A Realistic Approach to National School Counseling Week

Transcript

WEBVTT

00:00:00.119 --> 00:00:11.275
If there's one thing that seems to make school counselors feel worse about their jobs than maybe they already do, it's National School Counseling Week.

00:00:11.275 --> 00:00:15.010
Oh, my goodness, why would I say something like that?

00:00:15.010 --> 00:00:38.146
I'm going to tell you all about it in this episode and I'm going to give you my take on the purpose, the intention of National School Counseling Week, what you should do about it on your campus, some simple strategies you can use on your campus if you want to, and reasons why you may not want to observe it at all.

00:00:38.146 --> 00:00:40.731
Oh, blasphemy, I know it.

00:00:40.731 --> 00:00:45.148
You're going to have to keep listening to hear all the gory details.

00:00:45.148 --> 00:00:50.567
And a way that you can be featured on an upcoming podcast.

00:00:50.567 --> 00:00:52.210
Let's get started.

00:00:52.210 --> 00:00:53.814
Are you ready?

00:00:53.814 --> 00:00:55.439
All right?

00:00:55.439 --> 00:01:01.982
Before we get started, let me introduce myself, in case this is the first time that you're listening to the podcast.

00:01:01.982 --> 00:01:04.010
My name is Steph Johnson.

00:01:04.010 --> 00:01:15.462
I am a full-time school counselor, just like you, and I am on a mission to make school counseling more realistic and more sustainable.

00:01:15.462 --> 00:01:19.990
I want you to look forward to going to work each and every day.

00:01:19.990 --> 00:01:36.313
I want you to feel like you're thriving amidst the busyness and the overwhelm and walk away at the end of the day feeling like you've done an amazing job, you've made great impacts for students and you're ready to go back and do it all again tomorrow.

00:01:38.641 --> 00:01:43.832
Hey, I got a really awesome review on the podcast just a couple of days ago.

00:01:43.832 --> 00:01:48.260
Awesome review on the podcast.

00:01:48.260 --> 00:01:50.805
Just a couple of days ago, sarah left a review on Apple Podcasts for us and it was titled Time to Grow.

00:01:50.805 --> 00:01:55.655
Her review said this Long-time listener, new engager here.

00:01:55.655 --> 00:01:57.662
My first year was COVID.

00:01:57.662 --> 00:02:02.393
What a hard year to start, and I also had a six-month-old at home.

00:02:02.393 --> 00:02:10.710
My second year I had my second child and was out half the year and since then we have been in survival mode.

00:02:10.710 --> 00:02:11.792
Oh my goodness.

00:02:11.792 --> 00:02:15.730
Let me stop there and say how many of us can relate to that right?

00:02:15.730 --> 00:02:23.566
Sarah went on to say I always listen to the podcast but couldn't find the time to participate much past that.

00:02:23.566 --> 00:02:34.692
Well, now I'm in my fifth year and I'm ready to start growing my craft and expertise, and this podcast has really helped me find a path to do just that.

00:02:35.479 --> 00:02:38.330
Steph is so real and honest and insightful.

00:02:38.330 --> 00:02:43.352
I truly feel like she has all the answers and is a fountain of knowledge.

00:02:43.352 --> 00:02:48.604
I don't know about that, sarah, but I appreciate your confidence in me.

00:02:48.604 --> 00:02:53.181
She ended with saying I couldn't be more thankful for this podcast.

00:02:53.181 --> 00:02:56.668
My morning commute wouldn't be the same without it.

00:02:56.668 --> 00:02:58.831
Thank you so much, sarah.

00:02:58.831 --> 00:03:04.290
You have no idea what those words mean to me and to my team here at School for School Counselors.

00:03:04.290 --> 00:03:17.009
And really that's the goal here is to be honest and real about what's going on in our school counseling worlds, instead of this super Instagram, perfect world scenario stuff.

00:03:17.009 --> 00:03:23.228
Right, it is very rare to come across a school counselor that says I found all the answers.

00:03:23.228 --> 00:03:25.252
I'm running a fully comprehensive program.

