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September 9, 2024 28 mins

What if stress wasn't your enemy, but your secret weapon? In this enlightening episode, Steph Johnson reveals how school counselors can transform stress from a debilitating burden into a powerful strength. We tackle the overwhelming caseloads, emotional toll, and resource scarcity head-on, offering a fresh perspective supported by robust, peer-reviewed research. Discover how your mindset about stress can radically alter your health outcomes, boost resilience, and promote professional growth. Sound too good to be true? The research says otherwise.

00:00 Understanding School Counseling Stressors

00:39 Introduction and Podcast Welcome

01:01 Exploring Stress Solutions

02:35 Challenging Traditional Views on Stress

03:05 Listener Reviews and Feedback

04:44 Rethinking Stress in School Counseling

07:31 Harnessing Stress for Positive Outcomes

11:59 Practical Strategies for Stress Management

14:40 Research Insights on Stress Mindsets

25:54 Final Thoughts

*******

References/Resources:

Crum, A. J., Akinola, M., Martin, A., & Fath, S. (2017). The role of stress mindset in shaping cognitive, emotional, and physiological responses to challenging and threatening stress. Anxiety, stress, & coping, 30(4), 379-395.

Crum, A.J., Jamieson, J.P., & Akinola, M. (2020). Optimizing stress: An integrated intervention for regulating stress responses. Emotion, 20(1), 120-125. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/emo0000670

Crum, A. J., Salovey, P., & Achor, S. (2013). Rethinking stress: The role of mindsets in determining the stress response. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 104(4), 716–733. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0031201

Jamieson, J.P., Crum, A.J., Goyer, J.P., Marotta, M.E. & Akinola, M. (2018). Optimizing stress responses with reappraisal and mindset interventions: an integrated model, Anxiety, Stress, & Coping, 31(3), 245-261. DOI: 10.1080/10615806.2018.1442615

Jamieson, J. P., Mendes, W. B., & Nock, M. K. (2013). Improving acute stress responses: The power of reappraisal. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 22(1), 51-56. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721412461500

Keller, A., Litzelman, K., Wisk, L. E., Maddox, T., Cheng, E. R., Creswell, P. D., & Witt, W. P. (2012). Does the perception that stress affects health matter? The association with health and mortality. Health Psychology, 31(5), 677–684. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0026743

Liu JJW, Ein N, Gervasio J, Vickers K (2019) The efficacy of stress reappraisal interventions on stress responsivity: A meta-analysis and systematic review of existing evidence. PLoS ONE 14(2): e0212854. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0212854

Mind & Body Lab. (n.d.). Stress and performance. Stanford University. https://mbl.stanford.edu/stress

*******


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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
When we're working with things like role overload,
confusion, ambiguity,overwhelming caseloads and the
emotional toll of our work inaddition to things like lack of
resources, no support, behavior,intervention and then
frustrated staff or parents it'seasy for us to feel
overstressed and that thesolutions to our stress rely on

(00:22):
factors outside of our control.
Things like if I only had a 250to 1 caseload, if only my
program was ASCA aligned, ifonly my principal understood
what I'm actually here to do.
Hello there, my friend, Welcomeback to another episode of the

(00:43):
School for School Counselorspodcast.
I'm Steph Johnson.
I'm a full-time schoolcounselor, just like you, on a
mission to make your work feelmore sustainable and more
enjoyable, so that you lookforward to walking through the
school doors each and every day.
This week, I wanna talk aboutsome of those stressors and what

(01:06):
we can do about them in theschool counseling world, Because
often, as we consider thesources and the resolutions for
our stress, we realize they'regoing to take a while and we
begin focusing on other thingsin an effort to try to eliminate
our stress, Thinking thatinstead of waiting for 250 to 1

(01:26):
to come to pass, instead ofthinking that our principal is
suddenly and magically going torealize that they've been
misutilizing us this whole time.
We try things that feel more inour control, like setting
boundaries or treating ourselveswell by using coping or
self-care strategies, but thensometimes we might get to a

