February 24, 2025 • 22 mins
As busy school counselors, we often find ourselves reaching for quick-fix solutions to help our students. But are these convenient resources truly serving our students' needs? In this episode, I challenge the effectiveness of "print and pray" materials that have become way too common in our field.
Thinking back to the misguided "fat-free" diet craze of the 90s, I explore how mass-produced school counseling worksheets and activities might be doing more harm than good. Because while they promise quick results and seem helpful on the surface, they often lack the substance needed for meaningful change.
00:00 Introduction: 90s Diet Culture
02:21 The Problem with "Print and Pray" Resources
04:33 Effective Counseling Strategies
06:50 Behaviorism and Counseling
08:15 Trauma-Informed Care in Counseling
09:48 Solution-Focused Brief Therapy
12:39 Practical Tips for School Counselors
20:11 Conclusion
**********************************
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, hey there, school counselor, welcome back
to the School for SchoolCounselors podcast.
I'm Steph Johnson, a full-timeschool counselor, just like you,
and I'm so excited to see youback here at the podcast.
Now, you may notice I sound alittle different than normally,
a little bit more hoarse, thisweek.
That's actually why the podcastis being released a few days
(00:24):
late.
I have had no voice for quite awhile about a week now and it's
slowly coming back, and I couldnot wait to get back behind
this mic to talk with you aboutschool counseling.
So let's jump into it.
Do you remember back in the 90s?
If you were old enough toremember the 90s, some of you
(00:46):
may have just been born then,but in the 90s there was diet
culture, right, I think.
From time immemorial, peoplehave been trying to find the
best ways to lose weight andlook nice and feel great, right?
And in the 90s, diet culturewas focused on fat-free.
The 90s diet culture wasfocused on fat-free.
(01:10):
Companies started slappingfat-free labels on everything
that you could think of, and theentire American culture was
convinced that eating fat wasthe enemy.
They were taking fat out ofcookies, out of yogurt, salad
dressings, all kinds of foods,and people literally ate it up.
But what we didn't know whenall that was going on is that
(01:33):
when food manufacturers removedfat from food, they had to
replace it with something elseto make it taste good, and the
something else that they startedputting into all of these
fat-free offerings was sugar.
And not just a little sugary'all this was a ton of sugar.
(01:54):
So we have all these peoplethinking that they were making
healthier choices by buyingfat-free foods and they actually
ended up consuming more sugarthan they ever had.
And then we started seeingthings like weight gain, blood
sugar spikes, long-term healthproblems, all due to the
(02:18):
fat-free fad.
Now in school counseling I hateto break it to you we have our
own version of the fat-freedebacle, and those are print and
pray resources.
These are mass marketworksheets and activities that
look like school counselingsolutions, but the majority of
(02:42):
them are actually just fillerwith not a lot of substance.
They seem super helpful, theypromise quick results, they're
cute and they're easy to grabwhen you're in a rush or when
you're feeling overwhelmed, butthe truth is, most of these
materials are the fat-freecookies of school counseling.
(03:04):
Most of these materials are thefat-free cookies of school
counseling.
They might look like they'rehelping, but, y'all, over time I
think they're doing more harmthan good.
And I'm going to tell you rightnow I'm going to catch a lot of
hate for this episode, andthat's okay.
I invite some healthy debateand if somebody has the numbers,
the statistics, to back up whyI'm wrong, bring it.
(03:27):
Steph atschoolforschoolcounselorscom.
S-t-e-p-h atschoolforschoolcounselorscom,
email me and send me straight.
I would love to see someevidence to the contrary, but
while we're waiting on that andI'll be honest y'all I've been
talking about this for a coupleof years and no one has been
(03:48):
able to produce those kinds ofnumbers for me yet let's talk
about why these quick fixresources are failing, and we're
going to look at it through thelens of some psychological and
counseling frameworks.
Now, you may or may not knowthis about me I am a licensed
professional counselor inaddition to being a certified
(04:11):
school counselor.
I think that has contributed tome having a little bit
different perspective on theworld of school counseling than
most people.
