January 20, 2025 • 30 mins
*Join the School for School Counselors Mastermind today to become the school counselor you were meant to be.*
In this episode, Steph Johnson, a full-time school counselor, talks through National School Counseling Week, sharing her thoughts on its purpose and the many mixed emotions it stirs among school counselors.
Steph addresses various reactions from excitement to frustration and offers simple strategies for observing the week on campus.
She highlights the importance of effective advocacy, explains why internal support and relationship-building are crucial, and emphasizes the value of recognizing and validating counselors' efforts.
Additionally, Steph provides insights into the School for School Counselors Mastermind and encourages listeners to share their voices for an upcoming podcast episode.
00:00 Introduction and Purpose of National School Counseling Week
03:55 Different Reactions to National School Counseling Week
08:03 Challenges in Advocacy and Support
11:57 Effective Advocacy From the Inside Out
22:18 Low-Stress Ways to Observe National School Counseling Week
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
If there's one thing that seems to make school
counselors feel worse abouttheir jobs than maybe they
already do, it's National SchoolCounseling Week.
Oh, my goodness, why would Isay something like that?
I'm going to tell you all aboutit in this episode and I'm
going to give you my take on thepurpose, the intention of
(00:23):
National School Counseling Week,what you should do about it on
your campus, some simplestrategies you can use on your
campus if you want to, andreasons why you may not want to
observe it at all.
Oh, blasphemy, I know it.
You're going to have to keeplistening to hear all the gory
(00:44):
details.
And a way that you can befeatured on an upcoming podcast.
Let's get started.
Are you ready?
All right?
Before we get started, let meintroduce myself, in case this
is the first time that you'relistening to the podcast.
My name is Steph Johnson.
I am a full-time schoolcounselor, just like you, and I
(01:08):
am on a mission to make schoolcounseling more realistic and
more sustainable.
I want you to look forward togoing to work each and every day
.
I want you to feel like you'rethriving amidst the busyness and
the overwhelm and walk away atthe end of the day feeling like
(01:28):
you've done an amazing job,you've made great impacts for
students and you're ready to goback and do it all again
tomorrow.
Hey, I got a really awesomereview on the podcast just a
couple of days ago.
Awesome review on the podcast.
Just a couple of days ago,sarah left a review on Apple
(01:49):
Podcasts for us and it wastitled Time to Grow.
Her review said this Long-timelistener, new engager here.
My first year was COVID.
What a hard year to start, andI also had a six-month-old at
home.
My second year I had my secondchild and was out half the year
and since then we have been insurvival mode.
(02:10):
Oh my goodness.
Let me stop there and say howmany of us can relate to that
right?
Sarah went on to say I alwayslisten to the podcast but
couldn't find the time toparticipate much past that.
Well, now I'm in my fifth yearand I'm ready to start growing
my craft and expertise, and thispodcast has really helped me
(02:32):
find a path to do just that.
Steph is so real and honest andinsightful.
I truly feel like she has allthe answers and is a fountain of
knowledge.
I don't know about that, sarah,but I appreciate your
confidence in me.
She ended with saying Icouldn't be more thankful for
(02:52):
this podcast.
My morning commute wouldn't bethe same without it.
Thank you so much, sarah.
You have no idea what thosewords mean to me and to my team
here at School for SchoolCounselors.
And really that's the goal hereis to be honest and real about
what's going on in our schoolcounseling worlds, instead of
(03:13):
this super Instagram, perfectworld scenario stuff.
Right, it is very rare to comeacross a school counselor that
says I found all the answers.
I'm running a fullycomprehensive program.
Everything is 100% online,including my relationship with
my administrator.
That's really hard to come by,and it's not because we're not
(03:35):
great at what we do, it's justbecause we work in very
difficult systems, and so Istrive to bring you the realness
, the relevancy and theinspiration to keep doing your
job, and that's why this reviewmeans so much to me.
Thank you, sarah, from thebottom of my heart.
All right, friends, so let's getinto National School Counseling
(03:59):
Week.
We've got a few weeks untilNational School Counseling Week
kicks off, but I'm noticing moreand more people posting and
asking questions about what'severybody doing for National
School Counseling Week.
What are your plans?
How can I observe it?
And so I thought let's get ajump on this.
This week brings out so manyreactions and emotions in our
(04:25):
professional world.
We see people that are superexcited and motivated about it.
They just can't wait for it toget started.
They've combed all of thePinterest boards, they have all
the ideas, they have all thelittle gifts and handouts and
all the things ready to go weeksahead of time.
Then we have people who feel alittle overwhelmed by National
(04:47):
School Counseling Week.
They feel like they have to puton that big show.
They don't know how they'regoing to fit it into all of the
things they're already doing.
A lot of school counselorsworry about financing
initiatives on their campus.
They feel like they should begiving things to their staff and
they don't know how they'regoing to afford that.
(05:08):
Still, other counselors feelvery frustrated by National
School Counseling Week.
They feel like they should notbe called upon to do the bulk of
advocacy in their work.
They wish that other peoplewould stand up and speak for
them so they don't have to keepjeopardizing their job by trying
to advocate for their program.
And even further, we haveschool counselors who feel very
(05:33):
disappointed, very overlookedand sometimes very disrespected
during National SchoolCounseling Week.
These are the folks that go intothe week hoping to be
recognized, and I think that's avery, very valid hope,
especially in school counseling,where so much of what we do
goes unnoticed and so much ofwhat we do are things that we
(05:56):
cannot call attention to day byday.
We can't stand in the hallwayand say, oh, you'll never guess
what Bobby told me today, nowonder he's been acting the way
he has.
We can't share in the hallwayand say, oh, you'll never guess
what Bobby told me today, nowonder he's been acting the way
he has.