(01:47):
point where coping or survivingjust isn't cutting it anymore.
I've been guilty about talkingabout those kinds of self-care
things myself.
But here's the thing Sometimeswe can't control those stress
factors.
We just can't eliminate a lotof the sources of our

(02:07):
professional stress, and that'salways been a sticking point for
me with the whole self-careconversation in school
counseling.
It just has never felt rightwhen we're told you know, just
put your chin down, gut it outand take care of yourself and
then just do the best you can.
This is just the way it is, butthat's never felt like a good

(02:29):
solution to me, and so I'm goingto bet it's probably the same
for you.
So as I dug into the literaturetrying to find some better
solutions for all of us, Ilearned something surprising and
completely counterintuitiveabout the school counseling
stressors that we face every day.
My friends, what if everythingthat you've ever been told about

(02:53):
your stress is wrong?
It's an interesting thought,isn't it?
And that's what we're going tobe talking about in this episode
of the School for SchoolCounselors podcast about in this
episode of the School forSchool Counselors podcast.
But before we dive in, you mightknow we just finished an epic
pod party in our Facebook group.
It was so much fun and some ofyou were so kind to leave some

(03:21):
really cool reviews for thepodcast, so I wanted to share a
couple of them in this episode.
The first one comes from KGNDand it was titled Actionable
Content.
It says I always walk away withsomething when I listen to an
episode.
This show is not a sugar-coatedview of school counseling, but
a realistic and helpful view.
I appreciate all the words ofwisdom.
Thank you, KGND.

(03:43):
We appreciate your words aswell.
They mean so so much to us.
Thanks for taking the time tosubmit that.
Wolves MT left a review titledthe Goat man how about that for
a compliment?
And says this is the onlypodcast that you need to listen
to for school counselors.
I take all their advice toheart and believe this allowed

(04:05):
me to finally get my firstcounseling position.
Congratulations.
Steph and her crew are amazingand caring.
And tell it like it is youcan't beat honesty, man.
That's my mantra If I've everheard it.
I love that.
Thank you so much, Wolves MT,for that wonderful review, Y'all
.
That's how people find thepodcast, that's how they get to

(04:28):
know what we're doing over hereby reading your reviews, seeing
your ratings, and then they know.
So I just can't thank youenough.
Thank you from the bottom of myheart, both from me and from my
team.
It means more than you'll everknow.
It means more than you'll everknow.
All right, so back to theconversation about school

(04:49):
counseling, stress.
How can knowledgeable, in-touchmental health professionals
like us have the stressconversation completely wrong?
Well, as it turns out, that mayvery well be the case.
I think.
So often we just get immersedin the status quo, we sort of

(05:10):
take things at face value and weget so busy that we just kind
of take things that we've alwaysseen or heard or believed.
They just kind of perpetuatethemselves in our consciousness
and we never really look outsideof that.
It seems reasonable that stresscould be harmful and it seems
reasonable that we would want toavoid stress and all of its

(05:33):
negative effects at all costs.
But what if the real answerisn't in eliminating stress?
What if it's in harnessing it?
It's an interesting question,isn't it?
And it's one that you don'tgenerally hear that the thing
that you're fighting againstyour stress could actually be

(05:55):
your greatest tool.
This is crazy, right?
Okay, nobody else is talkingabout this, but there is
actually peer-reviewedliterature to back this up.
So you know that when we becomestressed, we typically
experience things like increasedheart rate, increased
respiration, the cortisol startspumping through our veins, our

(06:18):
pupils dilate, our muscles gettense, we start sweating.
All of those things happen whenwe're subjected to extreme
stress.
Stress is also associated withthings like heart disease,
depression, cancer, all kinds ofother health problems.
It's interesting a study byKeller and team in 2012 found

(06:41):
that nearly 34% of adultsperceive that stress affects
their health a lot to someextent, and the higher the level
of reported stress and theperception that that stress was
negatively impacting theirhealth, the worse health and
mental outcomes.
That's pretty major right, whenwe think about it.