So I think this is going to bea good lens for us to look
through to really thinkcritically about some of the
resources that you might have inyour school counseling office
right now.
(04:33):
First, let's go with the old,tried and true cognitive
behavioral therapy CBT.
It's one of the most researched, backed approaches for
supporting all kinds ofmaladaption Students with
anxiety, depression, behaviorissues.
Cbt is going to be recommendedand it works because it has
(04:57):
structure, it guides studentsand we're going to be talking
about students throughout thisconversation.
We know this will apply to abroader counseling context.
Right, but for the purposes ofthis conversation you're going
to hear me say students.
Cbt is going to help ourstudents recognize their
negative thought patterns.
It's going to help themchallenge those negative
(05:19):
thoughts and replace them withhealthier ones.
And while we see a lot ofresources that claim to follow a
CBT framework, they reallydon't.
And this is the thing thatreally just kind of sticks in my
craw about this whole thing isthat we are so quick to toss out
these labels of evidence-basedor standards aligned and nobody
(05:44):
really takes the time to lookpast the label, kind of like the
fat-free thing.
Most of the printable resourcesthat you download do not follow
a true CBT structure.
They might have an isolatedworksheet on changing negative
thoughts, but they're notscaffolding those skills over
time.
And y'all we know through ourcounseling training, change
(06:08):
takes time, it takes intentionand it takes repetition.
Handing a kid a thoughtreplacement worksheet isn't
going to magically change theway they see their problems.
Magically change the way theysee their problems.
(06:29):
It's just not realistic.
And yet we keep printing thesethings out, we keep making
stacks and stacks of copies ofthis kind of stuff and handing
it out to the kids and thenwondering why they're not
working.
Are you starting to see, maybe,why I haven't been able to get
any action data from anybody onany of these printable resources
?
Because it's not there.
Let's look through another lens.
(06:50):
Let's talk about behaviorism.
Behavioral psychology tells usthat reinforcement strengthens
behavior.
Again, we're back tointentionality, time and
repetition.
One single worksheet aboutchanging a thought or utilizing
(07:12):
a coping skill whatever theconversation is about is kind of
like going to the gym once andexpecting to walk out with abs
of steel.
It's not going to happen.
It takes repeated visits.
It takes repeated effort andreinforcement over time.
A one-and-done worksheetdoesn't do that.
(07:33):
It's just a piece of paper.
And again, like those fat-freefoods we were talking about,
didn't actually make peoplehealthier.
They just made them feel likethey were eating healthier.
These worksheets are doing thesame thing.
They're not actually helpingstudents build the skills they
need.
They're just making it looklike they are.
(07:56):
Do you see why I keep comingback to this theme on the
podcast?
Because we are chargedethically and morally with
trying to do our best to supportstudents and a lot of these
materials are missing the mark.
Let's think about it throughthe lens of trauma-informed care
(08:19):
we know from.
Let's think Bessel van der Kolkright, the Body Keeps the Score
.
You've probably heard of thatbook and lots of other people
who have studied and lecturedand trained therapists and
counselors in trauma-informedcare.
They've all told us traumaaffects the way the brain
(08:41):
develops.
It affects executivefunctioning skills.
It affects a student's abilityto regulate their emotions.
So again, can we hand them aworksheet If we know that they
have a trauma history and expectthis worksheet to do some good?
(09:04):
I don't think so.
It's going to be missing someof the deeper work that these
kids need.
It's going to be negating therelationship building before we
expect the behavior change.
It's not providing those safe,consistent interventions that
signal safety and relationshipto students.
(09:28):
Trauma-informed approaches areintentional, they are layered,
they work over time.
No worksheet can replicate that, no PowerPoint game is going to
do it, no craft is going to hitthat mark.
And last, let's look at itthrough the lens of
(09:49):
solution-focused brief therapy.
That's a champion for schoolcounselors.
I know so many of us rely onthat approach with our students.
But solution-focused is aboutcustomizing interventions to the
student, to their uniquestrengths, to help them reach
(10:11):
their own unique goals.
When we start mass producingresources for a solution-focused
therapy approach, we lose thatchance to individualize the
intervention.