00:03:25.252 --> 00:03:32.032
Everything is 100% online, including my relationship with my administrator.

00:03:32.032 --> 00:03:50.289
That's really hard to come by, and it's not because we're not great at what we do, it's just because we work in very difficult systems, and so I strive to bring you the realness, the relevancy and the inspiration to keep doing your job, and that's why this review means so much to me.

00:03:50.289 --> 00:03:53.383
Thank you, sarah, from the bottom of my heart.

00:03:54.966 --> 00:03:59.754
All right, friends, so let's get into National School Counseling Week.

00:03:59.754 --> 00:04:13.532
We've got a few weeks until National School Counseling Week kicks off, but I'm noticing more and more people posting and asking questions about what's everybody doing for National School Counseling Week.

00:04:13.532 --> 00:04:14.413
What are your plans?

00:04:14.413 --> 00:04:15.945
How can I observe it?

00:04:15.945 --> 00:04:18.127
And so I thought let's get a jump on this.

00:04:18.920 --> 00:04:26.411
This week brings out so many reactions and emotions in our professional world.

00:04:26.411 --> 00:04:30.904
We see people that are super excited and motivated about it.

00:04:30.904 --> 00:04:33.050
They just can't wait for it to get started.

00:04:33.050 --> 00:04:41.446
They've combed all of the Pinterest boards, they have all the ideas, they have all the little gifts and handouts and all the things ready to go weeks ahead of time.

00:04:41.446 --> 00:04:48.362
Then we have people who feel a little overwhelmed by National School Counseling Week.

00:04:48.362 --> 00:04:52.235
They feel like they have to put on that big show.

00:04:52.235 --> 00:04:56.550
They don't know how they're going to fit it into all of the things they're already doing.

00:04:56.550 --> 00:05:02.146
A lot of school counselors worry about financing initiatives on their campus.

00:05:02.146 --> 00:05:07.427
They feel like they should be giving things to their staff and they don't know how they're going to afford that.

00:05:08.550 --> 00:05:13.524
Still, other counselors feel very frustrated by National School Counseling Week.

00:05:13.524 --> 00:05:19.526
They feel like they should not be called upon to do the bulk of advocacy in their work.

00:05:19.526 --> 00:05:27.690
They wish that other people would stand up and speak for them so they don't have to keep jeopardizing their job by trying to advocate for their program.

00:05:27.690 --> 00:05:41.475
And even further, we have school counselors who feel very disappointed, very overlooked and sometimes very disrespected during National School Counseling Week.

00:05:42.442 --> 00:05:59.122
These are the folks that go into the week hoping to be recognized, and I think that's a very, very valid hope, especially in school counseling, where so much of what we do goes unnoticed and so much of what we do are things that we cannot call attention to day by day.

00:05:59.122 --> 00:06:04.785
We can't stand in the hallway and say, oh, you'll never guess what Bobby told me today, no wonder he's been acting the way he has.

00:06:04.785 --> 00:06:06.146
We can't share in the hallway and say, oh, you'll never guess what Bobby told me today, no wonder he's been acting the way he has.

00:06:06.146 --> 00:06:11.928
We can't share that kind of information, and so so many things stay below surface.

00:06:11.928 --> 00:06:23.247
And there's a piece of us that desperately hopes that during National School Counseling Week, someone on our campus stands up and says I see you, I think you're doing a great job.

00:06:23.247 --> 00:06:28.283
I'm not entirely sure what goes on in your world, but I know it's great.

00:06:29.766 --> 00:06:34.319
And so we have all of these emotions just swirling around between people.

00:06:34.319 --> 00:06:37.447
Sometimes we have more than one of those within ourselves.

00:06:37.447 --> 00:06:40.392
And then social media takes off.

00:06:40.392 --> 00:06:44.543
You know what I'm talking about If you've been in school counseling for a little bit off.

00:06:44.543 --> 00:06:46.747
You know what I'm talking about If you've been in school counseling for a little bit.