(07:04):
If we believe that our stressnegatively impacts us, guess
what we are speaking it intoexistence.
They also found that the peoplethat reported a lot of stress
and believing that that stressimpacted their health quite a
bit their health quite a bit 43%had a risk of premature death.

(07:25):
Y'all that's scary, but thegood news is that isn't the
whole picture, because not allstress has to be distress.
That comes from Jameson and Team2018, within a very large but
lesser-known area of researchthat shows that stress can

(07:46):
actually have positive effectson your mind as well as your
body.
It can sharpen your focus, itcan boost your performance, it
can strengthen your immunesystem and help your body heal
and, especially in tough times,it has the potential to increase
our resilience and our sense ofpurpose.
So what makes the difference?

(08:07):
Why is stress harmful in somesituations but helps people
thrive in others?
It's strange, right?
Well, according to the research, a lot of the answer lies in
our perception of stress, andbefore you roll your eyes and
think this is gonna be anotherridiculous exercise and toxic

(08:29):
positivity mindset, right, I'mgonna ask you, just hear me out
on this one.
I'm going to be throwing a tonof peer-reviewed research your
way.
I have more citations for thispodcast episode than almost any
other episode I've done, and Ihave those because I'm making a
concerted effort to prove to youthat this isn't just some

(08:52):
positive self-talk baloney.
All right, this is some realstuff.
So people can hold astress-enhancing mindset.
These are people that perceivethat stress actually helps their
health, it actually promotestheir own well-being or it

(09:13):
increases their performance.
These people, when they believethis, show more adaptive
cortisol activity.
They also show greaterincreases in growth hormones.
So on the flip side of that,we've got some folks that have
the mindset that stress isdebilitating and then they have

(09:34):
kind of the opposite outcomes.
So it's an instance where yourmindset and your thoughts
actually dictate your physicaloutcomes.
Let me give you another example.
A study by Jameson 2012 foundthat individuals who reappraised
their stress-inducedphysiological responses so
things like sweating heart rate,those kinds of things showed

(09:57):
improved performance onstressful tasks.
So, instead of trying tosuppress their stress and push
it down, if they acknowledged itand interpreted it as a tool
for enhanced focus, they gotbetter outcomes.
Jameson Mendez in 2013 foundthat by changing the way we
think about the physical signsof stress, we can stop those

(10:20):
negative feelings from causingharmful effects in our bodies.
So we can literally change theway our bodies react to stress
by viewing it as a signal and asign of readiness instead of
weakness.
They see it as this shows me,I'm ready, I'm primed to take
action, my body can handle this.

(10:42):
And when they looked at it thatway, instead of trying to, you
know, get rid of their stress,not acknowledge it, push it down
they actually got betteroutcomes in stressful situations
.
That's pretty powerful, right.
And when we dive into theliterature even further, we

(11:03):
learn about another team ofJameson's folks in 2018 who went
on to show that reappraisingstress is enhancing.
It can lead to more adaptivephysiological responses.
Our cortisol reaction actuallychanges.
We have reduced effects on ourcardiovascular function and they

(11:26):
have proven this acrosscontexts, from college students
who are taking high-stakes examsto professionals in the work
environment, and even with NavySEALs in training.
So by consciously changing theway we look at stress, it not
only changes our perception ofit.
It can actually change the wayour bodies respond.

(11:51):
Now, I don't know about you, butI think that's kind of wild.
So what does that mean for usas we're working in schools?
Is it really just as easy asthinking about stress
differently and trying to have apositive mindset about it?
Sort of, but not really.
It's going to be one of thosethings that you're going to have
to file in the easier said thandone category, and it's going

(12:14):
to take a little bit of extraeffort Because our beliefs and
interpretations about stress areso ingrained, it's often
challenging for us to be able tolook at stress in a different
way.
It doesn't mean that if we justlook on the bright side and we
have an abundance of this toxicpositivity that's in our culture
now, that everything's going tobe amazing all the time.