It's like going to the vendingmachine grabbing a fat-free
snack that was made for anybodyto eat.
(10:32):
Right, technically it's food.
Technically it will fill yourstomach a little bit, but does
it nourish you?
If you have a vitamindeficiency, if you have a health
concern and you need to eatbetter, you need a specialized
diet.
You're not going to be runningto the vending machine Now.
(10:56):
You may be listening to this andthinking, yeah, I mean, that's
great and I see your point, butI don't have any other choice.
I am so freaking overloadedthat I cannot stop to find
something else.
I don't have the time right.
Some of you are scheduled asglorified SEL teachers.
(11:19):
You're not even counseling kidsso much as you are sitting in a
classroom seeing rotations ofstudents come through while you
teach social emotional lessons,and that's a travesty.
I think it is a gross misuse ofour expertise and training.
That's a whole other podcastand I want you to know that I
(11:41):
get it.
Sometimes you don't have timefor these deep dive
interventions.
You may be thinking hey, steph,we're not supposed to be
engaging in these long-termtherapeutic relationships with
students.
We're supposed to be doingshort-term counseling on our
campuses six to eight sessions,bing bang, boom, we're done.
But we still need to be lookingat the mechanisms of what makes
(12:05):
this stuff work.
As we're talking through theselenses of cognitive behavior
therapy, behaviorism,trauma-informed care,
solution-focused, brief therapy.
That doesn't necessarily meanwe're providing therapy.
We need to be informed.
We need to be building ourfluency about why counseling
works.
(12:25):
A lot of school counselorsgraduate from grad school.
They sign up for their Teachers, pay Teachers account and then
they forget all the stuff theylearned in grad school.
We don't want that to happen.
So here are some things we cando, and no, I'm not going to
tell you to get rid of thisstuff.
Cold turkey.
I would love it if you did.
I think that would be amazing,but I know many of you are not
(12:48):
in the position to be able to dothat right now.
So what can we do instead?
First, if you're using aprintable, make sure it's part
of an actual strategy.
A strategy is not printingsomething and following the
directions.
That is not a strategy.
A strategy is knowing yourmodality, knowing what point A
(13:15):
and point B and point C are, andthen aligning one of those
printables with the component ofthat strategy.
Does that sound complicated?
Maybe, guess what?
I have a resource for youthat's going to make it so
freaking simple.
You're not going to believe it.
I'm going to tell you about itin a minute.
But solution one is just to tryto print with purpose.
(13:38):
Make sure that whatever you'reprinting and using is part of an
actual counseling strategy, atrue strategy.
Y'all, I can't say that enough.
Y'all, I can't say that enough.
Secondly, identify your go-tohigh impact strategies.
Have a toolkit of things thatyou know can move the needle
(14:04):
without having to print anything, and you don't have to know a
million of them.
You don't even need to know 10.
Three or five will do the trick.
Let me give you some examples,some of these you may know
already.
Feel, think, do.
That is a CBT strategy Takesprobably 60 seconds, maybe a
(14:32):
little longer if your studentsare a little younger.
Name it and reframe it.
Shifting perspective Again, aquick intervention.
It's a go-to.
You don't need a paper for that, you don't need to write
anything down or draw anypictures.
I mean, you can if you want,but you don't need a specialized
printable to do that.
Can if you want, but you don'tneed a specialized printable to
(14:54):
do that.
What about a two-questioncheck-in, just to get the
dialogue started in asolution-focused way?
And once you practice with this, it gets so easy.
I use this in my schoolcounseling office all the time.
Let me give you some examples.
Question one what's one thingthat's going okay for you right
now, even if it seems small?
Leading to question two what'sone little thing you could do
(15:19):
today to make things just ateeny bit better?
That's it.
They're reframing perspective.
They're focusing on what'sworking instead of perseverating
on what's wrong.
On what's working instead ofperseverating on what's wrong,
maybe we ask for question one.
We say okay.
So if I time traveled to nextweek and I saw that you were
feeling better, what would bedifferent?
(15:58):
Followed by okay.