We can't share that kind ofinformation, and so so many
things stay below surface.
And there's a piece of us thatdesperately hopes that during
National School Counseling Week,someone on our campus stands up
(06:19):
and says I see you, I thinkyou're doing a great job.
I'm not entirely sure what goeson in your world, but I know
it's great.
And so we have all of theseemotions just swirling around
between people.
Sometimes we have more than oneof those within ourselves.
And then social media takes off.
(06:40):
You know what I'm talking aboutIf you've been in school
counseling for a little bit off.
You know what I'm talking aboutIf you've been in school
counseling for a little bit.
You've seen it when folksunfortunately start chastising
each other, blaming each other,not empathizing and being our
(07:01):
best selves, no matter what theemotion is.
I did a podcast episode a yearor two ago about that very thing
, so if you're interested inhearing it, you can go to our
schoolforschoolcounselorscomslash podcast, look through the
episodes and you'll find thatone around February 2023.
That's my best guess.
(07:22):
But no matter where you sitwithin that spectrum of
responses, please know thatevery feeling, every emotion and
thought that you have aboutNational School Counseling Week
deserves to be validated.
If you want to be recognized,there's nothing wrong with that.
If you want to stand on theroof of the school and shout out
(07:43):
your demands and advocacy, youdo.
You and most of us are going tofall somewhere in between right
, but there's no one right wayto approach this week and really
I think maybe that's part ofthe problem.
Think maybe that's part of theproblem.
(08:09):
So National School CounselingWeek, as you know, is promoted
by the American School CounselorAssociation and while I
appreciate that we have thisweekly observance, every year
there's a different theme.
This year, the theme is schoolcounseling helping students
thrive, and so I do appreciatethe additional emphasis on
school counseling during thatweek and the additional focus.
(08:32):
I think many of the efforts aremisguided.
Let me tell you what I mean bythat.
You've probably heard me talkabout the need for more
effective advocacy in our field,about the need for more
effective advocacy in our field,that it is not fair to expect a
school counselor to advocateentirely on their own behalf on
(08:54):
their campus and potentially goup against an administrator.
That's not receptive.
Most of us, me included, weneed our jobs, we need our
paychecks, we have families whodepend on us.
We have to be able to supportourselves, and so the idea of
(09:14):
going up against ouradministrator and advocating in
the way that our field tells uswe should be doing it is scary,
y'all it is scary and it isdisconcerting and nine times out
of 10, completely ineffective.
And yet we still have anorganization that tells us that
(09:38):
that's the best way to advocate.
We have state level schoolcounseling organizations who are
working their guts out toadvocate for the school
counseling profession withintheir state and our national
organization kind of leaves itto them.
(09:58):
Again, I do understand part ofthat, because states legislate
their educational policy verydifferently and so any policy
changes or huge initiatives areprobably going to have to go
through at the state level.
But I also know that thenational organization is not
providing a lot of monetarysupport to its state branches.
(10:23):
I know that as a nationalorganization they could develop
a pretty big platform foradvocacy.
They could be doing lots moreinitiatives and bigger pushes
than trying to recruit schoolcounselors to download signs and
take their pictures with them.
This is something that I'vebeen talking about for years,
(10:48):
that so many of us areattempting to quote unquote
advocate within an echo chamber.
Even some of the newinformation that I see coming
out of our organization is allabout themselves.
I'm a board member.
This is important to me becauseNow it's important that we be
(11:08):
able to see that right.
That's how we learn who thesepeople are.
That's how we develop trustwithin them.
We need to know that kind ofstuff.
But y'all, it needs to gofurther than that, and so I do
understand a lot of people'sfrustrations with the advocacy
efforts in general.
It's surface level.
There is a lack of truesystemic change, certainly on a
(11:32):
local level, and anover-reliance on school
counselors to promote themselves.
So we end up feelingunsupported in our budgets, in
our staffing, in the level ofrespect that we get on our
campus, in the level of respectthat we get on our campus.
(11:58):
It's super frustrating andsuper disempowering.
Now, enough gloom and doom,though there are some things
that we can do on our side,because, just like our circle of
control exercises we do withstudents, all the time tells us
there are certain things we cancontrol and there are certain
things that we cannot, andnational scale advocacy efforts
are one thing that we do nothave a lot of control over.
But what do we have controlover?
(12:20):
We have control over how weshow up every day.
Beyond providing printablesabout appropriate school
counseling duties andinappropriate school counseling
duties, or position papers that,I promise you, your principal
is not reading, what else can wedo?
We've been talking in ourSchool for School Counselors
(12:44):
world for a long time aboutadvocating from the inside out,
and I always give this example.
Imagine you're in your homedoing what you do.
You might be relaxing with acup of coffee.
You might be working insideyour home.
You might be taking care ofhousekeeping tasks, you might be
(13:05):
hanging out with your family,whatever.
You're inside your home and allof a sudden, someone outside
starts beating on the doors andwindows, screaming and shouting
at you.
You're doing it wrong.
You can't do it that way.
That's not right.
We're not doing this right.
I need to tell you how thisneeds to be better.
Let me in.
(13:25):
Let me in.
You're not going to open thedoor for that person.
You're going to say they'recrazy, they might be dangerous.
No way are they getting in here, right?
It's not a good way to advocate,but that is the way most school
counselors have been taught todo it by drawing boundaries.
(13:49):
That's what it's often called.
Tell your principal you're notwilling to do that Y'all.
That is a death sentence on alot of school campuses.
You are not in a bargainingposition yet to tell them what
you will and will not do.
Schools are struggling tomaintain personnel.
