From the first year of being a high school counselor to the eighth year, I was constantly learning or re-learning the ins and outs of this amazing career! There was never a point where I felt like I had arrived or learned it all, and that is one of the main things I loved. You get to use creativity to reinvent the systems and resources you incorporate into your program, and you get to constantly reevaluate how you’re serving students in hopes of reaching ALL students in your school or on your caseload. As a school counselor, I get to be a lifelong learner! In your first year as a high school c ..read more

Hosting high school counseling interns has grown me as a school counselor and challenged me in new, professional ways. I often have new or future school counselors emailing or direct messaging me asking for words of wisdom or advice. Here are 4 inspiring tips geared towards eager high school counseling interns who are ready to learn! 1- Treat your high school counseling internship like job interviews. Treat every day of your internship like you are walking onto a job site. (If you’re wondering what a “Day In the Life of a High School Counselor” is like, check out this blog post!) Act the part ..read more

As school counselors, we all want to see students succeed, so how can we reach all students and help them grow to their fullest potential? Just like every student will learn classroom material differently, students will respond to counseling approaches and techniques differently. And, as a school counselor, you only have so much time to meet ALL of the different needs of ALL of your different students. (No pressure, right?!) It’s important that we do that nonetheless. My high school counseling team sometimes fell into the rut of doing things one way “because we’ve always done it this way,” but ..read more

How do you rally teachers to get on your team and move the direction you’re headed? Teacher buy-in is so important for moving your school counseling program forward! Before you start, you may need to work on having your administrators support you in these endeavors or convince your principal to fully believe in your mission… but once you have some impactful stakeholders on your team, go all-in for rallying your teachers! I’ve seen too many school counseling programs (especially at the high school level) just throw their hands up and determine that they don’t do classroom lessons because they’r ..read more

Community partnerships can be such a valuable asset to your school counseling program. Your community stakeholders are another piece of your stakeholder puzzle in addition to your principal, administrators, teachers, and parents! School and community partnerships may happen naturally or you may have to seek them out, but, either way, they are a vital piece of your stakeholder buy-in. Here are ideas for 4 places to seek partnerships within your community to enrich your school counseling program and increase your stakeholder buy-in. 1- Local Mentoring Agencies I love connecting with mentoring ..read more

One of the biggest roadblocks to running high school counseling small groups with students (besides lack of time) is getting these students bought in. How do you find the right students for the groups? Once you’ve found them, how do you get them excited to participate? Once you run a few small groups, you’ll be able to come up with plenty of ways to master the student invitation conversation. Until then, here are some tips to get you started. Check out these 4 ideas for getting student buy-in for high school counseling small groups.       1- Focus on the relationships before b ..read more

It’s important for students, teachers, admin, and parents to be on the same page about the high school counseling small groups you’re running. If you want your small group to run smoothly from beginning to end, you must consider the systems and communication you’re putting into place with your main stakeholders before, during, and after your small group.   Here are some tips for communicating with your 3 main stakeholders while planning from your high school counseling small groups.   1- Parent Input on High School Counseling Small Groups Are you thinking, “How do I connect with pa ..read more

How do you start a high school small group? You want to make sure you move in the right direction AND be sure you’re running something that’s worth EVERYONE’S time. Getting started is often the hardest part. Getting started CORRECTLY is the most important part! Are you looking to put a plan into action to get your small groups running successfully? Here are 3 tips for starting your high school counseling small groups out on the right foot: 1- Find the right students to participate.  Start with a needs assessment. Figure out what your students need help with and go from there. People ..read more

We all know that our days are absolutely crazy and no two are ever the same as school counselors. (It’s honestly one of my favorite things about this job.) However, we will not be efficient or effective if we’re not taking control of our time.  How often do you look back at a day or a week and wonder what you have to show for your energy and commitment to students? Are there more things you wish you could have done to serve your students and families? Here are 3 tips to take back your calendar:  1- Plan your time with intention. Decide what non-negotiables need to go on your cale ..read more

When you start navigating the college application process on your own, you quickly find out how much information is out there. SO MUCH! TOO MUCH! Think of the college application process as a road trip. Before you even get on the road, you’re stressed out over what to even pack. You’re worried about what weather you might encounter on the trip and if you’ll make good time. You’re currently merging onto that wide-open highway. Some people are zipping past you. You might be moving slowly in the right-hand lane or maybe you’re broken down on the side of the road. Right now, at the beginning ..read more