It is just endless how manyvariations you can provide with
the two question check-in, butit's going to move the needle
and it's not going to requirepaper.
It's not going to require paper, it's not going to require
printables and it's not going torequire you to sit down with
kids who may not be superexcited to read or write.
We forget that too.
(16:20):
We serve lots of kids withdisabilities, with learning
challenges, and it seems like alot of times we say, oh, sit
them down, put a pencil in theirhand, all right.
So we've talked about printingwith purpose, aligning a
specific printable page with anactual, real counseling strategy
(16:41):
.
That was one.
Two is identifying your go-tostrategies that don't need any
printing Think, feel, do, nameit and reframe it.
Two-question check-in In myoffice I have kids scale every
time they walk in the door.
If they visited me a few times,they're not even surprised.
(17:03):
They sit down and automaticallylook for the emoji chart and we
walk through the basiccategories of their day.
That is low lift, high impact.
It helps me pinpoint exactlywhere we need to go in real time
, in a quick way.
What are those high impactstrategies for you?
(17:26):
Third, streamline yourcounseling with repeatable
frameworks.
You do not have to find a newresource every time you have a
new concern.
Pop up for a kid.
Every session does not requirea new worksheet.
Every new class lesson does notrequire a new download.
(17:47):
Find your repeatable frameworks.
What are the things that areactually tested and we know work
and use those.
It's going to save you time.
It's going to allow you toprovide consistent, meaningful
support that actually moves theneedle and it's going to be
(18:08):
research-backed a needle andit's going to be research backed
Because, just like thosefat-free cookies did not make
people healthier back in the day, most of these printable
resources are not going to makeyour school counseling program
better, because your kids don'tneed more stuff.
They don't need to feel likethey've just entered a different
(18:29):
kind of classroom with adifferent kind of worksheet and
a different kind of activity todo that really sort of feels
like what they did in math andscience and social studies
earlier in the day.
They need you, they need yourexpertise, they need your
intentionality, yourrelationship and your ability to
(18:50):
guide them through challengesas you read their voice tone,
their body language, all ofthose essential skills that you
worked so hard in your gradprogram to cultivate.
That's what we should beleaning on, not the printer, and
even if you feel like you can'tget away from those resources
(19:12):
just yet.
You can take some of theseideas and start moving in that
direction If this is resonatingwith you, if you're like yes,
that makes sense.
We should be doing more actualresearch-based interventions.
I know that that one isolatedchange your thoughts worksheet
is not going to change much overthe long term, because I've
(19:35):
watched it happen over and overagain.
It's time for you to elevateyour practice and one great way
that you can do that is to comejoin me in our School for School
Counselors Mastermind.
We have playbooks built.
They are already loaded in ourmastermind library with the
blueprint for exactly what I amtalking about.
(19:57):
We have playbooks for anxiety,school refusal, behavior,
intervention, executivefunctioning.
We have all kinds of playbooksin there and not a ding dang.
One of them requires you toprint out a worksheet for
anybody.
It doesn't require a PowerPointgame.
It doesn't require any of thatstuff other than you and your
(20:21):
expertise and your ability tolisten and inspire change.
This is where the good stuff isy'all.
If you're ready to move past thevending machine, school
counseling and you want tobecome a true expert in your
craft, you want to become anauthority not only on your
campus but in your schooldistrict where people call you
(20:44):
and they say I know you knowyour stuff, can you consult with
me?
That's a cool feeling whensomebody calls you and asks you
that Can you advise me, whatwould you do?
Or your principal walks up andsays, hey, these teachers are
having trouble with this kid.
I have no idea what to do.
Do you have any ideas?
And you say, yeah, actually Ido.
And you just start rolling themoff because you've become so
(21:09):
fluent in your craft throughthese repeatable frameworks that
you were able to see thepatterns where no one else can
see them.
That's where I want you to beand that's what we work on each
and every week in our School forSchool Counselors Mastermind.
You can find out more atschoolforschoolcounselorscom.
Slash mastermind.