They're struggling with fundingand often what you see as
(14:11):
disrespect is an administratorjust trying to keep the wheels
turning.
So showing up with a printabletelling them what you should be
doing and what you should not isnot going to go over.
Well, that's the same asbeating on the doors and windows
, screaming and shouting.
What we have suggested for yearsis advocating from the inside
(14:35):
out being able to develop arelationship with the people
inside that house so that whenthey see you coming, they want
to open the door, they want toinvite you in, they want to say
come in, take a chair, let'stalk about it.
But you don't get there with abunch of papers in your hand or
(14:58):
a social media post holding asign.
So how do you get there?
Intentionality there are acouple of pieces of that
approach and it's something thatwe don't have time to talk
about on this episode of thepodcast, or we will be here for
hours, but let me see if I canboil it down for you really
(15:21):
quickly.
These are the things that wework on in our School for School
Counselors Mastermind.
That's why we don't provideprintable lessons and
curriculums.
We're focused on somethingbigger, more intentional, more
impactful, where we teach you todevelop the right relationships
with your administrators, evenif they're difficult.
(15:42):
How do you develop know, likeand trust with them so that
they're willing to listen whenyou speak, like and trust with
them so that they're willing tolisten when you speak?
We talk about developingprofessional fluency how to be
able to talk at the drop of ahat about what's going on on
your campus and what thepossible solutions might be, and
(16:05):
to be able to talk about thosethings with authority, with
confidence, with competence andwithout second-guessing yourself
or having to run to consult amanual or chat GPT.
That's a bad idea.
By the way, it can be done.
(16:26):
We have school counselors inour mastermind who have done a
phenomenal job of this and attimes have even had people whose
positions were slated to beeliminated who were able to
advocate their way through.
And then, last use of timebeing able to verify what you're
(16:48):
doing in real time isinvaluable.
There are ways to set that upso that it's not overwhelming,
so it does not feel like it'sjust another thing piled on top
of the to-do list, and wesupport and encourage and
educate our Mastermind memberson how to get that implemented.
(17:12):
As you work through those,you're going to develop a
reputation, not only with youradministration and your staff on
your campus, but eventuallyword will start to get out.
People will start to talk aboutman.
My school counselor is reallyamazing.
Have you heard of them?
You'll never guess what theywere able to do.
You'll never guess what theywere able to do.
You'll never guess what theytold me.
And that is how you develop thereputation for advocacy from
(17:38):
the inside out.
You can be a changemaker withinyour own community, I promise
you.
You just need the support andand the resources to be able to
do it without burning yourselfthe heck out.
Okay, so back then to NationalSchool Counseling Week.
(17:59):
There is a huge debate.
Is National School CounselingWeek supposed to celebrate
school counselors or is itsupposed to be an advocacy push?
Your purists will tell you thatit is only for advocacy's sake,
that you should not expect tobe recognized, that you should
not expect anything during thisweek, that you should just give
(18:23):
and give and give and advocateyour heart out, and I appreciate
that perspective.
I don't know that it's supersustainable for us regular Joes.
I don't think a pat on the backever hurt anybody, and it's
(18:46):
amazing what it does for youwhen someone comes to you and
says I see you Right, we feel soinvisible sometimes with the
things that are going on oncampuses.
We can't talk about our workSometimes.
We don't have a team, we'reworking solo.
We don't find out about all thethings going on on our campus
because we're kind of justworking in our zone.
We can sometimes feel removedfrom the other processes on the
(19:08):
campus, and so for somebody towalk up and say, hey, I
appreciate you, I appreciate thework you're doing, y'all, that
means everything, and so ifthere's a piece of your heart
that's wanting that, don't feelbad about it.
Everybody needs support andencouragement.
You are no different.
But if you don't receive it,don't take it personally.
(19:30):
And that's a hard one, becauseit feels very personal, doesn't
it?
Because in our mind and in ourworld, we're going to be deluged
with National School CounselingWeek information.
We are going to be thinkingabout it, we're going to be
(19:51):
waiting and hoping and wonderingall week long what's going to
happen?
Is anybody going to sayanything?
What am I going to do?
Our social media worlds, ouremails, they're all going to be
about National School CounselingWeek, and so to us it's going
to feel like everybody shouldknow about this when in reality,
(20:11):
most people on school campuseshave no idea.
So if you're not recognized, ifyou aren't thanked, it may not
be personal, they may not haverealized it.
And y'all, don't beatyourselves down because of an
(20:32):
expectation.
You know, the minute we startexpecting people in our lives to
do something is the minute theyalmost certainly go the other
direction.
Right, and it may not bebecause of you.
They may be ignorant of whatNational School Counseling Week
(20:52):
is.
They may not even realize howimportant it is to you.
When I was a teacher, I neverrealized what a big deal
Counseling Week and SchoolPsychologist Week and Cafeteria
Workers Week and all those weeks, what a big deal.
That was Because in my world wecelebrated Teacher Appreciation
(21:14):
Week and everybody was in on it, so it was never a big deal.
I never had to take a differentperspective and it wasn't until
I started the school counselingwork that I realized how
important these weeks are forour niche colleagues.
So keep in mind, they may noteven realize that this is a big
(21:36):
deal to you.
And if it feels too heavy, ifyou just feel so disrespected
and you can't reframe it, youcan't turn it around in your
head and you're just feelingterrible about it.
Maybe you've had a hard yearalready this year.
That's when you know you needsupport and consultation.
That's when you know you needto be able to speak your truth
(22:00):
in a forum of people who get it.
And again, that's what ourSchool for School Counselors
Mastermind does each and everyweek.
That's what we're all about, myfriend.
That's what we are all about.
