Craft music playlists with AI-generated recommendations to set the mood during counseling sessions. Music can be a powerful tool to create a calming or motivating atmosphere.
  5. AI-Powered Career Path Infographics: Use Canva’s AI to create infographics that visualize potential career paths for students. These infographics can include information on job prospects, required qualifications, and career development steps.
  6. AI-Prompted Journaling: Canva’s AI can generate journaling prompts tailored to each student’s needs and preferences. Journaling can be a therapeutic tool for self-reflection and personal growth.
  7. Audio Visualization: Design graphics that visually represent audio recordings of relaxation exercises, therapy sessions, or guided meditations. These visuals can enhance engagement and understanding during such activities.
  8. Collaborative Art Projects: Collaborate with students on creative art projects using Canva’s AI for design input. These projects can serve as a therapeutic outlet for self-expression and creativity.
  9. Digital Mind Maps: Create interactive mind maps to help students organize their thoughts, plan projects, or visualize complex concepts. Canva’s AI can assist in generating mind map structures.
  10. Emotion Wheel: Craft an interactive emotion wheel that students can use to identify and express their feelings. This can be a useful tool for emotional self-awareness and communication.
  11. Gamified Counseling Materials: Use Canva’s AI to create interactive and gamified counseling materials. Gamification can make counseling sessions more engaging, helping students to learn and apply coping strategies in a fun way.
  12. Interactive Decision Trees: Build decision-making flowcharts with AI recommendations to guide students through complex choices. This can be especially helpful when students are facing significant decisions.
  13. Interactive Progress Trackers: Develop visually appealing trackers for students to monitor their progress in various aspects of life, such as academic achievements, personal goals, or mental health improvements.
  14. Mindful Coloring Pages: Design AI-generated mindful coloring pages for students to use as a relaxation and stress-reduction tool. Coloring can promote mindfulness and stress relief.
  15. Motivational GIFs: Craft animated GIFs with Canva’s AI to provide quick motivational boosts during online counseling sessions. GIFs can be used to emphasize key points or convey supportive messages.
  16. Positive Message Banners: Create interactive banners that display positive messages. These banners can change based on student interaction, providing customized motivation and encouragement.
  17. Self-Care Bingo: Develop personalized self-care bingo cards with AI-generated self-care ideas. This can encourage students to engage in self-care activities and promote their well-being.
  18. Therapeutic Comic Strips: Create therapeutic comic strips with AI-generated dialogues and scenarios to address common issues and challenges that students might face.
  19. Virtual Vision Boards: Canva’s AI can help students create digital vision boards, visualizing their goals, dreams, and aspirations. These vision boards can serve as powerful tools for motivation and goal setting.
  20. AI-Powered Study Guides: Assist students with AI-powered study guides that adapt to their learning preferences and needs. These guides can include interactive elements, quizzes, and personalized study tips.

Each of these ideas empowers school counsellors to use Canva’s AI tools in unique ways to support students in their personal and academic growth. The possibilities are truly endless! Please feel free to share some of your ideas in the comments..

So,school counsellors, get out there and create, inspire, and make a positive impact on your school community. Continue to make a difference using Canva as a starting point. Thanks to Chat GPT and Canva for so many ideas. You can use Canva in your School Counselling Program . The possibilities are endless.

AI and You: The Journey Is Just Beginning

Are you ready to embark on a journey of discovery and exploration into the exciting world of AI? Whether you’re a visionary who dreams of what’s possible or a pragmatic problem-solver who likes to get their hands dirty, there’s a place for you in the AI revolution and in our mini MOOC.

As we navigate the ever-evolving landscape of technology, it’s important that we keep humanity at the forefront of our conversations. After all, the decisions we make today about AI will have a profound impact on the future of our children and grandchildren.

That’s why we invite you to join us in #ETMOOC2, where we’ll dive deeper into the complexities of AI and its intersection with our lives. This mini MOOC is a unique opportunity to engage with peers from around the world, share ideas, ask questions, and learn from each other.

You may just be starting to think about AI and its impact on you and the world. Wherever you are on this journey we’d like to have you join us.

So what are you waiting for? Register now for #ETMOOC2 and join the conversation about artificial intelligence and you. Let’s work together to create a future where AI serves the best interests of humanity.

It’s Time to Unlock the Potential and Perils of Artificial Intelligence for School Counsellors

School Counsellors play a vital role in the education system, helping students with everything from academic concerns to mental health issues. However, with the ever-increasing student population, it can be challenging to keep up with the demand for counselling services. This is where AI comes in.

AI-powered tools can help school counsellors to manage their workload more efficiently and effectively. For example, an AI-powered chatbot can be used to triage students’ needs, directing them to the appropriate resources or counselling sessions. This frees up counsellors’ time to focus on more complex cases and allows them to provide more personalized and effective support. Additionally, AI-powered analytics can be used to identify patterns and trends in student behaviour, helping counsellors to identify and address potential problems before they become serious.

AI can also help to remove the stigma associated with seeking counselling. Many students may be hesitant to seek help due to fear of judgment or embarrassment. However, with the anonymity and convenience of an AI-powered chatbot, students may be more likely to reach out for help. Additionally, AI-powered tools can provide students with access to counselling resources 24/7, so they can seek help whenever they need it. This can be especially beneficial for students who live in remote areas or have busy schedules.

Overall, AI can be a powerful tool for school counsellors, helping them to manage their workload more effectively and provide more personalized and effective support to students. By removing the stigma associated with seeking counselling and providing students with access to resources 24/7, AI can help to improve the mental health and well-being of students in the education system.

There are so many potential ways AI can impact the role of the School Counsellor. The above paragraphs were written by Chat GPT, and although it does not fully explain the pros and cons of using AI , it does give some pause for thought.

I look forward to the ways that Chat GPT and other AI tools can be jumping off points for great dialogue with youth and School Counselling colleagues.

I look forward to beginning this conversation as I stimulate dialogue in my workshop …

It’s Time to Unlock the Potential and Perils of Artificial Intelligence for School Counsellors

In the meantime you may wish to check out some of these resources:

Here is what Dennis Pierce has to say about some of the pitfalls of AI in education. Here is what Torrey Trust has to say :

What do you need to know about ChatGPT?

I am interested to know what you as a School Counsellor think. Sharing Doc – Share any comments, questions, answers, resources, links, examples, and more here in the – Google Document link for School Counsellors. How will you use AI to help you , help your students? In all my questions to chat GPT re: school counselling topics, it has said several times that Chat GPT does not replace a professional School Counsellor . Although AI will not replace you … a person who knows how to use AI ethically and educationally may someday.