(21:30):
We'd love for you to come joinus, but at the end of the day, I
really want you to focus on areyou leaning on your counseling
resources because they're easyand they're cute, or are you
leaning on them because you knowthey're actually providing the
nourishment that your studentsneed?
All right, that was kind ofheavy and in your face this week
(21:54):
, but I'm doing it with love andI'm going to be back soon with
another episode of the Schoolfor School Counselors podcast,
hopefully without this raspy,croaky voice.
In the meantime, I hope youhave the best week ever.
Take care, my friend.
Hey, hey there, school counselor, welcome back
to the School for SchoolCounselors podcast.
I'm Steph Johnson, a full-timeschool counselor, just like you,
and I'm so excited to see youback here at the podcast.
Now, you may notice I sound alittle different than normally,
a little bit more hoarse, thisweek.
That's actually why the podcastis being released a few days
(00:24):
late.
I have had no voice for quite awhile about a week now and it's
slowly coming back, and I couldnot wait to get back behind
this mic to talk with you aboutschool counseling.
So let's jump into it.
Do you remember back in the 90s?
If you were old enough toremember the 90s, some of you
(00:46):
may have just been born then,but in the 90s there was diet
culture, right, I think.
From time immemorial, peoplehave been trying to find the
best ways to lose weight andlook nice and feel great, right?
And in the 90s, diet culturewas focused on fat-free.
The 90s diet culture wasfocused on fat-free.
(01:10):
Companies started slappingfat-free labels on everything
that you could think of, and theentire American culture was
convinced that eating fat wasthe enemy.
They were taking fat out ofcookies, out of yogurt, salad
dressings, all kinds of foods,and people literally ate it up.
But what we didn't know whenall that was going on is that
(01:33):
when food manufacturers removedfat from food, they had to
replace it with something elseto make it taste good, and the
something else that they startedputting into all of these
fat-free offerings was sugar.
And not just a little sugary'all this was a ton of sugar.
(01:54):
So we have all these peoplethinking that they were making
healthier choices by buyingfat-free foods and they actually
ended up consuming more sugarthan they ever had.
And then we started seeingthings like weight gain, blood
sugar spikes, long-term healthproblems, all due to the
(02:18):
fat-free fad.
Now in school counseling I hateto break it to you we have our
own version of the fat-freedebacle, and those are print and
pray resources.
These are mass marketworksheets and activities that
look like school counselingsolutions, but the majority of
(02:42):
them are actually just fillerwith not a lot of substance.
They seem super helpful, theypromise quick results, they're
cute and they're easy to grabwhen you're in a rush or when
you're feeling overwhelmed, butthe truth is, most of these
materials are the fat-freecookies of school counseling.
(03:04):
Most of these materials are thefat-free cookies of school
counseling.
They might look like they'rehelping, but, y'all, over time I
think they're doing more harmthan good.
And I'm going to tell you rightnow I'm going to catch a lot of
hate for this episode, andthat's okay.
I invite some healthy debateand if somebody has the numbers,
the statistics, to back up whyI'm wrong, bring it.
(03:27):
Steph atschoolforschoolcounselorscom.
S-t-e-p-h atschoolforschoolcounselorscom,
email me and send me straight.
I would love to see someevidence to the contrary, but
while we're waiting on that andI'll be honest y'all I've been
talking about this for a coupleof years and no one has been
(03:48):
able to produce those kinds ofnumbers for me yet let's talk
about why these quick fixresources are failing, and we're
going to look at it through thelens of some psychological and
counseling frameworks.
Now, you may or may not knowthis about me I am a licensed
professional counselor inaddition to being a certified
(04:11):
school counselor.
I think that has contributed tome having a little bit
different perspective on theworld of school counseling than
most people.
So I think this is going to bea good lens for us to look
through to really thinkcritically about some of the
resources that you might have inyour school counseling office
right now.
(04:33):
First, let's go with the old,tried and true cognitive
behavioral therapy CBT.
It's one of the most researched, backed approaches for
supporting all kinds ofmaladaption Students with
anxiety, depression, behaviorissues.
Cbt is going to be recommendedand it works because it has
(04:57):
structure, it guides studentsand we're going to be talking
about students throughout thisconversation.