Before I end the episode, let'stalk about some low-stress ways
(22:22):
that you can observe NationalSchool Counseling Week on your
campus, even if you'reoverwhelmed.
But again, let me say you'renot expected to do this.
There is nothing wrong withsitting back and just taking the
week as it comes.
All right, there's noexpectation for you.
It doesn't mean that you're aterrible school counselor.
If you're not tying hundreds ofyards of ribbon on water
(22:45):
bottles or snacks or printingposters or doing all the things
that you see pictured in theworld during this week, your
efforts say nothing about youother than you might be tired,
and I think that that is fair.
You could do some one and donethings.
An email to your staff withjust kind of a brief like did
(23:06):
you know this about schoolcounseling?
Did you know we actually havemental health master's degrees?
Did you know that we don'tprovide therapy?
We refer kids out for that?
Some people don't know thosethings.
We assume that they do becausethat's the world we live in, but
often they don't.
There are going to be tons ofthose out there, so keep your
eyes open.
(23:27):
We've got one available in ourmastermind.
We just wrapped up our trainingon National School Counseling
Week.
A couple of weeks ago we talkedabout our plans for that week,
if anybody was going to doanything, and we have a huge
sheet of ideas, a library ofresources to be printed out and
used with low cost, low effort.
(23:47):
Tons of stuff in there for ourmastermind members.
Second thing you could do isleverage some of the meetings or
events already going on on yourcampus.
Could you stand up in a staffmeeting?
Could you stand up in a PLC,those kinds of things, and just
talk about what you do.
Let your passion for your workshine through.
(24:09):
I think that's one of the wayswe go wrong in advocacy.
We talk a lot about themechanics of school counseling,
what we do, where we do it, howwe implement these things on the
campus, but we very rarely talkabout the why.
What brought you into schoolcounseling?
What lights you up about it?
What makes you keep walkingthrough the door every day, even
(24:33):
when you had the hardest dayever the day before?
What is it about this job thatgives you life?
Share that rather than you knowwell, I have currently have
five small groups going thisweek.
I regularly see about 15 to 20students for individual
(24:53):
counseling.
I also provide nobody caresabout that.
Everybody on your campus feelslike they are overworked and
stressed.
They are not going to ally withyou over a list of
responsibilities and themechanics of your work.
They are all working hard.
So appeal to their heart.
Let them see why you do thework you do, because I promise
(25:18):
it will be so much moreimpactful.
Or can you just organizesomething quietly?
Can you maybe celebrate withyour small groups and call it a
day?
Our students are the most funto celebrate with anyway.
Our students are the most funto celebrate with anyway.
Can you organize something athome with your family?
(25:40):
Hey, you know, this is NationalSchool Counseling Week.
I would just really love to goout to dinner.
Those are all excellent ways toobserve this week if you feel
like you want to do something,but I think the point here is do
not overextend yourself.
(26:01):
Focus on things that aremanageable and meaningful
instead of the go-big Instagramphoto ops, because those things
are a flash in the pan.
They're here today, forgottentomorrow.
Make an impact, make your wordsmatter, communicate what's in
your heart and make yourcelebration be what you want it
(26:23):
to be.
All right, that went on a littlebit, but I hope you hear my
heart for you and for the workthat you do, and every time that
I sit down behind thismicrophone to record a podcast
episode, I think about how luckyand how grateful I am to be in
the presence of all of mywonderful school counseling
(26:46):
colleagues, people who knowthey're going to be dealing with
some of the hardest things ontheir campuses, they're going to
be hearing some of the worststories and continue to walk
back through the door the nextday.
You continue to raise your handand say put me in, I'll take
care of that.
I want to support kids, I wantto make a difference, and I
(27:10):
think that is one of the mostphenomenal things that anybody
on our planet could dosupporting our children with a
true heart.
So I want to thank you ahead ofNational School Counseling Week
for the work that you do, foryour tenacity in the way that
you approach your work, for yourheart, for advocacy, because
(27:32):
even through your frustration,it shows that you care, and to
me that's the most importanttrait of a successful school
counselor.
I have two things for you tothink about.
First is if you are interestedin what's going on in the School
for School CounselorsMastermind, if you're interested
in learning more about how toadvocate from the inside out,
(28:01):
how to develop your fluency forprofessional competence or, if
you need those support andconsultation communities.
Our membership is always openand I promise you I go above and
beyond to make it more thanworth it for you.
If you're interested in that,you can go to
schoolforschoolcounselorscomslash mastermind.
We'll have all the informationthere for you.
If you're interested in that,you can go to
schoolforschoolcounselorscomslash mastermind.
We'll have all the informationthere for you, as well as a
button you can click to join us.
The second thing that I wantyou to think about and I try not
(28:24):
to give you too many of theseat the end of the episode, but
this is super important I'mgetting ready to do a National
School Counseling Week podcastepisode and the desire in my
heart has been I want to shareyour voices about your work.
I have a platform within Schoolfor School Counselors and I want
(28:49):
to use this platform to shareyour voices and your passion
about your work.
I want people to hear whatlights you up about your job and
I want to share that on thepodcast episode.
If you're interested in that,hop on over to our podcast
webpage,schoolforschoolcounselorscom
(29:11):
slash podcast and you're goingto see a link that's going to
take you to a page with a littlemicrophone in the bottom right
hand corner of the screen.
Click that microphone andyou're going to be able to
record a voicemail straight tome.
I'm going to get it in my emailinbox and I'm going to take my
favorite voicemails and put theminto my episode for National
(29:34):
School Counseling Week.
It's going to be super fun.
I would love to heareverybody's thoughts and
perspectives, and it's kind ofcool to hear your voice on the
podcast.
So I would love for you to dothat.
