Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Have you ever felt
like you're being asked to
perform magic on campus withoutthe tools to make it happen?
Like you're expected to createa picture-perfect school
counseling program while you'rejuggling all the things that
have nothing to do withcounseling?
If you feel that way, I canpromise you you are not the only
(00:24):
one, and in this episode we'regoing to look at one of the
biggest sources of stress thatschool counselors experience.
Hey, my friend, welcome back tothe School for School
Counselors podcast.
I'm Steph Johnson, your host.
Glad you're back here with mefor another week where we talk
(00:44):
about how to make schoolcounseling more sustainable and
more enjoyable.
This week I want to revisit oneof my most popular podcast
episodes, because I know howtough this time of year can be.
Tough this time of year can be.
The semester isn't quite overyet, but the pressure is
(01:07):
building.
You're juggling so manyresponsibilities you might even
be prepping for some evaluationsor end-of-semester
conversations, and you're tryingto meet the needs of your
students and your campus.
On top of all of that, add inthe holiday melee, the extra
(01:27):
outreach initiatives that starthappening this time of year, and
it just gets to be next leveland you may even be feeling like
you haven't accomplishedeverything that you thought you
would have accomplished by now.
At the beginning of the schoolyear, I think we tend to make
some big goals for ourselves andit can be difficult to
(01:49):
reconcile, as we come intoDecember and January, that we
haven't quite attained theresults that we thought we would
be able to.
So this episode feelsespecially relevant.
It talks about the guilt, thestress and the unrealistic
expectations that most of usface and how to let go of what's
(02:15):
beyond our control, how we cangrab onto what's working and how
we can truly redefine successas school counselors.
So I hope you enjoy this blastfrom the past.
Let's get to it.
Hello, my friends, welcome backto another episode of the School
(02:38):
for School Counselors podcast.
I love coming here each andevery week to chat with you, to
bring you some ideas, someperspective and hopefully some
motivation for your schoolcounseling practice, because,
goodness knows man, we could alluse it right.
We've all got to lean on eachother, we've all got to be
(03:00):
mindful about the way that we'reworking, and that's one of the
things that this podcast reallystrives to bring you.
We're getting geared up for somany amazing things coming up
this winter.
The holiday season is so muchfun anyway, but we also know
that this is a time of year thatoften feels the most difficult,
(03:22):
right?
Not only are we doing ourtypical school counseling jobs,
we're also doing lots of extrasat this time, doing lots of
outreach with families, makingsure they have things they need
coats and meals and gifts andall those different kinds of
things and we're also seeinglots of escalating behaviors
(03:44):
this time of year.
So it just all comes togetherto create a perfect storm of
challenge, right, and of growthfor all of us, and so we want to
do some really cool things foryou to try to give your fall and
winter season a little morepizzazz yeah, a little bit more
to look forward to, a littlemore hopeful.
(04:06):
So we're going to have lots ofthings coming your way.
Make sure you're a part of ourSchool for School Counselors
Facebook group when you go overthere and answer the three
little questions you have tocomplete in order to get
admitted in.
Make sure you put podcastsomewhere in your request, and
that will give us the clue thatwe need to get you in extra fast
.
All right, but we would lovefor you to be over there.
(04:27):
That's where we're going to beannouncing a lot of our special
events.
It's where a lot of that stuffis going to be taking place, and
so you've got to be there soyou don't miss it.
I don't want you to be that oneperson that feels like they
didn't get invited to the party.
Y'all this is open to everybody, so come join us at the School
for School Counselors Facebookgroup.
All right, this week I want tobe talking about how you make
(04:53):
peace with a non-comprehensiveschool counseling program.
So from the moment that youbegin your education, the moment
that you begin studying schoolcounseling, you're hearing about
the American School CounselorAssociation and about how they
have their comprehensive schoolcounseling program outline.
(05:14):
This is like the holy grail forschool counselors achievement.
It feels like to be able to runa truly comprehensive program
on a campus.
It's almost like once you'vegotten to that point, you've
arrived.
The problem is there are many ofyou that are feeling tremendous
(05:36):
pressure to meet thequalifications of that model, to
meet all the bullet pointscontained inside of it.
That is not an attainablesolution for, I would say, the
majority of school counselors,particularly in the United
States.
We're often tasked with extra,extraneous duties.
(05:59):
We're still in that transitionfrom guidance model to school
counseling model, and so thereare a lot of things that are
really muddy.