00:06:46.747 --> 00:07:01.862
You've seen it when folks unfortunately start chastising each other, blaming each other, not empathizing and being our best selves, no matter what the emotion is.

00:07:01.862 --> 00:07:19.673
I did a podcast episode a year or two ago about that very thing, so if you're interested in hearing it, you can go to our schoolforschoolcounselorscom slash podcast, look through the episodes and you'll find that one around February 2023.

00:07:19.673 --> 00:07:20.884
That's my best guess.

00:07:22.180 --> 00:07:35.673
But no matter where you sit within that spectrum of responses, please know that every feeling, every emotion and thought that you have about National School Counseling Week deserves to be validated.

00:07:35.673 --> 00:07:40.069
If you want to be recognized, there's nothing wrong with that.

00:07:40.069 --> 00:07:46.233
If you want to stand on the roof of the school and shout out your demands and advocacy, you do.

00:07:46.233 --> 00:08:01.851
You and most of us are going to fall somewhere in between right, but there's no one right way to approach this week and really I think maybe that's part of the problem.

00:08:01.851 --> 00:08:09.920
Think maybe that's part of the problem.

00:08:09.920 --> 00:08:18.420
So National School Counseling Week, as you know, is promoted by the American School Counselor Association and while I appreciate that we have this weekly observance, every year there's a different theme.

00:08:18.420 --> 00:08:31.612
This year, the theme is school counseling helping students thrive, and so I do appreciate the additional emphasis on school counseling during that week and the additional focus.

00:08:32.760 --> 00:08:35.447
I think many of the efforts are misguided.

00:08:35.447 --> 00:08:37.653
Let me tell you what I mean by that.

00:08:37.653 --> 00:08:58.400
You've probably heard me talk about the need for more effective advocacy in our field, about the need for more effective advocacy in our field, that it is not fair to expect a school counselor to advocate entirely on their own behalf on their campus and potentially go up against an administrator.

00:08:58.400 --> 00:08:59.543
That's not receptive.

00:08:59.543 --> 00:09:08.587
Most of us, me included, we need our jobs, we need our paychecks, we have families who depend on us.

00:09:08.587 --> 00:09:32.384
We have to be able to support ourselves, and so the idea of going up against our administrator and advocating in the way that our field tells us we should be doing it is scary, y'all it is scary and it is disconcerting and nine times out of 10, completely ineffective.

00:09:32.384 --> 00:09:39.861
And yet we still have an organization that tells us that that's the best way to advocate.

00:09:39.861 --> 00:09:57.730
We have state level school counseling organizations who are working their guts out to advocate for the school counseling profession within their state and our national organization kind of leaves it to them.

00:09:58.772 --> 00:10:12.224
Again, I do understand part of that, because states legislate their educational policy very differently and so any policy changes or huge initiatives are probably going to have to go through at the state level.

00:10:12.224 --> 00:10:23.105
But I also know that the national organization is not providing a lot of monetary support to its state branches.

00:10:23.105 --> 00:10:31.563
I know that as a national organization they could develop a pretty big platform for advocacy.

00:10:31.563 --> 00:10:42.957
They could be doing lots more initiatives and bigger pushes than trying to recruit school counselors to download signs and take their pictures with them.

00:10:42.957 --> 00:10:55.131
This is something that I've been talking about for years, that so many of us are attempting to quote unquote advocate within an echo chamber.

00:10:55.131 --> 00:11:02.735
Even some of the new information that I see coming out of our organization is all about themselves.

00:11:03.957 --> 00:11:04.739
I'm a board member.

00:11:04.739 --> 00:11:09.724
This is important to me because Now it's important that we be able to see that right.

00:11:09.724 --> 00:11:11.410
That's how we learn who these people are.

00:11:11.410 --> 00:11:13.857
That's how we develop trust within them.

00:11:13.857 --> 00:11:15.380
We need to know that kind of stuff.

00:11:15.662 --> 00:11:26.294
But y'all, it needs to go further than that, and so I do understand a lot of people's frustrations with the advocacy efforts in general.

