GRADED: Short-Term Counseling

We’ve all been told school counseling should be short-term and goal-focused, and most of us have tried to follow that rule: running six-week groups, setting goals, and wrapping things up quickly.

But when those same students show up in your office again weeks later- or their behavior backslides the moment your group ends- you’re left wondering:
Was it the student… or was it me?

In this episode, we’re talking about the deeper truth behind short-term counseling:

• Why it feels like failure,
• How it leaves counselors holding the emotional bag, and
• What it really means to “stay in scope” when the needs run deeper than the time allows.

How does short-term counseling really measure up?

And when the grade gets revealed… will you agree?

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⭐️ Want support with real-world strategies that actually work on your campus? We’re doing that every day in the School for School Counselors Mastermind. Come join us! ⭐️

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Our goal at School for School Counselors is to help school counselors stay on fire, make huge impacts for students, and catalyze change for our roles through grassroots advocacy and collaboration. Listen to get to know more about us and our mission, feel empowered and inspired, and set yourself up for success in the wonderful world of school counseling.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
We've all been taught that short-term counseling is
the gold standard forschool-based mental health
support.
It's clean, convenient and it'sclearly defined in our ethical
guidelines Short-term,goal-focused and
school-appropriate.
But what happens when it's notenough?
When that six-week groupdoesn't change a child's life,

(00:25):
or those eight weeks ofindividual counseling sessions
produced nothing?
And now everyone's looking atyou.
Maybe the student looked likethey were making real progress
until the session stopped, ormaybe a group ended with some
awesome reflection and closure,but the behaviors came back
before the next bell.

(00:46):
You start to wonder was it me?
Did I mess this up?
Was the group too short?
Was the content too shallow, orwas the problem too big?
Today we're going to evaluatethe real impact and the real
limitations of short-termcounseling in schools.
Because, besides the fact thatthere's no real consensus on

(01:09):
what short-term even means three, six, ten, who knows?
And while we're told it'seffective, no one really talks
about what happens after thosesessions end.
So today we're going to take ahard look at what short-term
counseling really is in schools.
So today we're going to take ahard look at what short-term
counseling really is in schools,not what it should be, but how
it plays out in real-worldcampuses.

(01:30):
Because, for all itspracticality, this model has
real gaps, and school counselorslike you and I are falling
right through them.
Hey, skoll Counselor, welcomeback In this episode of our new
graded series.
We're pulling back the curtainon the quick fix approach we've
been trained to use and we'retaking a hard look at how

(01:53):
short-term counseling reallyholds up in schools today.
I'll share one of my own earlymissteps that still sticks with
me.
Show you what the researchactually says about short-term
impact and help you understandhow to stay inside your ethical
boundaries without feeling likeyou're leaving kids behind.

(02:13):
So if you're ready for somestraight talk, my friend, some
clarity on your work and alittle bit of rebellion, you're
gonna be in the right place.
This is the School for SchoolCounselors podcast.
I still remember an early group.

(02:33):
I ran with a set of firstgraders around anger management.
We met each week.
We worked through theactivities of this little
curriculum.
This was back in my TPT daysand by the end their teachers
told me they were seeing realimprovements.
Hooray, I patted myself on theback.

(02:53):
My job was done.
But the very next week, whenthe students expected me to pick
them up and I didn't showbecause the group was over and
they realized it was truly over.
They fell apart.
The behaviors returned, thesame problems cropped up.
The teachers were confused andI felt like I looked incompetent

(03:16):
.
These were just first gradersdoing their best in a system
that gave them a spark ofself-regulation success but
their personal circumstances andacademic struggles were more
than enough to put that fire outvery quickly.
I realized something then thatno textbook had ever warned me

(03:36):
about.
Short-term counseling can work,but when we pretend that it's a
cure-all, we set ourselves andour students up for
disappointment.
The mental health needs we seenow are deeper and more complex
than ever.
According to a 2023 report fromMental Health America, over 60%

(04:00):
of youth with major depressiondo not receive any mental health
treatment In schools.
Only 38% of public campusesreport providing treatment for
students with mental healthdisorders.
So what happens instead?
That student likely getsreferred to you.

