Advocacy, Sustainability, and the Future of School Counseling

Counseling School Anniversary and Introduction

Speaker 1 0:00

Well , hey there , school counselor , Welcome back to the School for School Counselors podcast . I'm Steph Johnson , your host , and delighted to be back with you again for another episode . This is a big episode . This week This is our one-year anniversary . Can you believe it ? One year of the podcast . It's in the books , down in history and , man , it has been a wild ride . I can still remember sitting down and recording those very first episodes and being absolutely terrified to put it out into the world . But thankfully , you guys have been so gracious and so supportive and thanks to you , we are at 57,000 plus downloads already In our first year of the podcast . We're in the top 1.5% of all the podcasts in the world . That is a big deal and we are very , very proud of that . But it's all because of you . It's all because of the amazing school counselor professionals out there that are listening , that are helping spread the word about the podcast , and we could not be more grateful for you . So to celebrate this year's anniversary , i wanted to bring someone onto the podcast with me for a change . You guys hear me by myself talking all the time , but this week I want to introduce you to my right hand in all of the things that I do in school for school counselors .

Speaker 1 1:34

Brooke is the other half of my brain . I tell her that all the time . She came onto my team very , very early in this journey and if you've been paying attention , you might have seen her around the Facebook group . If you're in the mastermind , you know her very , very well And I'll tell you . After meeting her , after hearing her insights , i just felt a call to invite her to come work with me and thankfully she agreed .

Speaker 1 2:02

So in this episode we're going to talk about a surprising fact In our work relationship . It may really really surprise you . She keeps me on my toes , she lets me know what's what And she also lets me know if we're on the right track in serving school counselors . You're also going to hear us talk about some things that have happened along the way in school for school counselors , our perception of where we stand now and some predictions for where we might be headed in the future . So , without further ado , i want to introduce you to the other half of my brain , my total right hand . Please enjoy this episode that I recorded with Brooke . Okay , so here I am with Brooke , my right hand , the other half of my brain . Sometimes I think maybe more than half of my brain . She's one that keeps me on track and online . One of the OGs of the School . For School Counselors world say hello Brooke , hey y'all .

Speaker 2 3:05

How's it going ? That's awkward , right Yeah awkward .

Speaker 1 3:11

So Brooke is our very first interview on our podcast and it's fitting because she's one of the cornerstones of what we're doing here in School for School Counselors . This world wouldn't be turning without her help And we'll tell you a little bit about kind of how she got involved with all that . But before we do that , brooke , kind of just give everybody the quick and dirty version of how you came to be in our world . Tell us how you came to be part of our School for School Counselors universe .

Speaker 2 3:39

Yeah , so it was during COVID back in 2020 . I had graduated with my masters in school counseling back in August of 2019 . And I was looking for jobs . It was such a weird graduation date , like in August , after everything for 2019 had already been hired for . So you know , look for job openings for the upcoming 2020 , or I start looking at that in December of 2019 , and then COVID hit .

Speaker 2 4:13

So it just like , yes , it just pushed everything , my whole plan back , what I thought would be six months . I'm like , okay , i'll start looking , you know , here in a couple months for August of 2020 . And , like all of the schools around here , just went on a hiring freeze . There were no openings . The ones that were open were only hiring from within , and it had been almost a year since I had graduated And I just found myself really wanting to be more involved in the field , when I couldn't be in the field myself , if that makes sense . So since I couldn't have a job in the field at the time , i was looking for other ways to get involved and to stay fresh on what was going on , to kind of connect with other school counselors . So I started joining , you know , all those Facebook groups that came from COVID . There were like a ton of new Facebook group features . Yes , a million popped up .

Speaker 1 5:18

at that time It felt like yes , yes , there were so many .

Speaker 2 5:21

So , you know , I joined all the big school counseling groups , the ones that have like 20,000 members or however many , just the big ones . And I can't remember who commented on one of the posts , but it was . It was about , you know , counseling during COVID , And somebody who is excited tagged school for school counselors in that comment and said , hey , we are going to be , you know , looking at building a guide for counseling during COVID , building resources for you know , the different technology , tools and what's going on around the country , and just kind of talk about how we're doing and where we go from here . And I was like man , that sounds really , really interesting . So I joined the group , I get approved and I hop into this Zoom and it's like all downhill from there or uphill , I guess .