00:11:26.294 --> 00:11:27.677
It's surface level.

00:11:27.677 --> 00:11:39.102
There is a lack of true systemic change, certainly on a local level, and an over-reliance on school counselors to promote themselves.

00:11:39.102 --> 00:11:58.302
So we end up feeling unsupported in our budgets, in our staffing, in the level of respect that we get on our campus, in the level of respect that we get on our campus.

00:11:58.302 --> 00:11:59.828
It's super frustrating and super disempowering.

00:11:59.828 --> 00:12:17.753
Now, enough gloom and doom, though there are some things that we can do on our side, because, just like our circle of control exercises we do with students, all the time tells us there are certain things we can control and there are certain things that we cannot, and national scale advocacy efforts are one thing that we do not have a lot of control over.

00:12:17.753 --> 00:12:20.480
But what do we have control over?

00:12:20.480 --> 00:12:24.669
We have control over how we show up every day.

00:12:24.669 --> 00:12:40.440
Beyond providing printables about appropriate school counseling duties and inappropriate school counseling duties, or position papers that, I promise you, your principal is not reading, what else can we do?

00:12:40.440 --> 00:12:51.153
We've been talking in our School for School Counselors world for a long time about advocating from the inside out, and I always give this example.

00:12:52.719 --> 00:12:55.312
Imagine you're in your home doing what you do.

00:12:55.312 --> 00:12:58.219
You might be relaxing with a cup of coffee.

00:12:58.219 --> 00:13:01.049
You might be working inside your home.

00:13:01.049 --> 00:13:07.432
You might be taking care of housekeeping tasks, you might be hanging out with your family, whatever.

00:13:07.432 --> 00:13:15.679
You're inside your home and all of a sudden, someone outside starts beating on the doors and windows, screaming and shouting at you.

00:13:15.679 --> 00:13:17.571
You're doing it wrong.

00:13:17.571 --> 00:13:19.534
You can't do it that way.

00:13:19.534 --> 00:13:20.456
That's not right.

00:13:20.456 --> 00:13:21.799
We're not doing this right.

00:13:21.799 --> 00:13:24.471
I need to tell you how this needs to be better.

00:13:24.471 --> 00:13:25.714
Let me in.

00:13:25.714 --> 00:13:26.654
Let me in.

00:13:26.654 --> 00:13:31.101
You're not going to open the door for that person.

00:13:31.101 --> 00:13:36.456
You're going to say they're crazy, they might be dangerous.

00:13:36.456 --> 00:13:39.423
No way are they getting in here, right?

00:13:40.890 --> 00:13:49.441
It's not a good way to advocate, but that is the way most school counselors have been taught to do it by drawing boundaries.

00:13:49.441 --> 00:13:50.765
That's what it's often called.

00:13:50.765 --> 00:13:54.895
Tell your principal you're not willing to do that Y'all.

00:13:54.895 --> 00:13:58.203
That is a death sentence on a lot of school campuses.

00:13:58.203 --> 00:14:02.701
You are not in a bargaining position yet to tell them what you will and will not do.

00:14:02.701 --> 00:14:07.458
Schools are struggling to maintain personnel.

00:14:07.458 --> 00:14:14.360
They're struggling with funding and often what you see as disrespect is an administrator just trying to keep the wheels turning.

00:14:14.360 --> 00:14:22.731
So showing up with a printable telling them what you should be doing and what you should not is not going to go over.

00:14:22.731 --> 00:14:28.071
Well, that's the same as beating on the doors and windows, screaming and shouting.

00:14:30.014 --> 00:14:53.080
What we have suggested for years is advocating from the inside out being able to develop a relationship with the people inside that house so that when they see you coming, they want to open the door, they want to invite you in, they want to say come in, take a chair, let's talk about it.

00:14:53.080 --> 00:15:00.900
But you don't get there with a bunch of papers in your hand or a social media post holding a sign.

00:15:00.900 --> 00:15:04.115
So how do you get there?