We've got a lot of folks thatare not on board just yet with
the idea of comprehensive schoolcounseling programs.
We have a lot of folks who donot understand the tremendous
(06:20):
skill set and value that schoolcounselors can bring to schools
when they're allowed to do theirjob with autonomy.
Lots and lots of things goingon there.
We also have to take intoaccount how busy we are.
If you're anything like me,once you walk through the doors
in the morning, man, you hit theground running and you do not
(06:43):
stop.
There's always something comingat you from all different
angles, sometimes at the sametime, and so it's up to us to
triage what the needs are, howwe're going to be able to meet
those needs, and we're reallyjuggling, juggling, juggling all
the time.
I think that's where a lot ofthe stress comes from trying to
(07:03):
align to a comprehensive schoolcounseling program model,
because we feel like man.
You know, I'm moving a thousandmiles an hour, my to-do list is
never ending, kids are comingto my door nonstop, and how in
the world am I supposed to stopto also try to align with this
(07:23):
comprehensive school counselingprogram, especially when I have
not been given the things I needto be able to get there.
And so then we start to reallyget down on ourselves.
We feel like we should bemeeting this standard.
We start shoulding all overourselves.
I should be able to meet thisstandard.
(07:43):
I should be able to figure thisout.
I should be able to convincepeople that this is important
for our school and for ourstudents.
Now, I've said before in aprevious School for School
Counselors podcast episode thatyour data, if you're collecting
use of time data, but even ifyou're not just your daily,
(08:06):
day-to-day duties, are not areflection of you.
They're not a reflection ofyour competence as a school
counselor, of yourprofessionalism, of your
dedication.
It's not a reflection of yourworth as a school counselor or
even as a human being.
We've got to really keep thatin mind, because I think we
(08:30):
often start to really get downon ourselves and we feel like we
should be running theseprograms of perfection but
really we can't do it.
It's almost like asking us toenter a rope climbing contest
with one arm tied behind ourpacks.
It's just virtually impossible.
(08:51):
So if you're in that placebecause, let me tell you I've
been there, I sometimes stillvisit, and I know I know what it
feels like.
Let me take you on a littlejourney.
It's a journey that we oftentake our students on when they
come to our offices and weforget that this is a
(09:12):
destination that we can travelto.
Also, it's called the circle ofcontrol.
Some of you are smiling rightnow because you know where I'm
headed with this.
We've really got to be mindfulas we walk through these
thoughts about comprehensiveprograms.
We've got to really keep at theforefront of our mind what is
(09:36):
in my control in this situationand what's beyond my control.
You can control showing up,literally or figuratively, right
Walking through the door.
Even some days, some of you arein places that you don't want
to do that, but you can controlwhether or not you show up.
You can control how you show upthrough your words, your
(09:58):
actions, how you speak to yourstudents through your words,
your actions, how you speak toyour students, your colleagues,
your parents, how do you takecare of yourself during the
school day?
This is something some of youneed to pay particular attention
to.
Also, all of those things howyou stay current in your role,
how do you continue learning?
How do you stay on top ofcounseling ethically All of
(10:21):
those things.
There are other things you mightbe in control of and maybe not.
Things like how you organizeyour time.
Some of you are fortunate tohave lots of autonomy over the
way you spend your time in yourday.
Others of you do not.
You're scheduled more like aclassroom teacher, so you may or
may not have control over that.
You're scheduled more like aclassroom teacher, so you may or
(10:42):
may not have control over that.
You may or may not have controlover the resources that you've
identified and you're utilizingin your programs.
They might have been chosen foryou.
You might be able to choose asmall percentage of your
resources, and then again, someof you have the freedom to
choose whatever you feel is bestaccording to your professional
judgment.
(11:02):
But then, at the end of it,there are things that are
definitely not in your control,things like your counselor to
student ratio.
Unless you were surveyed andthe district said what would you
like your ratio to be?
Would you like it to be one to550?
And you said oh, yes, please,let's do that.
(11:29):
This doesn't apply to you, butfor most of us.
We don't get to choose ourcounselor to student ratios.
We don't get any say over ourbudget.
That's allocated by someoneelse Many of you, as I said, you
don't have any control overyour time constraints.
You're told where to be and whento be there.
You are not in control of thelevel of appreciation for the
role of school counselor that'son your campus.