Speaker 2 6:23

Once I got into the group chat and the Zoom call with everyone else who I knew nobody it all happened within a couple hours I was like , oh , this looks like it would be cool . They're having a group chat tonight . Well , I'll just hop into this . And it was just so such a welcoming community And I knew just from that conversation that school for school counselors was going to do big things And I wanted to be involved And it just so happened that I could do that with an awesome group of people made even better .

Speaker 1 6:58

We do have a pretty awesome group of people around here for sure . So that means you . I remember you were there with us when we did counseling during COVID , which I think we were the only ones that were putting out any documentation about like crowdsourcing ideas for COVID interventions . Those were hard to come by at the beginning And I remember we had kind of a core group of people that would meet together all the time on Facebook and Facebook lives and things like that , and we always talked about how we wanted this thing to be member driven . We wanted to always be collaborating and consolidating our information , and so we try to stay true to that .

Speaker 1 7:38

But then you were with us when we had the Zoom meeting one night . We said , hey , we may need to compile all this stuff together into a library , all the things that nobody learned in grad school . Do you think we should do that ? And everybody said yes . And then you were there when we talked about putting together , get the Job And should we formalize the program . I remember you and I talking about that one late night on Zoom going . You think we should do it , you think we should make this a real thing ? And you've just you've been there from the beginning . Yeah , it was like a hundred years ago .

Speaker 2 8:08

It does , it really does . I was thinking the other day like gosh , how long it has been And it really has only been three , covid has changed our perception of time , for sure .

Speaker 1 8:22

So so you were with us in all of the beginning stuff . But then something weird happened And I texted you and said , hey , i need you to get on a Zoom with me one afternoon when you have some time available . And we made a date and got on the Zoom And I ask you the weirdest question ever . Do you remember what ? Do you remember ? the weirdest question ever .

Speaker 2 8:46

Word for word I do not , but I do remember you saying you can totally tell me no , and it's not going to hurt my feelings , and you use the whole . I'm specially trained not to get my feelings hurt And you can absolutely tell me that you don't want to do this .

Speaker 1 9:00

But and then you went on to Yeah , yeah , because I wanted you to come work with this . I knew I could see it in you . I knew you were going to be an important part of this And I remember feeling compelled to ask you to come help us . And I also remember the look on your face when I talked to you , because you were looking at me like I might be nuts And , to be honest , i kind of felt like I was , because we had never met in real life . That's an important part of the story .

Speaker 1 9:29

And still to this day , after working together , for what ? two and a half years , almost three years , we've been doing ? Yes , y'all , we've never met face to face , ever . We've never met in real life . This is all just internet stuff . So crazy how people come together . But thank goodness , you said , yes , i'm just asking some . Yeah , it's like asking somebody to the prom . That's what it felt like . Remember back in those days , you know , like the sweaty hands and like you know your heart was beating fast and all that kind of stuff . That was totally what I was , totally what I had going on . What happened stuck at the end .

Speaker 2 10:07

I could tell that you were like a little bit nervous and that made me nervous . Like what's she going to ask me ? So you know , just trying to use my counseling skills and active listening , Got my poker face on And like just trying to absorb the information that you're telling me And and prep my answer in my head before giving anything away on my face , And that probably made you more nervous . Yes , it did . It did .

Speaker 1 10:30

Because you look like a blank canvas . I could not read you at all . I had no idea what was going on , anyway . so we've been working together on a bunch of stuff . We've made a lot of cool stuff in the school for school counselors world . We've expanded . our mastermind is probably a hundred times what it used to be . All the information in there , all of the tutorials , the videos , the meetings , the workshops , all the things we do Get the job now is rocking and rolling and you're in there helping coach people through interviews and reviewing resumes Y'all . if you have not seen one of Brooks resumes , they are absolutely beautiful . She has such a talent for all of that stuff .

Speaker 1 11:12

And for most of the graphics that you see in the group , if they're really , really pretty and they catch your eye immediately , she made home . And if you look at them and they're not so great , those are probably the ones that I made . So , through all this because we've had lots of things going on in the meantime babies have been born , jobs have been gotten , new homes have been moved into , all kinds of stuff have been going on What's kept you invested in involved this whole time ? The people .