Schoolforschoolcounselorscomslash podcast.
All right, I'll be back soonwith another episode.
In the meantime, keep fightingthe good fight in your schools.
(29:56):
My friends, you're doing greatwork and you're making awesome
impacts, even if it doesn'talways feel like it right Day to
day.
Sometimes we lose sight of that, but I promise you it is
happening.
Keep listening for the nextepisode of the School for School
Counselors podcast and until wemeet again, I hope you have the
(30:18):
best week.
Take care.
If there's one thing that seems to make school
counselors feel worse abouttheir jobs than maybe they
already do, it's National SchoolCounseling Week.
Oh, my goodness, why would Isay something like that?
I'm going to tell you all aboutit in this episode and I'm
going to give you my take on thepurpose, the intention of
(00:23):
National School Counseling Week,what you should do about it on
your campus, some simplestrategies you can use on your
campus if you want to, andreasons why you may not want to
observe it at all.
Oh, blasphemy, I know it.
You're going to have to keeplistening to hear all the gory
(00:44):
details.
And a way that you can befeatured on an upcoming podcast.
Let's get started.
Are you ready?
All right?
Before we get started, let meintroduce myself, in case this
is the first time that you'relistening to the podcast.
My name is Steph Johnson.
I am a full-time schoolcounselor, just like you, and I
(01:08):
am on a mission to make schoolcounseling more realistic and
more sustainable.
I want you to look forward togoing to work each and every day
.
I want you to feel like you'rethriving amidst the busyness and
the overwhelm and walk away atthe end of the day feeling like
(01:28):
you've done an amazing job,you've made great impacts for
students and you're ready to goback and do it all again
tomorrow.
Hey, I got a really awesomereview on the podcast just a
couple of days ago.
Awesome review on the podcast.
Just a couple of days ago,sarah left a review on Apple
(01:49):
Podcasts for us and it wastitled Time to Grow.
Her review said this Long-timelistener, new engager here.
My first year was COVID.
What a hard year to start, andI also had a six-month-old at
home.
My second year I had my secondchild and was out half the year
and since then we have been insurvival mode.
(02:10):
Oh my goodness.
Let me stop there and say howmany of us can relate to that
right?
Sarah went on to say I alwayslisten to the podcast but
couldn't find the time toparticipate much past that.
Well, now I'm in my fifth yearand I'm ready to start growing
my craft and expertise, and thispodcast has really helped me
(02:32):
find a path to do just that.
Steph is so real and honest andinsightful.
I truly feel like she has allthe answers and is a fountain of
knowledge.
I don't know about that, sarah,but I appreciate your
confidence in me.
She ended with saying Icouldn't be more thankful for
(02:52):
this podcast.
My morning commute wouldn't bethe same without it.
Thank you so much, sarah.
You have no idea what thosewords mean to me and to my team
here at School for SchoolCounselors.
And really that's the goal hereis to be honest and real about
what's going on in our schoolcounseling worlds, instead of
(03:13):
this super Instagram, perfectworld scenario stuff.
Right, it is very rare to comeacross a school counselor that
says I found all the answers.
I'm running a fullycomprehensive program.
Everything is 100% online,including my relationship with
my administrator.
That's really hard to come by,and it's not because we're not
(03:35):
great at what we do, it's justbecause we work in very
difficult systems, and so Istrive to bring you the realness
, the relevancy and theinspiration to keep doing your
job, and that's why this reviewmeans so much to me.
Thank you, sarah, from thebottom of my heart.
All right, friends, so let's getinto National School Counseling
(03:59):
Week.
We've got a few weeks untilNational School Counseling Week
kicks off, but I'm noticing moreand more people posting and
asking questions about what'severybody doing for National
School Counseling Week.
What are your plans?
How can I observe it?
And so I thought let's get ajump on this.
This week brings out so manyreactions and emotions in our
(04:25):
professional world.
We see people that are superexcited and motivated about it.
They just can't wait for it toget started.
They've combed all of thePinterest boards, they have all
the ideas, they have all thelittle gifts and handouts and
all the things ready to go weeksahead of time.
Then we have people who feel alittle overwhelmed by National
(04:47):
School Counseling Week.
They feel like they have to puton that big show.
They don't know how they'regoing to fit it into all of the
things they're already doing.
A lot of school counselorsworry about financing
initiatives on their campus.
They feel like they should begiving things to their staff and
they don't know how they'regoing to afford that.
(05:08):
Still, other counselors feelvery frustrated by National
School Counseling Week.
They feel like they should notbe called upon to do the bulk of
advocacy in their work.
They wish that other peoplewould stand up and speak for
them so they don't have to keepjeopardizing their job by trying
to advocate for their program.
And even further, we haveschool counselors who feel very
(05:33):
disappointed, very overlookedand sometimes very disrespected
during National SchoolCounseling Week.
These are the folks that go intothe week hoping to be
recognized, and I think that's avery, very valid hope,
especially in school counseling,where so much of what we do
goes unnoticed and so much ofwhat we do are things that we
(05:56):
cannot call attention to day byday.
We can't stand in the hallwayand say, oh, you'll never guess
what Bobby told me today, nowonder he's been acting the way
he has.
We can't share in the hallwayand say, oh, you'll never guess
what Bobby told me today, nowonder he's been acting the way
he has.
We can't share that kind ofinformation, and so so many
things stay below surface.
And there's a piece of us thatdesperately hopes that during
National School Counseling Week,someone on our campus stands up
(06:19):
and says I see you, I thinkyou're doing a great job.
I'm not entirely sure what goeson in your world, but I know
it's great.
And so we have all of theseemotions just swirling around
between people.
Sometimes we have more than oneof those within ourselves.