(11:50):
You're not in control of that.
You're not in control ofcurrent events, many of those
which are making schoolcounseling extraordinarily more
difficult than it's been in thepast.
Now, with regard to some ofthese things, can we advocate
for change?
Absolutely we can.
(12:10):
It makes me think of StephenCovey.
Do you remember him?
Some of you may have readthings like the Seven Habits of
Highly Effective People.
So he outlines three circles.
One is your circle of control,the things that you can control.
The next is your circle ofconcern.
(12:31):
That's all your challenges, allyour concerns at work.
What are all the things thatyou think about?
That's kind of your big circleright, and then right in between
those two is something calledyour circle of influence.
It's things that you're notnecessarily in control of right
now but you might be able toinfluence in the future, and
(12:52):
that's where you really want toidentify the goals and the way
you want to move the needle foryour school counseling program
is right there, kind of in thatsweet spot.
So what do you do to make peacewith the fact that you're unable
to run a comprehensive schoolcounseling program, especially
(13:13):
if you still really feel thepull and the desire to do it?
There are a few things I thinkmight help.
Number one keep it realistic.
All right, you're not gonna beable to turn this giant ship
around in this channel in amatter of a few minutes.
(13:33):
Right, it's gonna be adeliberate, slow-moving process
most of the time.
I've said it before and I'llsay it again educational change
moves at a glacial pace.
It takes time.
So keep it realistic.
And just because you're notrunning a comprehensive program
(13:54):
does not mean that you're nothelping students, right.
So we got to keep it inperspective.
Second, along with that idea,we've got to look for the
positive in our circumstances.
We've got to find what's goingright, because if you don't do
this, my friends, you are goingto end up in that pit of despair
(14:15):
, and I know you've seen thesefolks on social media.
All they can talk about is howhorrible their campuses are, how
awful their bosses are, howthey're overscheduled, they're
overworked, they can't get towhat they need to.
There are too many needs, thereare not enough counselors, on
and on and on.
And that may be very, very true, all right.
(14:37):
I'm not denying their truth intheir situation.
But what I am saying is that,within all those challenges,
we've got to look for thepositive.
We've got to look for what'sgoing right, even if we can't
find anything that's going rightbeyond ourselves, let's start
with us.
(14:57):
What are we getting rightwithin our constraints?
What are we getting right whenwe're working with students?
We've also got to make peacewith where we are.
It doesn't mean that you have tojust blindly accept the current
circumstances.
(15:18):
It doesn't mean that you can'tgo find another school campus
that might be more aligned toyour goals and vision.
It doesn't mean any of that.
But what it does mean is thatmost of you are probably under
some sort of contract and whileyou're working out the rest of
your contract, while you arenavigating the rest of your
(15:39):
school year, you've got tofigure out a way to make peace
with your present sight.
A lot of that is givingyourself grace.
A lot of that is being patientwith yourself as you work
through the disappointment ofnot being able to do all the
(15:59):
things you were told in gradschool you were going to get to
do.
There are a lot of folks,especially when they first began
their school counseling careers, that have a really difficult
time just coming to terms withthat, because what you're sold
in your grad program is oftennot what you walk into for your
(16:19):
first school counseling position.
You might make a list of someof the activities, job duties,
things like that that you loveto do at school, finding the
places that you have fun Somehowsomewhere, some way you're
having fun with it, even if itdoesn't align with a
(16:41):
comprehensive school counselingprogram.
I'll tell you right now.
Everyone on my campus thinks Iam absolutely crazy, because if
anyone needs their lunch dutycovered, I'm the first one to
raise my hand.
Y'all, I love lunch duty.
I know I told you I am crazy,but I love lunch duty.
(17:01):
It gives me the opportunity toconnect with my students.
It gives me the opportunity tosee the dynamics between them
and their peers and it gives mea chance to hang out with them
in a different kind of way.
I love it.
Is it part of a comprehensiveschool counseling program?
Absolutely not.
But I choose to have fun withit.
(17:23):
I choose to find the joy in it,and if it's something that's
being shared equally among ouradministrative staff, I'm not
going to complain about it.
I'm going to make the best ofit.
Next, I would challenge you toreally think about what it means
to be a good enough schoolcounselor.
Even what does it mean to be arock star school counselor?
(17:49):
Is absolute alignment with thatprogram model a necessity for
serving your students well?