We know this will apply to abroader counseling context.
Right, but for the purposes ofthis conversation you're going
to hear me say students.
Cbt is going to help ourstudents recognize their
negative thought patterns.
It's going to help themchallenge those negative
(05:19):
thoughts and replace them withhealthier ones.
And while we see a lot ofresources that claim to follow a
CBT framework, they reallydon't.
And this is the thing thatreally just kind of sticks in my
craw about this whole thing isthat we are so quick to toss out
these labels of evidence-basedor standards aligned and nobody
(05:44):
really takes the time to lookpast the label, kind of like the
fat-free thing.
Most of the printable resourcesthat you download do not follow
a true CBT structure.
They might have an isolatedworksheet on changing negative
thoughts, but they're notscaffolding those skills over
time.
And y'all we know through ourcounseling training, change
(06:08):
takes time, it takes intentionand it takes repetition.
Handing a kid a thoughtreplacement worksheet isn't
going to magically change theway they see their problems.
Magically change the way theysee their problems.
(06:29):
It's just not realistic.
And yet we keep printing thesethings out, we keep making
stacks and stacks of copies ofthis kind of stuff and handing
it out to the kids and thenwondering why they're not
working.
Are you starting to see, maybe,why I haven't been able to get
any action data from anybody onany of these printable resources
?
Because it's not there.
Let's look through another lens.
(06:50):
Let's talk about behaviorism.
Behavioral psychology tells usthat reinforcement strengthens
behavior.
Again, we're back tointentionality, time and
repetition.
One single worksheet aboutchanging a thought or utilizing
(07:12):
a coping skill whatever theconversation is about is kind of
like going to the gym once andexpecting to walk out with abs
of steel.
It's not going to happen.
It takes repeated visits.
It takes repeated effort andreinforcement over time.
A one-and-done worksheetdoesn't do that.
(07:33):
It's just a piece of paper.
And again, like those fat-freefoods we were talking about,
didn't actually make peoplehealthier.
They just made them feel likethey were eating healthier.
These worksheets are doing thesame thing.
They're not actually helpingstudents build the skills they
need.
They're just making it looklike they are.
(07:56):
Do you see why I keep comingback to this theme on the
podcast?
Because we are chargedethically and morally with
trying to do our best to supportstudents and a lot of these
materials are missing the mark.
Let's think about it throughthe lens of trauma-informed care
(08:19):
we know from.
Let's think Bessel van der Kolkright, the Body Keeps the Score
.
You've probably heard of thatbook and lots of other people
who have studied and lecturedand trained therapists and
counselors in trauma-informedcare.
They've all told us traumaaffects the way the brain
(08:41):
develops.
It affects executivefunctioning skills.
It affects a student's abilityto regulate their emotions.
So again, can we hand them aworksheet If we know that they
have a trauma history and expectthis worksheet to do some good?
(09:04):
I don't think so.
It's going to be missing someof the deeper work that these
kids need.
It's going to be negating therelationship building before we
expect the behavior change.
It's not providing those safe,consistent interventions that
signal safety and relationshipto students.
(09:28):
Trauma-informed approaches areintentional, they are layered,
they work over time.
No worksheet can replicate that, no PowerPoint game is going to
do it, no craft is going to hitthat mark.
And last, let's look at itthrough the lens of
(09:49):
solution-focused brief therapy.
That's a champion for schoolcounselors.
I know so many of us rely onthat approach with our students.
But solution-focused is aboutcustomizing interventions to the
student, to their uniquestrengths, to help them reach
(10:11):
their own unique goals.
When we start mass producingresources for a solution-focused
therapy approach, we lose thatchance to individualize the
intervention.
It's like going to the vendingmachine grabbing a fat-free
snack that was made for anybodyto eat.
(10:32):
Right, technically it's food.
Technically it will fill yourstomach a little bit, but does
it nourish you?
If you have a vitamindeficiency, if you have a health
concern and you need to eatbetter, you need a specialized
diet.
You're not going to be runningto the vending machine Now.