(12:35):
That's not what it means.
It doesn't mean that you'resuddenly going to be okay with
being misutilized orunderappreciated or overworked.
That's not how this works.
But it is entirely possible thatwe can reframe our stress
responses as a power source.
When we're in specifichigh-stakes situations, like

(12:57):
we're providing support to astudent during a crisis, or
we're getting up our nerve tohave a tough conversation with
our administrator, or maybe evenif we get called on the carpet
by a colleague, we can utilizethese stress responses as a
benefit to us instead ofsomething that's a bad thing.
If we can focus on strivingthrough the stress, we won't

(13:21):
spend so much time worrying andruminating about what's buried
underneath it and y'all.
This goes beyond just reframingthe situation, Because in this
approach we're not looking atthe whole situational enchilada.
We're not looking at all thephases of the situation and what
happened first and next andafter, and how does it all go

(13:43):
together and how can I thinkabout it in a better way?
We're not doing that.
We're just reconstructing theway that we think about our
physiological responses to thatstress.
About our physiologicalresponses to that stress, we
think about our racing heartbeator sweating as a sign that
we're primed to handle thechallenge, rather than an

(14:05):
indicator that something's aboutto go horribly wrong.
We see that physical responseas a sign of strength and that
our body is gearing up to behelpful to us.
My heart is racing because mybody's preparing to be at its
best.
My increased heart rate ispreparing me to keep everyone
safe.
This extra energy is going toallow me to think more clearly.

(14:27):
I'm sweating or my hands areclammy because I'm ready to
tackle this.
Beyond stress response andbeyond kind of changing the way
we're thinking about thesephysiological signs, there's one
more tool that we can use tomitigate stress that, again,
hardly anybody ever talks about.
Jameson and team 2018 notedthat optimizing stress responses

(14:53):
can be achieved by focusing onour broad overarching belief
systems, otherwise known as ourstress mindsets.
These are our general beliefsabout stress that aren't related
to specific instances orspecific physiological responses
.
Research on stress mindsetsshows that changing our mindset

(15:15):
about stress, in addition to thephysiological reappraisal we
just talked about, can offersignificant benefits.
Research on stress mindsetshows that changing our mindset
can offer benefits similar tothose that we gain when we
reappraise our physiologicalstress in real-time situations.
So by looking at ourphysiological responses, by

(15:40):
looking at them as an asset, andreframing our mindsets about
stress, we can get similarresults.
If you have a stress-enhancingmindset, it means that you tend
to believe that stress has theability to enhance your
performance, to enhance yourhealth or enhance your
well-being.

(16:01):
If you have a stress as harmfulmindset, you believe that
stress is debilitating to yourperformance, your health and
your well-being.
Kind of like the two sides tothe stress coin, right?
Do you believe that stressreally benefits you and boosts
you up and gives you newopportunities and insights, or

(16:22):
do you believe that stress onlybeats you down?
And when we talk about this ingeneral terms, most people I
think would say well, you know,sometimes stress helps,
Sometimes it can be beneficial.
Well, you know, sometimesstress helps, Sometimes it can
be beneficial.
But if you take a critical eyeand you really look at yourself
honestly, think about yourresponses in stressful moments,

(16:48):
Are you still able to maintainthose beliefs Because a lot of
us can't A lot of us, inhigh-stakes situations or highly
stressful situations jump to.
Stress is bad.
I want to avoid it.
This is harming my performance.
I can't think straight.
This is not good, and so wehave to be very, very careful of

(17:12):
that mindset.
Krum and team 2017 found thatfolks with positive stress
mindsets experienced lessnegative outcomes in traumatic
situations.
This is compared to those withthe stress is harmful mindset.
So if you believe that stressis harmful, even if it's a minor
incidence, it's going to have aworse effect on you than if you

(17:36):
believe that stress can somehowbe beneficial and experience
this hugely traumatic thing.
I think that's a tremendousfinding and it's a really big
call to instilling that stressis enhancing mindset.
It also showed that theseeffects can persist for weeks or