And then social media takes off.
(06:40):
You know what I'm talking aboutIf you've been in school
counseling for a little bit off.
You know what I'm talking aboutIf you've been in school
counseling for a little bit.
You've seen it when folksunfortunately start chastising
each other, blaming each other,not empathizing and being our
(07:01):
best selves, no matter what theemotion is.
I did a podcast episode a yearor two ago about that very thing
, so if you're interested inhearing it, you can go to our
schoolforschoolcounselorscomslash podcast, look through the
episodes and you'll find thatone around February 2023.
That's my best guess.
(07:22):
But no matter where you sitwithin that spectrum of
responses, please know thatevery feeling, every emotion and
thought that you have aboutNational School Counseling Week
deserves to be validated.
If you want to be recognized,there's nothing wrong with that.
If you want to stand on theroof of the school and shout out
(07:43):
your demands and advocacy, youdo.
You and most of us are going tofall somewhere in between right
, but there's no one right wayto approach this week and really
I think maybe that's part ofthe problem.
Think maybe that's part of theproblem.
(08:09):
So National School CounselingWeek, as you know, is promoted
by the American School CounselorAssociation and while I
appreciate that we have thisweekly observance, every year
there's a different theme.
This year, the theme is schoolcounseling helping students
thrive, and so I do appreciatethe additional emphasis on
school counseling during thatweek and the additional focus.
(08:32):
I think many of the efforts aremisguided.
Let me tell you what I mean bythat.
You've probably heard me talkabout the need for more
effective advocacy in our field,about the need for more
effective advocacy in our field,that it is not fair to expect a
school counselor to advocateentirely on their own behalf on
(08:54):
their campus and potentially goup against an administrator.
That's not receptive.
Most of us, me included, weneed our jobs, we need our
paychecks, we have families whodepend on us.
We have to be able to supportourselves, and so the idea of
(09:14):
going up against ouradministrator and advocating in
the way that our field tells uswe should be doing it is scary,
y'all it is scary and it isdisconcerting and nine times out
of 10, completely ineffective.
And yet we still have anorganization that tells us that
(09:38):
that's the best way to advocate.
We have state level schoolcounseling organizations who are
working their guts out toadvocate for the school
counseling profession withintheir state and our national
organization kind of leaves itto them.
(09:58):
Again, I do understand part ofthat, because states legislate
their educational policy verydifferently and so any policy
changes or huge initiatives areprobably going to have to go
through at the state level.
But I also know that thenational organization is not
providing a lot of monetarysupport to its state branches.
(10:23):
I know that as a nationalorganization they could develop
a pretty big platform foradvocacy.
They could be doing lots moreinitiatives and bigger pushes
than trying to recruit schoolcounselors to download signs and
take their pictures with them.
This is something that I'vebeen talking about for years,
(10:48):
that so many of us areattempting to quote unquote
advocate within an echo chamber.
Even some of the newinformation that I see coming
out of our organization is allabout themselves.
I'm a board member.
This is important to me becauseNow it's important that we be
(11:08):
able to see that right.
That's how we learn who thesepeople are.
That's how we develop trustwithin them.
We need to know that kind ofstuff.
But y'all, it needs to gofurther than that, and so I do
understand a lot of people'sfrustrations with the advocacy
efforts in general.
It's surface level.
There is a lack of truesystemic change, certainly on a
(11:32):
local level, and anover-reliance on school
counselors to promote themselves.
So we end up feelingunsupported in our budgets, in
our staffing, in the level ofrespect that we get on our
campus, in the level of respectthat we get on our campus.
(11:58):
It's super frustrating andsuper disempowering.
Now, enough gloom and doom,though there are some things
that we can do on our side,because, just like our circle of
control exercises we do withstudents, all the time tells us
there are certain things we cancontrol and there are certain
things that we cannot, andnational scale advocacy efforts
are one thing that we do nothave a lot of control over.
But what do we have controlover?
(12:20):
We have control over how weshow up every day.
Beyond providing printablesabout appropriate school
counseling duties andinappropriate school counseling
duties, or position papers that,I promise you, your principal
is not reading, what else can wedo?
We've been talking in ourSchool for School Counselors
(12:44):
world for a long time aboutadvocating from the inside out,
and I always give this example.
Imagine you're in your homedoing what you do.
You might be relaxing with acup of coffee.
You might be working insideyour home.
You might be taking care ofhousekeeping tasks, you might be
(13:05):
hanging out with your family,whatever.
You're inside your home and allof a sudden, someone outside
starts beating on the doors andwindows, screaming and shouting
at you.
You're doing it wrong.
You can't do it that way.
That's not right.
We're not doing this right.
I need to tell you how thisneeds to be better.
Let me in.
(13:25):
Let me in.
You're not going to open thedoor for that person.
You're going to say they'recrazy, they might be dangerous.
No way are they getting in here, right?
It's not a good way to advocate,but that is the way most school
counselors have been taught todo it by drawing boundaries.
(13:49):
That's what it's often called.
Tell your principal you're notwilling to do that Y'all.
That is a death sentence on alot of school campuses.
You are not in a bargainingposition yet to tell them what
you will and will not do.
Schools are struggling tomaintain personnel.
They're struggling with fundingand often what you see as
(14:11):
disrespect is an administratorjust trying to keep the wheels
turning.
So showing up with a printabletelling them what you should be
doing and what you should not isnot going to go over.
Well, that's the same asbeating on the doors and windows
, screaming and shouting.
What we have suggested for yearsis advocating from the inside
(14:35):
out being able to develop arelationship with the people
inside that house so that whenthey see you coming, they want
to open the door, they want toinvite you in, they want to say
come in, take a chair, let'stalk about it.