Speaker 2 11:42

It's definitely the people . The information has been invaluable , like the information that I have gained from school for school counselors and the mastermind program , and get the job has been a lifesaver . It's been a career saver , it's been a career starter . But it is the people that keep me coming back every single week , having those consultative relationships and friendships , knowing that there are other counselors out there going through the exact same things , even if they are on the other side of the country getting feedback . You know , if I'm having a rough day , logging into a mastermind chat and just telling a group of people who get it what is going on and then either having them , you know , be really supportive and empathetic listeners , or telling me Hey , you know what you should probably think about it from this perspective , but doing it in a loving way , like really keeping us in check with our own feelings and emotions , and being there and supporting us when things are just going rough . Because this is a hard job .

Speaker 2 12:56

Yes , it is , it was a really hard job I joked with a friend of mine a couple of weeks ago . She's like so what , like what do you do as a school counselor ? And I told her I felt like I was the secondary school mom , like I feel like I'm always caring about all these other children in addition to mine . And that takes a . It's really hard , it's a heavy burden and such an extraordinary gift And I don't it's really hard to carry that on your own . So having other people there who get it , that's what keeps me coming back . This gave me chills with that .

Speaker 1 13:34

I really did love that . I love that , and you know what you say is true .

Mastermind Group for School Counselors

Speaker 1 13:38

It's having people around you that know you and that actually know your circumstances and your situation , versus , you know , going into some giant mega Facebook group and asking opinions and the people that are giving you advice may be giving you information with the best of intentions , but they don't know your specific situation . Well , i think that's a good point . I think that's where a lot of our colleagues may be missing the boat a little bit without even realizing it is . Yeah , you've got to develop those relationships where people can give you solid advice .

Speaker 2 14:13

Yes , and solid advice based on their experience , yes , but based on their knowledge of view . Like my school and your school are night and day difference , completely different . So if I'm struggling with something , i might have to handle it a different way than you would have to handle it , and vice versa , but we still use our core knowledge of the profession and our knowledge of each other's situation to navigate those tough waters .

Speaker 1 14:42

There's commonalities across all those situations . There's common threads that are woven through . But it also kind of broadens your perspective a little bit too , to hear you know like we're struggling with this but that's not even on the radar at some of these other schools . Other schools are focusing on these other things . That man , i can't even imagine what that would be like . So it broadens your perspective too , i think .

Speaker 2 15:05

Yeah , I'd agree .

Speaker 1 15:07

So if you had to identify what you think might be like the key characteristics or traits of people that are in our mastermind , that are the most helpful or successful at their craft , what do you see in some of our colleagues that show up week after week and form the kind of the core of our consultative group ? What do you see in them ?

Speaker 2 15:33

Oh man , that's a tough one . They're all so different . Each person in our mastermind is like . They all have very common traits . They're all caring , they're all hardworking . I would say the biggest common traits that they have are trustworthiness .

Speaker 2 15:52

I trust our group . I don't go into our mastermind chats and worry that confidentiality is being broken . We don't go and share confidential details about our students . But I know that I could be frank and honest about myself and how I'm dealing with the situation , and my colleagues in mastermind and in school for school counselors are not going to judge me for that and they're not going to go blast oh well , this person , this school counselor that I talk to frequently , is dealing with this and that's just not okay or she should be handling it different . They're going to talk to me about it and they're going to be there for me and they're not going to break that trust .

Speaker 2 16:35

It's a very closed , supportive and trustworthy group . I'd say that most of them are also professional students . If I were to have a term for it , i would say professional student . I consider myself a professional student , like I'm always in school , but they're always seeking to learn about not just best practices but trends in the field , experiences of others . They are lifelong learners . Even when we are discussing tough situations , we're always trying to find new avenues to take in addressing those situations . It's never just a vent session And sometimes we need to vent , but it's always a productive ending . To whatever we say , there's always a component of well , what do we do now ? What can we do ? What are you all doing that I'm not doing ? Always seeking to learn and be open I'd say those are probably the two biggest traits that I see . What do you see ?