00:15:04.115 --> 00:15:21.577
Intentionality there are a couple of pieces of that approach and it's something that we don't have time to talk about on this episode of the podcast, or we will be here for hours, but let me see if I can boil it down for you really quickly.

00:15:21.577 --> 00:15:26.296
These are the things that we work on in our School for School Counselors Mastermind.

00:15:26.296 --> 00:15:29.865
That's why we don't provide printable lessons and curriculums.

00:15:30.886 --> 00:15:42.519
We're focused on something bigger, more intentional, more impactful, where we teach you to develop the right relationships with your administrators, even if they're difficult.

00:15:42.519 --> 00:15:54.250
How do you develop know, like and trust with them so that they're willing to listen when you speak, like and trust with them so that they're willing to listen when you speak?

00:15:54.250 --> 00:16:20.703
We talk about developing professional fluency how to be able to talk at the drop of a hat about what's going on on your campus and what the possible solutions might be, and to be able to talk about those things with authority, with confidence, with competence and without second-guessing yourself or having to run to consult a manual or chat GPT.

00:16:20.703 --> 00:16:23.475
That's a bad idea.

00:16:23.475 --> 00:16:26.736
By the way, it can be done.

00:16:26.736 --> 00:16:42.024
We have school counselors in our mastermind who have done a phenomenal job of this and at times have even had people whose positions were slated to be eliminated who were able to advocate their way through.

00:16:42.024 --> 00:16:52.123
And then, last use of time being able to verify what you're doing in real time is invaluable.

00:16:52.123 --> 00:17:10.625
There are ways to set that up so that it's not overwhelming, so it does not feel like it's just another thing piled on top of the to-do list, and we support and encourage and educate our Mastermind members on how to get that implemented.

00:17:12.050 --> 00:17:20.298
As you work through those, you're going to develop a reputation, not only with your administration and your staff on your campus, but eventually word will start to get out.

00:17:20.298 --> 00:17:23.654
People will start to talk about man.

00:17:23.654 --> 00:17:25.200
My school counselor is really amazing.

00:17:25.200 --> 00:17:25.902
Have you heard of them?

00:17:25.902 --> 00:17:28.557
You'll never guess what they were able to do.

00:17:28.557 --> 00:17:29.319
You'll never guess what they were able to do.

00:17:29.319 --> 00:17:31.059
You'll never guess what they told me.

00:17:31.059 --> 00:17:39.826
And that is how you develop the reputation for advocacy from the inside out.

00:17:39.826 --> 00:17:47.896
You can be a changemaker within your own community, I promise you.

00:17:47.896 --> 00:17:55.571
You just need the support and and the resources to be able to do it without burning yourself the heck out.

00:17:57.461 --> 00:17:59.970
Okay, so back then to National School Counseling Week.

00:17:59.970 --> 00:18:02.507
There is a huge debate.

00:18:02.507 --> 00:18:09.307
Is National School Counseling Week supposed to celebrate school counselors or is it supposed to be an advocacy push?

00:18:09.307 --> 00:18:30.532
Your purists will tell you that it is only for advocacy's sake, that you should not expect to be recognized, that you should not expect anything during this week, that you should just give and give and give and advocate your heart out, and I appreciate that perspective.

00:18:30.532 --> 00:18:35.046
I don't know that it's super sustainable for us regular Joes.

00:18:35.046 --> 00:18:51.969
I don't think a pat on the back ever hurt anybody, and it's amazing what it does for you when someone comes to you and says I see you Right, we feel so invisible sometimes with the things that are going on on campuses.

00:18:52.790 --> 00:18:54.973
We can't talk about our work Sometimes.

00:18:54.973 --> 00:19:01.861
We don't have a team, we're working solo.

00:19:01.861 --> 00:19:04.425
We don't find out about all the things going on on our campus because we're kind of just working in our zone.

00:19:04.425 --> 00:19:22.010
We can sometimes feel removed from the other processes on the campus, and so for somebody to walk up and say, hey, I appreciate you, I appreciate the work you're doing, y'all, that means everything, and so if there's a piece of your heart that's wanting that, don't feel bad about it.