(17:57):
even years after they'readopted.
So I think we need to be reallyintentional about this.
I don't think it can be a oneand done thing.
You know, oh yeah, I'm gonnabelieve that stress is
beneficial and then you move onwith your life and expect to
reap the rewards of that.
I don't think that's how thatworks.
But if we're trying to beintentional about it and really

(18:17):
develop the belief, reallythinking about what are the
positive benefits of stress forme?
How have I experienced those inmy life?
If we identify them and reallylean into them, we stand to gain
some significant benefits.
Now if this sounds to you likemore positive self-talk baloney,

(18:38):
y'all, I get it.
I'm a cynic, I'm critical, I'mvery leery of undiscovered
secrets of whatever.
I'm with you on that.
I'm going to give you some more.
All right, there was a studydone of 388 employees at a large
financial site that found thatthose with higher levels of

(18:59):
stress-enhancing mindsetexperienced increased life
satisfaction, reduced anxiety,reduced depressive symptoms.
Here's another one A sample ofuniversity students who felt
that their stress was enhancingshowed moderate cortisol
reactivity, meaning that whenthey were confronted with stress

(19:20):
, the cortisol just didn't shootoff the charts automatically.
And they also showed a greaterdesire for feedback from peer
and professor evaluators.
Let me keep going.
Research with almost 1,400eighth graders showed that those
that believed that stress couldbe beneficial were less likely
to be affected by adverse lifeexperiences.

(19:41):
They were also less likely tobe affected by perceived
distress or perceived lack ofcontrol.
And then there was a dailydiary study of employees that
showed that those that believedstress enhanced their
performance, experiencedincreased motivation when they
anticipated a high workload.
That, in turn, increased theirengagement and their performance

(20:05):
.
Who do I know with a highworkload?
Oh, I know, it's you, it's metoo.
All school counselors feel likethey have a tremendous workload
right and, according to thesestudies, if we can really
harness the way we're looking atour stress, it has tremendous

(20:26):
potential to impact not only ourown sense of well-being but the
way that we do our jobs.
So, y'all, we talked aboutstress reappraisal changing the
way we think about our physicalresponses and we've talked about
stress mindset, which is kindof like our metacognition about
stressful situations, right,Recognizing what we think and

(20:48):
how we think about stressoverall.
Both of those are based in theidea that stressful experiences
can lead to both physical andmental growth, that they can
enhance our performance andwell-being when we see them as
opportunities and when we seeour stress responses as

(21:08):
beneficial and adaptive.
So, even though there are twodifferent mechanisms, our
reappraisal is moresituation-specific, Mindset is
kind of more broad.
Both approaches emphasize thatchanging the way we understand
these factors can lead to hugebenefits and that ultimately,

(21:29):
y'all makes us more resilientand able to cope in the face of
challenges, and I don't think Ineed to tell you we have a lot
of challenges, not onlyindustry-wide and in the way
that school counseling is seenin general, but challenges on
our campus, intervening inmoments of crisis, trying to

(21:51):
find the best path forward forsome of our students that are so
dysregulated nobody can figureout how to reach them.
Those are really stressfulsituations and we often feel
like we're at loose ends.
When we come up against those,we feel like I don't know what
to do.
Right, I'm a little panicked.
Maybe A little impostersyndrome comes into play.

(22:14):
All these things start tohappen, but at the end of the
day now we know if we can bereally mindful about the way we
perceive our physical reactionsand in the way that we're
thinking about our stressthoughts that maybe the effects
might not be that bad.

(22:35):
So what do we do, specificallyIn a world where we're
preoccupied with avoiding stressaltogether and where sometimes,
to be honest, there's a littlebit of an undercurrent that
stress is rewarded and cheeredon?
Right man, they're a go-getter,they're so motivated, First in
last out of the parking lot.
Good for her.
There's some really unhealthymessages in the education world.