(04:21):
You know the school counselorwho isn't supposed to do therapy
, but who everyone expects tofix it.
Maybe it's a fourth graderwho's lost a parent and cries
every time someone mentionsfamily.
Maybe it's a middle schoolerwho's been in and out of
homelessness all year.
Maybe it's a high schoolerwho's self in and out of

(04:42):
homelessness all year.
Maybe it's a high schoolerwho's self-harming but insists
they're fine.
And you know from training andfrom instinct that short-term
solutions aren't always going tobe enough.
Here's what the research says.
What the research says Someshort-term models like brief CBT

(05:03):
or solution-focused techniquescan produce small, measurable
gains, but those gains tend toerode pretty quickly without
structured reinforcement orfollow-up.
Research on time-limited schoolcounseling has shown that
student progress often regresseswithin several weeks if no
additional supports are in place.
It's like getting a car washyour ride is shiny and sparkly

(05:28):
for a little while, but withoutregular upkeep it gets dirty
again fast.
And some concerns like traumaor attachment wounds are even
contraindicated for brief work.
A six-week group curriculumisn't going to be able to handle
the student who is reacting outof deep-seated trauma.

(05:50):
It's like giving them anaspirin when their leg is broken
.
It's not going to fix theproblem.
So what do you do?
Because sometimes you can'tmake an outside referral, either
because the family can't affordit, they won't follow through,
or the nearest provider is 45minutes away with a
six-month-long wait list.

(06:11):
So you get faced with animpossible choice.
Do you tell the family and yourschool staff I'm sorry, I've
done all I can, while the childcontinues to throw chairs and
curse out teachers?
Or do you keep seeing thestudent even though you know
you're stepping beyond yourscope?

(06:31):
Maybe you make an exceptionjust a few more visits.
You stretch your boundaries,blur your role and hope to high
heaven that it's the right thing.
And let's be honest, sometimeswe also do this to make
ourselves feel better, tosatisfy that moral urge, to save
face with the teacher who'sfrustrated, or to feel like we

(06:55):
didn't abandon the kid and maybeyou get through the week, maybe
the behavior improves.
But what have you traded awayin the process?
Your scope, your sanity, yourcredibility?
When we overextend it confusesadministrators, families and

(07:15):
even students about what ourrole on campus really is.
It feels terrible to letstudents go before you've
reached a resolution for them.
You feel it in your soul andeverything in us wants to stick
in the fight to achieve the goodoutcome for the student's own

(07:37):
good.
But sometimes that's not alwaysthe best choice.
That is the discomfort ofshort-term counseling in schools
.
It's really not about ethics,it's not about how effective it
is, but it's about how thisexpectation is deeply incomplete
and there is no one telling youwhat to do with that.

(08:01):
So what grade would I giveshort-term counseling on campus?
I'm going to give short-termcounseling a grade of B here's
why.
It's structured, it's ethicaland it's research-informed.
But it's often misused.

(08:22):
It's often over-applied andoversold and in the real world
it is very often not enough onits own.
From my perspective, perhaps thebest path forward is structured
short-term intervention plusbuilt-in referral protocols and

(08:45):
sustainability checks.
That means setting a clearscope at the beginning of the
counseling relationship what youwill and will not be able to do
.
And that's not just talkingabout students and gaining
assent, that's talking aboutperhaps parents as well.
And some of you who hold toyour confidentiality banner very

(09:08):
, very tightly, are going tofeel really uncomfortable with
that statement.
So I would encourage you, ifthat gives you pause, get some
good quality supervision orconsultation on this topic.
But setting that clear scopeand making sure that everyone
understands the boundaries fromthe get-go can only help.

(09:32):
Secondly is creating documentedreferral plans for deeper
support when needs exceed yourmodel.
You need to know where to gobefore it's time to try to
figure out how to get there.
So have some things in mindalready.
You can probably already tellby the time you start getting to

(09:52):
visit six or seven whether ornot this thing is going to
resolve.
And if it doesn't look like it,go ahead and start gathering
those referrals and laying thetracks with parents so that they
do not get blindsided.
So that they do not getblindsided.
And third, create somesustainability checks.
Protect the gains that thestudent has made With follow-up.

(10:18):
They're unlikely to backslideas far until they're able to get
into some deeper supports.
So check in occasionally, touchbase and keep the rapport in
place.
That way you're honoring yourethical boundaries, you're
equipping families to find realtreatment and you're still able
to deliver the goal-focused carethat you were hired to provide.

(10:41):
If you need more support as younavigate this weird middle
ground of short-term counseling,these are the kinds of
conundrums that we're helpingcounselors deal with every week
inside the School for SchoolCounselors Mastermind.
So if you ever felt like youwere doing everything the right
way and still getting nowhere,it may be time to try something

(11:03):
different.
You can find out about it atschoolforschoolcounselorscom
slash mastermind.
All right, I'll be back soonwith another episode of this
graded series on the School forSchool Counselors podcast, where
we are going to be talkingabout one of the holy grails of
school counseling dun, dun dunneeds assessments.

(11:24):
This one's going to be anintense episode, so keep
listening.
I'll be back soon and untilthen I hope you have the best
week.
Take care.