00:19:22.010 --> 00:19:25.606
Everybody needs support and encouragement.

00:19:25.606 --> 00:19:26.569
You are no different.

00:19:27.701 --> 00:19:30.871
But if you don't receive it, don't take it personally.

00:19:30.871 --> 00:19:37.450
And that's a hard one, because it feels very personal, doesn't it?

00:19:37.450 --> 00:19:48.395
Because in our mind and in our world, we're going to be deluged with National School Counseling Week information.

00:19:48.395 --> 00:19:55.291
We are going to be thinking about it, we're going to be waiting and hoping and wondering all week long what's going to happen?

00:19:55.291 --> 00:19:56.623
Is anybody going to say anything?

00:19:56.623 --> 00:19:58.346
What am I going to do?

00:19:58.346 --> 00:20:15.873
Our social media worlds, our emails, they're all going to be about National School Counseling Week, and so to us it's going to feel like everybody should know about this when in reality, most people on school campuses have no idea.

00:20:17.421 --> 00:20:25.866
So if you're not recognized, if you aren't thanked, it may not be personal, they may not have realized it.

00:20:25.866 --> 00:20:32.833
And y'all, don't beat yourselves down because of an expectation.

00:20:32.833 --> 00:20:42.664
You know, the minute we start expecting people in our lives to do something is the minute they almost certainly go the other direction.

00:20:42.664 --> 00:20:48.230
Right, and it may not be because of you.

00:20:48.230 --> 00:20:53.048
They may be ignorant of what National School Counseling Week is.

00:20:53.048 --> 00:20:57.289
They may not even realize how important it is to you.

00:20:57.289 --> 00:21:09.923
When I was a teacher, I never realized what a big deal Counseling Week and School Psychologist Week and Cafeteria Workers Week and all those weeks, what a big deal.

00:21:09.923 --> 00:21:18.364
That was Because in my world we celebrated Teacher Appreciation Week and everybody was in on it, so it was never a big deal.

00:21:18.364 --> 00:21:30.811
I never had to take a different perspective and it wasn't until I started the school counseling work that I realized how important these weeks are for our niche colleagues.

00:21:30.811 --> 00:21:36.592
So keep in mind, they may not even realize that this is a big deal to you.

00:21:38.361 --> 00:21:48.931
And if it feels too heavy, if you just feel so disrespected and you can't reframe it, you can't turn it around in your head and you're just feeling terrible about it.

00:21:48.931 --> 00:21:51.449
Maybe you've had a hard year already this year.

00:21:51.449 --> 00:21:55.509
That's when you know you need support and consultation.

00:21:55.509 --> 00:22:03.269
That's when you know you need to be able to speak your truth in a forum of people who get it.

00:22:03.269 --> 00:22:10.247
And again, that's what our School for School Counselors Mastermind does each and every week.

00:22:10.247 --> 00:22:13.592
That's what we're all about, my friend.

00:22:13.592 --> 00:22:15.775
That's what we are all about.

00:22:18.601 --> 00:22:27.627
Before I end the episode, let's talk about some low-stress ways that you can observe National School Counseling Week on your campus, even if you're overwhelmed.

00:22:27.627 --> 00:22:31.542
But again, let me say you're not expected to do this.

00:22:31.542 --> 00:22:36.794
There is nothing wrong with sitting back and just taking the week as it comes.

00:22:36.794 --> 00:22:39.391
All right, there's no expectation for you.

00:22:39.391 --> 00:22:42.061
It doesn't mean that you're a terrible school counselor.

00:22:42.061 --> 00:22:58.863
If you're not tying hundreds of yards of ribbon on water bottles or snacks or printing posters or doing all the things that you see pictured in the world during this week, your efforts say nothing about you other than you might be tired, and I think that that is fair.

00:23:01.788 --> 00:23:03.671
You could do some one and done things.

00:23:03.671 --> 00:23:08.346
An email to your staff with just kind of a brief like did you know this about school counseling?

