Most school counselors think the new school year starts in August.

I don’t think it does.

I think a huge part of your August gets decided right now… in May… while you’re mentally saturated, emotionally exhausted, and trying to crawl to the finish line.

Because the things you leave unresolved this time of year have a way of following you right back into the building.

The role conversation you keep avoiding.
The administrator dynamic you replay in your head at 2 a.m.
The resentment.
The confidence hit you still haven’t fully recovered from.
The professional expectations you never actually agreed to but are somehow still responsible for.

That stuff doesn’t disappear over the summer.

It waits for you.

In this episode, we’re talking about the three decisions that quietly shape your next school year long before summer even starts.

Because what you carry into August becomes your August.

********

Join our new Skool for School Counselors community 

********

Want support with real-world strategies that actually work on your campus? We’re doing that every day in the School for School Counselors Mastermind. Come join us! 

********

All names, stories, and case studies in this episode are fictionalized composites drawn from real-world circumstances. Any resemblance to actual students, families, or school personnel is coincidental. Details have been altered to protect privacy.

********

This work is part of the School for School Counselors body of work developed by Steph Johnson, LPC, CSC, which centers role authority over role drift, consultative practice over fix-it culture, adult-designed systems and environments as primary drivers of student behavior, clinical judgment over compliance, and school counselor identity as leadership within complex systems.