But you don't get there with abunch of papers in your hand or
(14:58):
a social media post holding asign.
So how do you get there?
Intentionality there are acouple of pieces of that
approach and it's something thatwe don't have time to talk
about on this episode of thepodcast, or we will be here for
hours, but let me see if I canboil it down for you really
(15:21):
quickly.
These are the things that wework on in our School for School
Counselors Mastermind.
That's why we don't provideprintable lessons and
curriculums.
We're focused on somethingbigger, more intentional, more
impactful, where we teach you todevelop the right relationships
with your administrators, evenif they're difficult.
(15:42):
How do you develop know, likeand trust with them so that
they're willing to listen whenyou speak, like and trust with
them so that they're willing tolisten when you speak?
We talk about developingprofessional fluency how to be
able to talk at the drop of ahat about what's going on on
your campus and what thepossible solutions might be, and
(16:05):
to be able to talk about thosethings with authority, with
confidence, with competence andwithout second-guessing yourself
or having to run to consult amanual or chat GPT.
That's a bad idea.
By the way, it can be done.
(16:26):
We have school counselors inour mastermind who have done a
phenomenal job of this and attimes have even had people whose
positions were slated to beeliminated who were able to
advocate their way through.
And then, last use of timebeing able to verify what you're
(16:48):
doing in real time isinvaluable.
There are ways to set that upso that it's not overwhelming,
so it does not feel like it'sjust another thing piled on top
of the to-do list, and wesupport and encourage and
educate our Mastermind memberson how to get that implemented.
(17:12):
As you work through those,you're going to develop a
reputation, not only with youradministration and your staff on
your campus, but eventuallyword will start to get out.
People will start to talk aboutman.
My school counselor is reallyamazing.
Have you heard of them?
You'll never guess what theywere able to do.
You'll never guess what theywere able to do.
You'll never guess what theytold me.
And that is how you develop thereputation for advocacy from
(17:38):
the inside out.
You can be a changemaker withinyour own community, I promise
you.
You just need the support andand the resources to be able to
do it without burning yourselfthe heck out.
Okay, so back then to NationalSchool Counseling Week.
(17:59):
There is a huge debate.
Is National School CounselingWeek supposed to celebrate
school counselors or is itsupposed to be an advocacy push?
Your purists will tell you thatit is only for advocacy's sake,
that you should not expect tobe recognized, that you should
not expect anything during thisweek, that you should just give
(18:23):
and give and give and advocateyour heart out, and I appreciate
that perspective.
I don't know that it's supersustainable for us regular Joes.
I don't think a pat on the backever hurt anybody, and it's
(18:46):
amazing what it does for youwhen someone comes to you and
says I see you Right, we feel soinvisible sometimes with the
things that are going on oncampuses.
We can't talk about our workSometimes.
We don't have a team, we'reworking solo.
We don't find out about all thethings going on on our campus
because we're kind of justworking in our zone.
We can sometimes feel removedfrom the other processes on the
(19:08):
campus, and so for somebody towalk up and say, hey, I
appreciate you, I appreciate thework you're doing, y'all, that
means everything, and so ifthere's a piece of your heart
that's wanting that, don't feelbad about it.
Everybody needs support andencouragement.
You are no different.
But if you don't receive it,don't take it personally.
(19:30):
And that's a hard one, becauseit feels very personal, doesn't
it?
Because in our mind and in ourworld, we're going to be deluged
with National School CounselingWeek information.
We are going to be thinkingabout it, we're going to be
(19:51):
waiting and hoping and wonderingall week long what's going to
happen?
Is anybody going to sayanything?
What am I going to do?
Our social media worlds, ouremails, they're all going to be
about National School CounselingWeek, and so to us it's going
to feel like everybody shouldknow about this when in reality,
(20:11):
most people on school campuseshave no idea.
So if you're not recognized, ifyou aren't thanked, it may not
be personal, they may not haverealized it.
And y'all, don't beatyourselves down because of an
(20:32):
expectation.
You know, the minute we startexpecting people in our lives to
do something is the minute theyalmost certainly go the other
direction.
Right, and it may not bebecause of you.
They may be ignorant of whatNational School Counseling Week
(20:52):
is.
They may not even realize howimportant it is to you.
When I was a teacher, I neverrealized what a big deal
Counseling Week and SchoolPsychologist Week and Cafeteria
Workers Week and all those weeks, what a big deal.
That was Because in my world wecelebrated Teacher Appreciation
(21:14):
Week and everybody was in on it, so it was never a big deal.
I never had to take a differentperspective and it wasn't until
I started the school counselingwork that I realized how
important these weeks are forour niche colleagues.
So keep in mind, they may noteven realize that this is a big
(21:36):
deal to you.
And if it feels too heavy, ifyou just feel so disrespected
and you can't reframe it, youcan't turn it around in your
head and you're just feelingterrible about it.
Maybe you've had a hard yearalready this year.
That's when you know you needsupport and consultation.
That's when you know you needto be able to speak your truth
(22:00):
in a forum of people who get it.
And again, that's what ourSchool for School Counselors
Mastermind does each and everyweek.
That's what we're all about, myfriend.
That's what we are all about.
Before I end the episode, let'stalk about some low-stress ways
(22:22):
that you can observe NationalSchool Counseling Week on your
campus, even if you'reoverwhelmed.
But again, let me say you'renot expected to do this.
There is nothing wrong withsitting back and just taking the
week as it comes.
All right, there's noexpectation for you.
It doesn't mean that you're aterrible school counselor.
If you're not tying hundreds ofyards of ribbon on water
(22:45):
bottles or snacks or printingposters or doing all the things
that you see pictured in theworld during this week, your
efforts say nothing about youother than you might be tired,
and I think that that is fair.