00:23:08.346 --> 00:23:11.564
Did you know we actually have mental health master's degrees?

00:23:11.564 --> 00:23:13.829
Did you know that we don't provide therapy?

00:23:13.829 --> 00:23:15.160
We refer kids out for that?

00:23:15.160 --> 00:23:17.184
Some people don't know those things.

00:23:17.184 --> 00:23:21.922
We assume that they do because that's the world we live in, but often they don't.

00:23:21.922 --> 00:23:27.294
There are going to be tons of those out there, so keep your eyes open.

00:23:27.294 --> 00:23:30.548
We've got one available in our mastermind.

00:23:30.548 --> 00:23:34.123
We just wrapped up our training on National School Counseling Week.

00:23:34.123 --> 00:23:47.865
A couple of weeks ago we talked about our plans for that week, if anybody was going to do anything, and we have a huge sheet of ideas, a library of resources to be printed out and used with low cost, low effort.

00:23:47.865 --> 00:23:50.111
Tons of stuff in there for our mastermind members.

00:23:50.111 --> 00:23:57.353
Second thing you could do is leverage some of the meetings or events already going on on your campus.

00:23:57.353 --> 00:24:00.648
Could you stand up in a staff meeting?

00:24:00.648 --> 00:24:05.404
Could you stand up in a PLC, those kinds of things, and just talk about what you do.

00:24:07.020 --> 00:24:09.859
Let your passion for your work shine through.

00:24:09.859 --> 00:24:13.391
I think that's one of the ways we go wrong in advocacy.

00:24:13.391 --> 00:24:24.586
We talk a lot about the mechanics of school counseling, what we do, where we do it, how we implement these things on the campus, but we very rarely talk about the why.

00:24:24.586 --> 00:24:27.775
What brought you into school counseling?

00:24:27.775 --> 00:24:29.839
What lights you up about it?

00:24:29.839 --> 00:24:36.634
What makes you keep walking through the door every day, even when you had the hardest day ever the day before?

00:24:36.634 --> 00:24:42.051
What is it about this job that gives you life?

00:24:42.051 --> 00:24:49.532
Share that rather than you know well, I have currently have five small groups going this week.

00:24:49.532 --> 00:24:54.311
I regularly see about 15 to 20 students for individual counseling.

00:24:54.311 --> 00:24:56.602
I also provide nobody cares about that.

00:24:58.345 --> 00:25:02.213
Everybody on your campus feels like they are overworked and stressed.

00:25:02.213 --> 00:25:08.913
They are not going to ally with you over a list of responsibilities and the mechanics of your work.

00:25:08.913 --> 00:25:11.003
They are all working hard.

00:25:11.003 --> 00:25:13.710
So appeal to their heart.

00:25:13.710 --> 00:25:20.824
Let them see why you do the work you do, because I promise it will be so much more impactful.

00:25:20.824 --> 00:25:25.310
Or can you just organize something quietly?

00:25:25.310 --> 00:25:29.705
Can you maybe celebrate with your small groups and call it a day?

00:25:29.705 --> 00:25:33.220
Our students are the most fun to celebrate with anyway.

00:25:33.220 --> 00:25:37.960
Our students are the most fun to celebrate with anyway.

00:25:37.960 --> 00:25:40.544
Can you organize something at home with your family?

00:25:40.544 --> 00:25:43.230
Hey, you know, this is National School Counseling Week.

00:25:43.230 --> 00:25:48.755
I would just really love to go out to dinner.

00:25:52.220 --> 00:26:01.538
Those are all excellent ways to observe this week if you feel like you want to do something, but I think the point here is do not overextend yourself.

00:26:01.538 --> 00:26:09.327
Focus on things that are manageable and meaningful instead of the go-big Instagram photo ops, because those things are a flash in the pan.

00:26:09.327 --> 00:26:11.047
They're here today, forgotten tomorrow.

00:26:11.047 --> 00:26:24.088
Make an impact, make your words matter, communicate what's in your heart and make your celebration be what you want it to be.