Is it a necessity for servingyour students well?
Is it a necessity for servingfamilies well?
Is it a necessity for you to beable to do your job and do it
well?
Probably not completely right,and I'm not against
(18:14):
comprehensive school counselingprograms Please do not get me
wrong but I think there's someimportant stats here that are
being ignored in our field, andI'm not exactly sure why.
No one's talking about this,but here I am again bringing you
some information that youprobably haven't really heard
before.
So when you think about being agood enough school counselor,
(18:36):
or just, you know, doing thebest you can within your current
circumstances, I want to putthese comprehensive programs in
perspective, because the waythey're talked about in our
national organization, in ourstate organizations, on social
media, which is primarily wheremost of you guys are getting
your information.
It's pretty interesting whenyou start looking at the data
(18:58):
and the stats, and these areavailable publicly.
I didn't have any specialaccess to get these, I just
started messing around on theinternet to see what I could
find All right.
So I'm going to cite some RAMPstatistics.
So, if you know about RAMP,ramp is the program that goes
through ASCA for schools toachieve what they call RAMP
(19:19):
status, and RAMP stands forRecognized ASCA Model Program.
All right, so the RAMP program,it says on the ASCA website,
recognizes schools committed todelivering comprehensive,
data-informed school counselingprograms aligned with the ASCA
National Model Framework.
(19:41):
All right, that ASCA NationalModel Framework is what drives
comprehensive school counselingprograms.
And everybody's talking aboutramp all the time.
Right, when are you going toramp?
Are you going to ramp?
How do you ramp?
This is all you hear when yougo to these conferences and
things like that.
Let me put this in perspective.
And again, before I do this,let me tell you I'm not against
(20:05):
these programs.
All right, I'm not against them, but I do think that they are a
barrier and almost adelineation between the haves
and the have nots Because most adelineation between the haves
and the have-nots Because, again, many of you don't have a lot
of say-so over the resourcesthat are available for your
programming.
(20:25):
You have no say over your ratio, you have no say over your time
and how it's allocatedthroughout your day.
So I'm assuming the majority ofthese ramp status schools are
schools that have given theirschool counseling programs a lot
of autonomy, and nothing wrongwith that.
(20:45):
We're not hating on that.
That would be awesome ifeverybody could get to that
point.
But at the same time I think alot of school counselors are
feeling really badly aboutthemselves because they want to
ramp and there's just nopossible earthly way to do it.
So if that's, you just know,the inability to ramp is
(21:06):
probably not due to your ownpersonal shortfall.
We've taken a systemic problemand we really kind of focused it
in a way that feels individual,but it's not.
Anyway, off that soapbox, let metell you about ramp status.
So there have been an all-timenumber of 1,200 schools in the
(21:30):
United States that have earnedthe ramp designation.
All right, 1,200.
The ramp designation All right,1,200.
Currently there are, accordingto the ASCA website somewhere in
the neighborhood of between 400and 450 schools who hold that
distinction currently and soforgive me for not having a hard
(21:53):
and fast number there.
I counted 424, but I was justkind of glancing through the
spreadsheet but it's somewherein that neighborhood.
All right, between 400 and 450current ramp schools In the
United States, there are a totalof 97,568 public schools, okay,
(22:17):
so when you run that, thenumber of public schools who
currently hold the rampdesignation is four-tenths of 1%
of all public schools.
Why is that important?
Because when you start feelinglike you're the only one that's
(22:40):
not there yet, you need to knowyou are far from it, my friend,
far from it.
Only four tenths of 1%currently hold the ramp
designation.
Feel a little bit better now.
Yeah, you should.
You should Feel a little bitbetter now.
Yeah, you should.
You to deal with things likediscipline, right Behavior
(23:26):
intervention, crisisintervention, suicide
assessments, all of these thingsgoing on in our world.
Cut yourself some slack.
Cut yourself some slack.
If you are showing up every day, if you are giving it
everything you have, if you areworking to serve students
ethically right to serve themaccording to evidence-based
(23:47):
interventions if you aretreating people with empathy and
respect.
You're killing it and you'redoing the right job.
So should we be aiming towardthese comprehensive programs?
Absolutely, but we're going tohave to be patient, we're going
(24:09):
to have to band together andwe're going to have to encourage
one another because it's goingto be very much a process of
advocacy from the inside out.
We're working hard to develop aframework for that type of
advocacy.