Speaker 1 17:40

I'm with you . I see a lot of lifelong scholars . I see people who are very driven and who are kind of the go-getters in our field . You know what I mean . I think they're the ones that are really going to change school counseling for the better , whether that's on their campus or in their districts or maybe within their states . I think we've got a lot of potential there for that kind of stuff .

Speaker 1 18:06

And the thing that I love about it is all the things that you've talked about , in addition to the fact that we've all just kind of reached this general consensus that everything that we talk about we're going to talk about with an eye toward the evidence base . We're always talking about what does the research say . We don't just throw stuff out because we can . We're always trying to back that up . Or if we've tried something and it's worked and we don't know why , we're always trying to figure out what does the research say about that ? What do the people in the know know about it , so that we can get better and better and better . That's why we get together in the summers even Yeah , we work in studies and things like that because we just we love geeking out on it so much And it's super fun to be with people who are as invested as you are , because that's the other thing . Sometimes you work with people who just don't have that same fire for their work like you do , and it's hard to feel like you connect with them sometimes .

Speaker 2 19:03

Yeah , yes , i look forward to it . Even if I'm super busy throughout the week , i carve out time for our Tuesday night chats . I will make time for it . And I am super busy All the time . No , i am always running , but I've got time for that . Even if I'm eating dinner while we're doing dishes , i've got time to even just stop in and listen 1000% .

Speaker 1 19:30

And how often have we had people show up where they're in their cars ? they're in a parking lot waiting for their kids practice to get done . They're washing dishes , eating dinner , rocking babies . I mean , we see everything in those chats and it doesn't matter because that's real life . And we want to be there for each other in those moments too , so I think we've built something pretty special .

Speaker 2 19:52

I think so .

Speaker 1 19:54

Yeah .

Speaker 2 19:54

I like telling everybody about it at work . I'm like , well , this is what my friend in California does , so my friend in Texas does . Have you heard about what's going on in New York right now ? Like it's just so neat , like Lil' Ome from Kentucky knows what's going on everywhere .

Speaker 1 20:08

Yeah , i love it 1000% , and we had some pretty hot conversations here lately about Florida , and Texas has come up quite a bit here lately , so , yeah , it's pretty cool to know all the things that are going on and how everybody's handling stuff .

Speaker 2 20:22

Yeah , and how it impacts people in the field , because you can see it on the news , but unless you're talking to somebody who's dealing with those implications , it's a completely different perspective 1000% .

Speaker 1 20:34

Yeah , because you are my co-pilot in School for School Counselors . you're my school counseling writer . die . That's what you are now , whether you like it or not .

Speaker 2 20:45

I love it .

Speaker 1 20:46

What do you envision happening for us in the future in School for School Counselors ? If you could pick anything , what would it look like , or be like as School for School Counselors continues to grow and figure out better ways to serve our colleagues ?

Speaker 2 21:03

You know I really see us doing big things in the world of school counseling advocacy And you know we started off back three years ago with that . Our little catchphrase was it educate , empower , advocate . Yeah , and we have done an awesome job with the education and the empowering other School counselors to believe that they can do the job well , regardless of the state regulations that they have to follow or regardless of all the non-counseling doonies that they're expected to do . We can empower them to make the best of their situations and to thrive in it . What did Carrie , one of our colleagues that a long time ago , thrive in the ambiguity ? Yes , yes , i love it . I still love it .

Speaker 1 21:54

We say that all the time still too .

Speaker 2 21:57

We do , we do , but like that , educating and empowering . we've got that And I see us moving , running towards big advocacy efforts .

Counselor Advocacy and Sustainability

Speaker 2 22:08

I see us growing maybe not to ask a level size , but a nice compliment to what ASCA is doing and to be able to help our school counseling colleagues advocate from you . know , we always talk about advocating from the inside out , getting in there , knowing your craft , being the expert on campus and showing the admin and showing our colleagues within education how it should be , what we can do , versus , you know , just shouting at them well , i shouldn't be doing this , this , this and this because this organization says so . But being able to show that on a widespread scale , i think we can do it . We've got a lot of good people and we're running for it . We're not walking , we're running Amen , amen .