00:26:25.811 --> 00:27:00.775
All right, that went on a little bit, but I hope you hear my heart for you and for the work that you do, and every time that I sit down behind this microphone to record a podcast episode, I think about how lucky and how grateful I am to be in the presence of all of my wonderful school counseling colleagues, people who know they're going to be dealing with some of the hardest things on their campuses, they're going to be hearing some of the worst stories and continue to walk back through the door the next day.

00:27:00.775 --> 00:27:05.509
You continue to raise your hand and say put me in, I'll take care of that.

00:27:05.509 --> 00:27:19.769
I want to support kids, I want to make a difference, and I think that is one of the most phenomenal things that anybody on our planet could do supporting our children with a true heart.

00:27:19.769 --> 00:27:42.272
So I want to thank you ahead of National School Counseling Week for the work that you do, for your tenacity in the way that you approach your work, for your heart, for advocacy, because even through your frustration, it shows that you care, and to me that's the most important trait of a successful school counselor.

00:27:42.272 --> 00:27:45.945
I have two things for you to think about.

00:27:45.945 --> 00:28:04.326
First is if you are interested in what's going on in the School for School Counselors Mastermind, if you're interested in learning more about how to advocate from the inside out, how to develop your fluency for professional competence or, if you need those support and consultation communities.

00:28:04.326 --> 00:28:11.166
Our membership is always open and I promise you I go above and beyond to make it more than worth it for you.

00:28:11.166 --> 00:28:14.443
If you're interested in that, you can go to schoolforschoolcounselorscom slash mastermind.

00:28:14.443 --> 00:28:14.753
We'll have all the information there for you.

00:28:14.753 --> 00:28:16.308
If you're interested in that, you can go to schoolforschoolcounselorscom slash mastermind.

00:28:16.308 --> 00:28:20.174
We'll have all the information there for you, as well as a button you can click to join us.

00:28:20.174 --> 00:28:42.124
The second thing that I want you to think about and I try not to give you too many of these at the end of the episode, but this is super important I'm getting ready to do a National School Counseling Week podcast episode and the desire in my heart has been I want to share your voices about your work.

00:28:43.886 --> 00:28:55.753
I have a platform within School for School Counselors and I want to use this platform to share your voices and your passion about your work.

00:28:55.753 --> 00:29:03.250
I want people to hear what lights you up about your job and I want to share that on the podcast episode.

00:29:03.250 --> 00:29:20.727
If you're interested in that, hop on over to our podcast webpage, schoolforschoolcounselorscom slash podcast and you're going to see a link that's going to take you to a page with a little microphone in the bottom right hand corner of the screen.

00:29:20.727 --> 00:29:25.967
Click that microphone and you're going to be able to record a voicemail straight to me.

00:29:25.967 --> 00:29:35.388
I'm going to get it in my email inbox and I'm going to take my favorite voicemails and put them into my episode for National School Counseling Week.

00:29:35.388 --> 00:29:37.122
It's going to be super fun.

00:29:37.122 --> 00:29:43.286
I would love to hear everybody's thoughts and perspectives, and it's kind of cool to hear your voice on the podcast.

00:29:43.286 --> 00:29:44.589
So I would love for you to do that.

00:29:45.779 --> 00:29:48.404
Schoolforschoolcounselorscom slash podcast.

00:29:48.404 --> 00:29:52.753
All right, I'll be back soon with another episode.

00:29:52.753 --> 00:29:56.461
In the meantime, keep fighting the good fight in your schools.

00:29:56.461 --> 00:30:05.426
My friends, you're doing great work and you're making awesome impacts, even if it doesn't always feel like it right Day to day.

00:30:05.426 --> 00:30:09.342
Sometimes we lose sight of that, but I promise you it is happening.

00:30:09.342 --> 00:30:20.117
Keep listening for the next episode of the School for School Counselors podcast and until we meet again, I hope you have the best week.

00:30:20.117 --> 00:30:21.240
Take care.

A Realistic Approach to National School Counseling Week

Listen On

Recent Episodes