(10:56):
You may be listening to this andthinking, yeah, I mean, that's
great and I see your point, butI don't have any other choice.
I am so freaking overloadedthat I cannot stop to find
something else.
I don't have the time right.
Some of you are scheduled asglorified SEL teachers.
(11:19):
You're not even counseling kidsso much as you are sitting in a
classroom seeing rotations ofstudents come through while you
teach social emotional lessons,and that's a travesty.
I think it is a gross misuse ofour expertise and training.
That's a whole other podcastand I want you to know that I
(11:41):
get it.
Sometimes you don't have timefor these deep dive
interventions.
You may be thinking hey, steph,we're not supposed to be
engaging in these long-termtherapeutic relationships with
students.
We're supposed to be doingshort-term counseling on our
campuses six to eight sessions,bing bang, boom, we're done.
But we still need to be lookingat the mechanisms of what makes
(12:05):
this stuff work.
As we're talking through theselenses of cognitive behavior
therapy, behaviorism,trauma-informed care,
solution-focused, brief therapy.
That doesn't necessarily meanwe're providing therapy.
We need to be informed.
We need to be building ourfluency about why counseling
works.
(12:25):
A lot of school counselorsgraduate from grad school.
They sign up for their Teachers, pay Teachers account and then
they forget all the stuff theylearned in grad school.
We don't want that to happen.
So here are some things we cando, and no, I'm not going to
tell you to get rid of thisstuff.
Cold turkey.
I would love it if you did.
I think that would be amazing,but I know many of you are not
(12:48):
in the position to be able to dothat right now.
So what can we do instead?
First, if you're using aprintable, make sure it's part
of an actual strategy.
A strategy is not printingsomething and following the
directions.
That is not a strategy.
A strategy is knowing yourmodality, knowing what point A
(13:15):
and point B and point C are, andthen aligning one of those
printables with the component ofthat strategy.
Does that sound complicated?
Maybe, guess what?
I have a resource for youthat's going to make it so
freaking simple.
You're not going to believe it.
I'm going to tell you about itin a minute.
But solution one is just to tryto print with purpose.
(13:38):
Make sure that whatever you'reprinting and using is part of an
actual counseling strategy, atrue strategy.
Y'all, I can't say that enough.
Y'all, I can't say that enough.
Secondly, identify your go-tohigh impact strategies.
Have a toolkit of things thatyou know can move the needle
(14:04):
without having to print anything, and you don't have to know a
million of them.
You don't even need to know 10.
Three or five will do the trick.
Let me give you some examples,some of these you may know
already.
Feel, think, do.
That is a CBT strategy Takesprobably 60 seconds, maybe a
(14:32):
little longer if your studentsare a little younger.
Name it and reframe it.
Shifting perspective Again, aquick intervention.
It's a go-to.
You don't need a paper for that, you don't need to write
anything down or draw anypictures.
I mean, you can if you want,but you don't need a specialized
printable to do that.
Can if you want, but you don'tneed a specialized printable to
(14:54):
do that.
What about a two-questioncheck-in, just to get the
dialogue started in asolution-focused way?
And once you practice with this, it gets so easy.
I use this in my schoolcounseling office all the time.
Let me give you some examples.
Question one what's one thingthat's going okay for you right
now, even if it seems small?
Leading to question two what'sone little thing you could do
(15:19):
today to make things just ateeny bit better?
That's it.
They're reframing perspective.
They're focusing on what'sworking instead of perseverating
on what's wrong.
On what's working instead ofperseverating on what's wrong,
maybe we ask for question one.
We say okay.
So if I time traveled to nextweek and I saw that you were
feeling better, what would bedifferent?
(15:58):
Followed by okay.
It is just endless how manyvariations you can provide with
the two question check-in, butit's going to move the needle
and it's not going to requirepaper.
It's not going to require paper, it's not going to require
printables and it's not going torequire you to sit down with
kids who may not be superexcited to read or write.
We forget that too.
(16:20):
We serve lots of kids withdisabilities, with learning
challenges, and it seems like alot of times we say, oh, sit
them down, put a pencil in theirhand, all right.