You could do some one and donethings.
An email to your staff withjust kind of a brief like did
(23:06):
you know this about schoolcounseling?
Did you know we actually havemental health master's degrees?
Did you know that we don'tprovide therapy?
We refer kids out for that?
Some people don't know thosethings.
We assume that they do becausethat's the world we live in, but
often they don't.
There are going to be tons ofthose out there, so keep your
eyes open.
(23:27):
We've got one available in ourmastermind.
We just wrapped up our trainingon National School Counseling
Week.
A couple of weeks ago we talkedabout our plans for that week,
if anybody was going to doanything, and we have a huge
sheet of ideas, a library ofresources to be printed out and
used with low cost, low effort.
(23:47):
Tons of stuff in there for ourmastermind members.
Second thing you could do isleverage some of the meetings or
events already going on on yourcampus.
Could you stand up in a staffmeeting?
Could you stand up in a PLC,those kinds of things, and just
talk about what you do.
Let your passion for your workshine through.
(24:09):
I think that's one of the wayswe go wrong in advocacy.
We talk a lot about themechanics of school counseling,
what we do, where we do it, howwe implement these things on the
campus, but we very rarely talkabout the why.
What brought you into schoolcounseling?
What lights you up about it?
What makes you keep walkingthrough the door every day, even
(24:33):
when you had the hardest dayever the day before?
What is it about this job thatgives you life?
Share that rather than you knowwell, I have currently have
five small groups going thisweek.
I regularly see about 15 to 20students for individual
(24:53):
counseling.
I also provide nobody caresabout that.
Everybody on your campus feelslike they are overworked and
stressed.
They are not going to ally withyou over a list of
responsibilities and themechanics of your work.
They are all working hard.
So appeal to their heart.
Let them see why you do thework you do, because I promise
(25:18):
it will be so much moreimpactful.
Or can you just organizesomething quietly?
Can you maybe celebrate withyour small groups and call it a
day?
Our students are the most funto celebrate with anyway.
Our students are the most funto celebrate with anyway.
Can you organize something athome with your family?
(25:40):
Hey, you know, this is NationalSchool Counseling Week.
I would just really love to goout to dinner.
Those are all excellent ways toobserve this week if you feel
like you want to do something,but I think the point here is do
not overextend yourself.
(26:01):
Focus on things that aremanageable and meaningful
instead of the go-big Instagramphoto ops, because those things
are a flash in the pan.
They're here today, forgottentomorrow.
Make an impact, make your wordsmatter, communicate what's in
your heart and make yourcelebration be what you want it
(26:23):
to be.
All right, that went on a littlebit, but I hope you hear my
heart for you and for the workthat you do, and every time that
I sit down behind thismicrophone to record a podcast
episode, I think about how luckyand how grateful I am to be in
the presence of all of mywonderful school counseling
(26:46):
colleagues, people who knowthey're going to be dealing with
some of the hardest things ontheir campuses, they're going to
be hearing some of the worststories and continue to walk
back through the door the nextday.
You continue to raise your handand say put me in, I'll take
care of that.
I want to support kids, I wantto make a difference, and I
(27:10):
think that is one of the mostphenomenal things that anybody
on our planet could dosupporting our children with a
true heart.
So I want to thank you ahead ofNational School Counseling Week
for the work that you do, foryour tenacity in the way that
you approach your work, for yourheart, for advocacy, because
(27:32):
even through your frustration,it shows that you care, and to
me that's the most importanttrait of a successful school
counselor.
I have two things for you tothink about.
First is if you are interestedin what's going on in the School
for School CounselorsMastermind, if you're interested
in learning more about how toadvocate from the inside out,
(28:01):
how to develop your fluency forprofessional competence or, if
you need those support andconsultation communities.
Our membership is always openand I promise you I go above and
beyond to make it more thanworth it for you.
If you're interested in that,you can go to
schoolforschoolcounselorscomslash mastermind.
We'll have all the informationthere for you.
If you're interested in that,you can go to
schoolforschoolcounselorscomslash mastermind.
We'll have all the informationthere for you, as well as a
button you can click to join us.
The second thing that I wantyou to think about and I try not
(28:24):
to give you too many of theseat the end of the episode, but
this is super important I'mgetting ready to do a National
School Counseling Week podcastepisode and the desire in my
heart has been I want to shareyour voices about your work.
I have a platform within Schoolfor School Counselors and I want
(28:49):
to use this platform to shareyour voices and your passion
about your work.
I want people to hear whatlights you up about your job and
I want to share that on thepodcast episode.
If you're interested in that,hop on over to our podcast
webpage,schoolforschoolcounselorscom
(29:11):
slash podcast and you're goingto see a link that's going to
take you to a page with a littlemicrophone in the bottom right
hand corner of the screen.
Click that microphone andyou're going to be able to
record a voicemail straight tome.
I'm going to get it in my emailinbox and I'm going to take my
favorite voicemails and put theminto my episode for National
(29:34):
School Counseling Week.
It's going to be super fun.
I would love to heareverybody's thoughts and
perspectives, and it's kind ofcool to hear your voice on the
podcast.
So I would love for you to dothat.
Schoolforschoolcounselorscomslash podcast.
All right, I'll be back soonwith another episode.
In the meantime, keep fightingthe good fight in your schools.
(29:56):
My friends, you're doing greatwork and you're making awesome
impacts, even if it doesn'talways feel like it right Day to
day.
Sometimes we lose sight of that, but I promise you it is
happening.
Keep listening for the nextepisode of the School for School
Counselors podcast and until wemeet again, I hope you have the
(30:18):
best week.
Take care.
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