We at School for SchoolCounselors are tired of waiting
(24:30):
on outside organizations to comein and bulldoze their way
through to change realities forschool counselors across the
nation, not because we don'tthink they can do it, but
because they need some help.
Y'all they're working theirguts out to inspire change.
But you can only do so muchthrough legislative channels,
(24:52):
right Through handshaking,through all these kinds of
things.
We can come in through theinside out on our campuses and
inspire advocacy and change aswell, and we're building a
framework for that right now.
You know they say you're theaverage of the five people you
spend the most time with rightand so professionally.
(25:12):
Kind of think about that.
Who are the five people in yourprofessional circle that you
spend the most time withdiscussing school counseling
concepts, thinking about yourfuture in your field, what your
hopes, your dreams, youraspirations are, and how you can
be constructive with yourfrustrations.
It's a really important pieceof your professional journey,
(25:37):
and so I hope you have a reallystrong cohort of five colleagues
who are guiding you in theright direction.
If you don't, I have a solutionfor you.
You've heard me talk about itover and over and I'm never
going to stop talking about it,because I'm such a believer in
the power of consultation,support and collaboration with
(25:58):
other school counselors who justget it, and the distance that
we provide literally literaldistance between one another
means that we can help maintainyour professional safety, that
what you say is not likely toget back to your school district
(26:18):
or to your campus or youradministrator.
It's professional safety.
We provide consultation, weprovide support, we provide
collaboration, all with theutmost of confidentiality, y'all
.
It's an amazing, amazing time,in addition to our library, of
all the things your grad schoolforgot, and we have an amazing
(26:40):
new edition coming to thatlibrary here very shortly.
I'll be talking about it soon,but you're not going to want to
miss out on it, so head on overto schoolforschoolcounselorscom
slash mastermind, check it out,see all about it.
Feel free to message me throughour Facebook group.
I'd be happy to answer anyquestions you have.
I just want anybody who needsthis to be in it.
(27:01):
I want you to feel supported, Iwant you to feel excited about
your future in school counselingand I want you to feel capable
of handling whatever comes yourdirection.
That's my dream and my wish forall of you.
All right.
So today's action plan is berealistic with your school
(27:22):
counseling programming.
Keep it in perspective.
Find what's going right andfocus on that positive.
Find what you love to do andhave fun in your work.
Remember that not everyone isrunning a comprehensive program,
despite what you hear, and thatwhatever you're doing in your
(27:45):
day, as long as you're doing itethically, you're doing it with
the best intentions, you'redoing it respectfully and to the
best of your ability.
You are doing this right.
I hope that helps you get firedup for your week ahead.
My goodness, I know it helpedme.
(28:05):
I am ready to go this week andI hope you are too.
So again, if you haven't jumpedin our School for School
Counselors Facebook group, hopon over there.
Put podcast in your joinrequest so we can get you in
fast, and if you enjoyed thisepisode, if it struck a nerve
for you, if it really made youthink and reconsider how you're
(28:27):
looking at your work each day,please won't you stop and leave
us a review in Apple Podcasts?
That is the currency that keepsprograms like this running.
That's how Apple knows to showus to more people.
The more ratings we get, themore reviews we get.
The more feedback that we getas our episodes come out, the
more we get boosted up so thatother people can see it, and
(28:49):
that's the whole point of thisthing.
Right is to get this out toanyone that needs it, anybody
that wants to listen, but firstthey just got to find out about
it, and you're an importantpiece of that.
So if you've submitted a ratingor review already, thank you.
That officially makes you agold star School for School
Counselors member.
And if you haven't yet, man,just take a couple minutes
(29:11):
please and go rate or review usso that we can continue staying
at the forefront of the podcastlistings.
All right, I'll be back soonwith another School for School
Counselors podcast episode.
Until then, you guys have thebest week, take care.
Hey there, steph.
(29:31):
Again, I hope you enjoyed thisthrowback episode.
It was so fun to go back andhear it again, and I hope that
it helped you sort ofreconceptualize the way you're
doing your work and maybe, justmaybe, give yourself a little
bit of grace this time of year.
The work that you do is toughand your students and your
(29:56):
campus are so, so lucky to haveyou.
I'll be back soon with anotherepisode of the School for School
Counselors podcast.
I hope you have the best week,the best Thanksgiving break, and
I'll be back with you againsoon.
Take care.