So we've talked about printingwith purpose, aligning a
specific printable page with anactual, real counseling strategy
(16:41):
.
That was one.
Two is identifying your go-tostrategies that don't need any
printing Think, feel, do, nameit and reframe it.
Two-question check-in In myoffice I have kids scale every
time they walk in the door.
If they visited me a few times,they're not even surprised.
(17:03):
They sit down and automaticallylook for the emoji chart and we
walk through the basiccategories of their day.
That is low lift, high impact.
It helps me pinpoint exactlywhere we need to go in real time
, in a quick way.
What are those high impactstrategies for you?
(17:26):
Third, streamline yourcounseling with repeatable
frameworks.
You do not have to find a newresource every time you have a
new concern.
Pop up for a kid.
Every session does not requirea new worksheet.
Every new class lesson does notrequire a new download.
(17:47):
Find your repeatable frameworks.
What are the things that areactually tested and we know work
and use those.
It's going to save you time.
It's going to allow you toprovide consistent, meaningful
support that actually moves theneedle and it's going to be
(18:08):
research-backed a needle andit's going to be research backed
Because, just like thosefat-free cookies did not make
people healthier back in the day, most of these printable
resources are not going to makeyour school counseling program
better, because your kids don'tneed more stuff.
They don't need to feel likethey've just entered a different
(18:29):
kind of classroom with adifferent kind of worksheet and
a different kind of activity todo that really sort of feels
like what they did in math andscience and social studies
earlier in the day.
They need you, they need yourexpertise, they need your
intentionality, yourrelationship and your ability to
(18:50):
guide them through challengesas you read their voice tone,
their body language, all ofthose essential skills that you
worked so hard in your gradprogram to cultivate.
That's what we should beleaning on, not the printer, and
even if you feel like you can'tget away from those resources
(19:12):
just yet.
You can take some of theseideas and start moving in that
direction If this is resonatingwith you, if you're like yes,
that makes sense.
We should be doing more actualresearch-based interventions.
I know that that one isolatedchange your thoughts worksheet
is not going to change much overthe long term, because I've
(19:35):
watched it happen over and overagain.
It's time for you to elevateyour practice and one great way
that you can do that is to comejoin me in our School for School
Counselors Mastermind.
We have playbooks built.
They are already loaded in ourmastermind library with the
blueprint for exactly what I amtalking about.
(19:57):
We have playbooks for anxiety,school refusal, behavior,
intervention, executivefunctioning.
We have all kinds of playbooksin there and not a ding dang.
One of them requires you toprint out a worksheet for
anybody.
It doesn't require a PowerPointgame.
It doesn't require any of thatstuff other than you and your
(20:21):
expertise and your ability tolisten and inspire change.
This is where the good stuff isy'all.
If you're ready to move past thevending machine, school
counseling and you want tobecome a true expert in your
craft, you want to become anauthority not only on your
campus but in your schooldistrict where people call you
(20:44):
and they say I know you knowyour stuff, can you consult with
me?
That's a cool feeling whensomebody calls you and asks you
that Can you advise me, whatwould you do?
Or your principal walks up andsays, hey, these teachers are
having trouble with this kid.
I have no idea what to do.
Do you have any ideas?
And you say, yeah, actually Ido.
And you just start rolling themoff because you've become so
(21:09):
fluent in your craft throughthese repeatable frameworks that
you were able to see thepatterns where no one else can
see them.
That's where I want you to beand that's what we work on each
and every week in our School forSchool Counselors Mastermind.
You can find out more atschoolforschoolcounselorscom.
Slash mastermind.
(21:30):
We'd love for you to come joinus, but at the end of the day, I
really want you to focus on areyou leaning on your counseling
resources because they're easyand they're cute, or are you
leaning on them because you knowthey're actually providing the
nourishment that your studentsneed?
All right, that was kind ofheavy and in your face this week
(21:54):
, but I'm doing it with love andI'm going to be back soon with
another episode of the Schoolfor School Counselors podcast,
hopefully without this raspy,croaky voice.
In the meantime, I hope youhave the best week ever.
Take care, my friend.
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