Speaker 1 22:55

And we've been talking about that for a couple years . It almost feels like it's . It's like a grassroots push a little bit for showing , instead of telling , an advocacy . We're not having to walk up to administrators and say I shouldn't be doing this because but we show them why we shouldn't be doing it . It's an approach that's a little bit more systematic in how things are handled And everything that we do ties back to advocacy .

Speaker 1 23:26

Ultimately , that's why we built our mastermind library so people could learn the things that grad school didn't teach them , so that when they had those conversations on campus , they were prepared . They know what to say , they know how to handle the information . If someone walks up to them and asks them for advice or their thoughts on a situation , they're prepared Because not only do they have access to the library , but then we're talking about those kinds of things every single week And just unless you're just really not paying attention , there's no way that stuff is not sinking in . Yeah , and being able to really help people kind of internalize all that information , really get confident and very competent with the ideas . It helps them become their own best advocate , yeah , which helps them become advocates for their students .

Speaker 2 24:19

So we've been talking about that for years , even the podcast episodes that we're doing all with an eye towards helping school counselors be better advocates , and something you said that has not clicked with me before just happened to click with me while you were talking about showing versus telling . It's like we're using our counseling . We don't tell people what to do in counseling . We don't tell them oh , you should do this , you should do this . We model the expected behaviors , we model the coping skills . We model what a school counselor should be . We don't go through and tell them like , this is what you need to do . We're gonna show them . We're gonna show them how to work through it on their own so that they can come to the best solution for them .

Speaker 1 25:04

I love that . Oh my goodness , that's awesome . I love that . Do you have any advice for school counselors who are just getting started in their career path , or for folks that maybe have been doing it a while but are just feeling burnt out , kind of stressed , not really feeling it the way they used to ? You know what I mean , because I think we got a lot of people like that in the world , because education is tough business right now for sure . What kinds of words of wisdom or advice or affirmations do you have for them ?

Speaker 2 25:42

I mean , if I'm being honest , don't take yourself too seriously Your job would . If you died , your job would be posted before your obituary came out . Your students have made it this far in life and probably have only had you a portion of that time . Some of you are gonna be brand new counselors next year . Your students have made it this far without you . You know , do what you can with the time you have , do what you can with the resources you have , do what you can with the kids you have .

Speaker 2 26:17

You can't be everything for everybody . You got to be able to take care of yourself , your family , then you can take care of your kids at school , your students , your program . You've got to put your priorities in place . If you're just looking at your school counseling program and you have 900 kids to one counselor versus , you know I have a wonderful size campus , i fall well within the recommended ratio And I still can't do everything that is recommended that we're able to do . So I can't imagine having 1,000 , 1,200 kids and you know oh , you're right , you need to run all these small groups . You need to do this , this , this and this . You need to do parent groups , you need to do this . That's just not sustainable , especially if you're expected to do you know , all the 504 duties and the testing , coordination and all of the extra things . Like , do what you can and prioritize with what you have . If you have things that have to get done , do those first , then fill up the rest of your time with what you can do , but don't overbook yourself .

Speaker 1 27:25

Yes , i'm hoping y'all are listening to Brooke , because it's a very , very sound advice . You know , we always see , like you know , when fall starts , even late summer , folks are getting started in school counseling . Everybody's super excited , they're on fire , they're invested , they want to know how do I do this and how do I do that , and they're trying to get all the plans together , all the things ready , and then about October , the tone changes , yeah , and in October people start feeling the stress , they start feeling the strain , they start feeling like they can't do all the things they want to do And they begin to get super frustrated , sometimes sad , sometimes angry , sometimes they start to question if they're doing a good enough job . They really hold a lot of that on their own shoulders And that's hard to watch .

Speaker 1 28:17

It is .

Speaker 2 28:19

It's something that we've all felt too . One of the best pieces of advice I got from you , actually as a first year counselor last year , was to not make too many changes , to just come in and observe and watch and listen and see . You know , get a feel for the school , get a feel for the program , get a feel for the kids , then go in and make a little change And then , once you've done that , make another little change . You can start at it slow , but even coming at it slow , if you make , you know , too big of a change too fast , you can hit that burnout pretty quickly . I was really feeling it at the end of this year . If I'm being honest with you , you know , just having a lot going on at the school and in my family personally , like it's really easy to hit your point where you're like man , i don't know if I want to do this all the time . I've got to change what I'm doing , otherwise I can't sustain it .