(22:59):
So what do we do?
What do we do to harness ourstress as a positive tool?
According to Croom 2020,?
Rather than focusing on all theways that stress seems to be
harmful, we can focus on thefact that we're stressed because
doing a good job is importantto us, and we can also consider

(23:23):
the unexpected opportunitiesthat might come up as a result
of that stress or in the middleof that stress.
You know, sometimes we comeacross situations that make us
reevaluate the way we see theworld, but sometimes it helps us
realign our priorities or justbecome more grateful for the
things that we have, and so it'smore than just a gratitude

(23:47):
practice.
It's more than mindfulness.
We need to be thinking in thatdirection of stress benefits.
This stress helps me sharpen mythinking.
My body knows what it's doingor I'm ready for this challenge,
and it's going to help me riseto the occasion.

(24:07):
Jameson 2018, had a script inone of his studies to help folks
reappraise stress.
It was students that weretaking the GRE in preparation
for college, and once they ranthis script through their study
empirically, they foundsignificant benefits.
I've taken the liberty ofadapting that script for school

(24:28):
counselors and I'm going toshare that with you quickly.
Here it is School counselorsthink that feeling anxious while
responding to a tough situationwill make them less effective
helpers, but remember thatrecent research suggests that
this type of responseintervention might actually be

(24:49):
more effective.
This means that you shouldn'tfeel concerned if you do feel
anxious while responding to achallenge.
If you find yourself feelinganxious, simply remind yourself
that your response couldactually be helpful.
Nice and simple, right, that'sa shoot-off.
It's an adaptation of thereminder that Jameson and team

(25:11):
used in their 2018 study for GREtakers, and again, their script
was empirically validated.
It was shown to improveperformance.
So something like that might besomething that you just want to
jot down and tape up somewhere.
It goes a little bit furtherthan an affirmation right, Put
it in your phone, put it on theback of your walkie-talkie for

(25:33):
the days that you need it.
Maybe, when you're confrontingsomething difficult or you're
rushing to the site of somethingand you're getting yourself
primed and ready for thesituation, you can remind
yourself, Read through it, takea breath and then walk in and
maybe just save the day.
All right.

(25:53):
So at the end of the day, whatdo I want you to know?
I want you to re-evaluate yourrelationship with stress and in
many instances you're going tobe able to see that your stress
responses are a skill and notdistress.
So the next time you're walkinginto something and you feel
your familiar companion, youfeel stress start to slide its

(26:17):
arm around your shoulders.
Companion, you feel stressstart to slide its arm around
your shoulders.
You can embrace these new andmore empowering stories and
insights, Reappraise yourphysiological responses as a
source of strength and utilizeyour positive stress mindset to
remember that it's not alwaysterrible to be stressed and you
might actually find a lot ofbenefits.

(26:39):
All right, I hope this washelpful to you.
We are getting ready in ourSchool for School Counselors
Mastermind to be focusing onways to feel more productive,
effective and less stressed inour work as we roll through the
school year.
As I record this, the nextmonth is going to be Shocktober.

(27:02):
We always see an increase inbehaviors and needed responses
and sometimes that can feel alittle overwhelming.
So we're trying to be proactiveover here.
We're trying to get ready andset the stage for your success
and also for your students'success.
In our mastermind right nowwe're walking through behavior,

(27:23):
de-escalation and all kinds ofrelated techniques.
We have a quick 15-minutechallenge going on inside the
group right now to help promotedata-driven conversations with
our administrators aboutspecific situations on campus,
but also without a lot of effortfrom you.
It's pretty neat how these work, and then again next month

(27:47):
we'll be talking about how tomake our work feel more
sustainable, less stressful, andwe'll have another quick
challenge to get you across thefinish line there as well.
So if these conversations areresonating with you, if you feel
like there might be somethingthere, I'm going to remind you.
We've got a seat at themastermind table available for
you whenever you want to join us.

(28:08):
You can check out the detailsat schoolforschoolcounselorscom.
Slash mastermind, but untilthen, keep listening.
I'll be back soon with anotherepisode.
In the meantime, I hope youhave the best week.
Take care.
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