Speaker 1 29:20

Mm-hmm . Yeah , i was about to say is it sustainable ?

Speaker 2 29:23

Mm-hmm .

Speaker 1 29:24

Because when we talk about all the time you and I , we could go in a soapbox about this for hours about the sustainability of what school counselors are being told they should be doing Yes , absolutely . Because what we're being told we should be doing under most people's circumstances is absolutely asinine . It's absolutely crazy that we're asking people to try to meet some of these expectations when they have huge caseloads and administrators that aren't scheduling conducively and those kinds of things . It's crazy to watch that stuff go down .

Speaker 2 30:02

And then that counselors feel bad about it , which just adds to everything . Like it's the system . The system is set up for burnout .

Speaker 1 30:11

Yeah , 1,000% .

Best School Counseling Year Ever

Speaker 1 30:13

And then to your earlier point . If you're not careful about coming in and trying to avoid being the lone savior , it's even worse . Yeah , I'm pounded because you convince yourself . You know , I'm here to . It's almost like I'm here to save these students . I'm here to be the person that changes everything And I'm going to set everybody on the right path . And it's just , it's not realistic . We'd love to do that , It'd be great if we could do that , But we got to keep an eye toward reality as we're trying to get all that stuff done and make sure that we're not hurting ourselves by trying to help other people .

Speaker 2 30:49

Yeah , that's it . We're helpers , not fixers . We say that all the time too . We're helpers , we can help situations , we can help programming , we can help kids , but we can't fix it .

Speaker 1 30:59

That is , That's right . So we were talking earlier about how we've been invested in this journey together . For years We've been working together trying to elevate school counseling for years through school for school counselors , but we've never actually met in person ever , yep , never But that is about to change . We are not actually see each other in real life , without any screams in front of us or anything like that . It's going to be amazing and weird , probably all at the same time I'm so excited .

Speaker 2 31:33

though I'm so excited Then I you know , when I teach Internet . it's so funny teaching Internet safety to middle schoolers and then knowing in the back of my mind . like you know , i've worked with this person for three years and I've only ever seen him on the screen . Like this is a what not to do , but we're totally doing it .

Speaker 1 31:51

Yep , friends , don't , don't make friends with strangers on the Internet like I did . Like , yeah , oh , my goodness . So yeah , i'm going to be headed your way , i'm going to be headed to your state in July . We're going to sit and stream the ASCA conference together for a little bit and watch some of the sessions and get our learn on , but also get to just hang out and like be real people in real life , and it's going to be so amazing .

Speaker 2 32:17

I cannot wait . Yes , i'm so excited . I've already got like a list of all the nearby coffee places downtown to hit up and , you know , bring back to the conference room . It's going to be great .

Speaker 1 32:28

It's going to be awesome , and then , right after we get to meet , we'll have best year ever coming up .

Speaker 2 32:34

Yes , yes , best year ever .

Speaker 1 32:36

And that's like one of our favorite things of the whole year , at least it is . For me . To be able to get everybody together and just see all the new faces and help folks get ready for the new school year is super , super exciting .

Speaker 2 32:48

I think it's one of our biggest events too . I think we had to upgrade zoom last year .

Speaker 1 32:52

Yes , we crashed zoom last year .

Speaker 2 32:53

We had to do like the date I Yes we entered the date because we had too many people for our zoom room . It wouldn't let everybody in .

Speaker 1 33:01

Yeah , yeah , it was the best problem that we probably could have had . So stressful though , because you know , in the moment you're like , oh my gosh how do I upgrade ?

Speaker 1 33:10

How do I get all these people in here ? But amazing , amazing . We like to talk about beginning of the year stuff , all the FERPA stuff , all the minute meetings , all the things that we need to know . We try to cover all of the questions that we see a lot in the social media groups to make sure everybody's ready to start off on the right foot . What's one of the things that we talk about in best year ever that , you think just like blows people's minds every time we do it .

Speaker 2 33:35

FERPA the the Configianni statements every time Yes down . Yeah , I see all the time . You know what you say in here stays in here , except for like 50 reasons .

Speaker 1 33:47

And even those aren't all accurate .

Speaker 2 33:50

It's real about it .

Speaker 1 33:51

Yeah , Every , every time we have that conversation , I feel like I'm going to start a riot , because there's always somebody that shows up and says , Well , what's wrong with it ? I have that in my office and I mean I get it . I totally get it , because you know you're going by what you were taught and you're trying to do what you think is right And then all of a sudden somebody shows up and says maybe not . And you get you feel a little defensive and I get that .

Speaker 2 34:15

That's what I was taught in Grand School four years ago , so like it's not a old thing .

Speaker 1 34:20

That's right . That's right . Everybody's taught these clinical rules for confidentiality that just are not true in school . So , yeah , you can watch people on the zoom when we talk about that and you can almost just watch their brains melt on the screen . That's always a super fun . Oh my gosh . I think that as we move forward in school for school counselors , i think folks are going to start to see even more of you . I think they're going to start to see your touch and all the things we're doing , and in the Facebook group and beautiful new website That's just about to come out . If it hasn't come out by the time this episode airs , it'll be coming out very soon . Y'all look for for handy work . It's amazing . Any last thoughts you want to give anybody before we finish up ?

Speaker 2 35:06

Oh , i just love the community so much I do . I love being able to see what's going on in the big Facebook group Well , for us , our big Facebook group compared to our mastermind group , and I love all the friendships that I've built in the mastermind community . This program has just been so invaluable to me as a school counselor and as a person . Well , i just thank you for that stuff . You've been , you've been my rock . I might be your second half of your brain , but you're a mentor and the other half of mine , so I just appreciate you so much . You're so sweet .

Speaker 1 35:43

I hope you enjoyed that interview between Brooke and I . Isn't she a doll ? Didn't you just fall in love with her ? It was super fun to talk with her . I don't know how much of our laughter got edited out by the software , but , oh my goodness , we always have the best time when we get together . We have a lot of big ideas and we also have a lot of really , really big opinions . In case you hadn't noticed , we're both completely invested in furthering our colleagues' careers and helping people go where they want to go , becoming better school counselors and bettering school counseling for all of our stakeholders For you as our school counselors , for the campuses you serve and , most importantly , the students that you help each and every day . We have big goals and we have big dreams and we're excited that you've come along with us for the ride .

Speaker 1 36:38

You heard Brooke and I talk quite a bit about the School for School Counselors mastermind and I'm not going to belabor the point here . I know you've heard me talk about it before If you've been a listener to the podcast , but we also brought up another event that I don't want you to miss . It's going to be happening here very soon and it's important because everybody it feels like on social media these days want to tell you something or teach you something , and then they want to sell you something . So , my friends , we are not about that here . We love putting on what we call our best year ever event each and every year . Best year ever is a four night event . It is all live . There is nothing pre-recorded , anything goes , and whether you're starting your first year or your 31st year , we're going to give you some good reminders , some good things just to kind of have in the back of your mind as you get your school year started . And , best of all , it is completely free . We're not going to charge you a dime for it . We're not even going to give you any sales pitches , because that's not what best year ever is about .

Speaker 1 37:50

In a time when everything seems to be so commercial , i think it's important that we get real and authentic and we genuinely start forming communities to try to help each other along , and that's what best year ever is about . It's coming up at the end of July , but if you want to get on the wait list , there is a wait list now . Head over to schoolforschoolcounselorscom . Slash best year ever And you can get signed up either for the event or on the wait list , depending on the time , but either way , we're going to get you what you need to be able to join us this very last week of July .

Speaker 1 38:27

And y'all , we cannot wait for this , and we always have a surprise or two up our sleeve for the people that join us . You're not going to want to miss it . So again , best year ever July 2023 . Go sign up on the website right now .

School Counselor Summer Events

Speaker 1 38:43

Schoolforschoolcounselorscom . Slash . Best year ever . All right , i hope that I see you there and at all of the other amazing things we have going on for you this summer at school for school counselors . I'm going to be back soon with another episode of the podcast , but until then , i hope you have the best week ever . Take care .