Do you ever feel like you’re just winging it during individual counseling sessions? When I first got started in individual counseling, I felt overwhelmed and unsure of what I was supposed to be doing during sessions with my students. 

I felt comfortable and confident during group sessions, but when it came to one-on-one sessions with students, I always felt like I was doing it wrong. I wanted to be confident that I was meeting the needs of my students during individual sessions, but I just felt a little lost. 

Fortunately over the years, through lots of trial and error, I’ve developed some systems and planning strategies that really work when it comes to individual counseling.

In this episode, I share step-by-step how you can plan out your individual counseling sessions so you can feel confident and prepared that you’re making an impact and a difference as a counselor. We’ll discuss how to create simple, yet effective, strategic plans that align with the ASCA standards.

Show Notes: https://brightfutures-counseling.com/podcast-episodes/individual-counseling-sessions

Resources Mentioned:

• Join my school counselor membership IMPACT here!
  
• Grab the Individual Counseling Super Bundle
• American School Counselor Association (ASCA) Website
• Check out my various board game templates.

Connect with Rachel on social media:

• TpT Store
• Blog
• Instagram
• Facebook Page
• Facebook Group
• Pinterest 
• Youtube

If you are enjoying School Counseling Simplified please follow and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts!

You guys want more data, and I am here for it! I thought I had talked about data enough, but after doing a poll to find out what your New Year’s goals are as school counselors, there were a few people who wanted to work with data more effectively and keep more data. You may be reluctant to start data tracking because you don’t really know where to start. Maybe you’re tracking data already but you could be a little better at it, or maybe you just need confirmation that you’re doing it correctly.

In today’s episode, I’ll be talking to you about how to get started with data in a way that will not make you feel overwhelmed. This is a great entry-level data teaching for you focusing mainly on two data tools that can help you easily track student progress. I’ll also be sharing some amazing tools you can use in your school counseling program

Show Notes: https://brightfutures-counseling.com/podcast-episodes/data-collection-without-tears

Resources Mentioned:

• Join my school counselor membership IMPACT here!
  
• FREE Stress Free Counseling Toolkit.
  
• Watch my Video Tutorial: How to Create a School Counseling Data Hub Using Google Sheets
  
• Grab my School Counseling Data Tracking Tools Bundle - Data Driven Counseling Program

Connect with Rachel on social media:

• TpT Store
• Blog
• Instagram
• Facebook Page
• Facebook Group
• Pinterest 
• Youtube

If you are enjoying School Counseling Simplified please follow and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts!

This month I’m focusing on sourcing topics based on the feedback you gave me on your goals for the year. I had one of you say that their goal was to run at least five counseling groups this spring semester. This is a wonderful goal and totally doable. 

So, I want to share a few organizational strategies when it comes to small groups. Specifically, tips that will make your counseling life just a little bit easier and will make managing and running those groups more simple. 

All of these solutions are practical and doable ways to simplify your group organization. However, they do take a little bit of effort. I promise they are worth it though! If you get organized with your small groups, this allows you to spend less time planning and prepping and more time counseling kiddos. That's our passion at the heart of it and why we're in it, right? We want to help as many students as possible. Getting organized allows you to do that.

Lastly, I have a freebie for you! It has three components - scheduling, organization and data collection. There's an organization toolkit inside that I think you're going to find very helpful! You can snag that freebie here.

Show Notes: https://brightfutures-counseling.com/podcast-episodes/small-group-organization

Resources Mentioned:

• Join my school counselor membership IMPACT here!
  
• FREE Stress Free Counseling Toolkit.
  
• Caseload Spreadsheet Template
  
• Feelings Check Freebie
  
• Episode 73, How to Create a Schedule That Doesn’t Overwhelm You

Connect with Rachel on social media:

• TpT Store
• Blog
• Instagram
• Facebook Page
• Facebook Group
• Pinterest 
• Youtube

If you are enjoying School Counseling Simplified please follow and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts!

I recently put a poll out to find out what your counselor goals, or resolutions, are for 2022. I used your answers to plan for my podcast episodes for the month of January. One of the topics that came up a lot was creating an efficient schedule. We all know the feeling of creating a schedule and then experiencing all kinds of interruptions that completely throw us off track. 

So, this week I am going to talk to you all about my favorite scheduling secrets. I’ll share some practical solutions to streamline your schedule and make your counseling life easier. Planning your schedule intentionally, and eliminating disruptions as much as possible, will allow you to meet with your students and maintain your commitment to them and your scheduled times.

Lastly, don’t forget that at the time of this recording, we are in the middle of a site-wide TpT counselor sale. We have $2 deals and products that are 50% off! We only do a discount this large twice a year, so run and check out the Counselor Deals here or search #counselordeals on TpT for the sale.

Show Notes: https://brightfutures-counseling.com/podcast-episodes/create-a-schedule

Resources Mentioned:

• Join my school counselor membership IMPACT here!
  
• Download my FREE Stress Free Counseling Toolkit.
  
• Grab my Self-regulation Coping Strategies Journal.
  
• Grab my Size of the Problem Activity Pack.

Connect with Rachel on social media:

• TpT Store
• Blog
• Instagram
• Facebook Page
• Facebook Group
• Pinterest 
• Youtube

If you are enjoying School Counseling Simplified please follow and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts!

Happy 2022, school counselors! I hope you had a restful holiday break and are ready for what the next 12 months have in store for you! Do you enjoy this time of year, or not so much? I know people have mixed feelings about what comes with a new year, such as setting resolutions. Personally, I love setting goals and planning for what’s to come. Overall, I have wild optimism at the beginning of a new year. I hope you’re feeling some excitement as well!

I’ve decided to do something different for today’s episode. It’s kind of a mash-up of two different topics. First I’m answering some questions that I received in our free Facebook group, Bright Futures School Counselors. In the second part of the episode, I’m sharing some New Year resolutions that fellow school counselors shared with me on Instagram. If you haven’t set a resolution yet, maybe these will give you some good ideas!

Show Notes: https://brightfutures-counseling.com/podcast-episodes/ask-me-anything

Resources Mentioned:

• Join my school counselor membership IMPACT here!
  
• Join the Bright Futures Counseling free Facebook Group
  
• Sign up for the FREE Stress Free School Counseling Bootcamp
  
• Meet the Counselor Activity Bundle
  
• Meet the Counselor Digital Game Show
  
• Meet the Counselor Escape Room
  
• Meet the Counselor Boom Cards
  
• Episode 41, How a Crisis Response Team Protocol Can Transform Your Counseling Program
  
• Episode 23, Grief Counseling in Tier 2 & 3
  
• Episode 22, Grief Counseling: A Tier 1 Approach

Connect with Rachel on social media:

• TpT Store
• Blog
• Instagram
• Facebook Page
• Facebook Group
• Pinterest 
• Youtube

If you are enjoying School Counseling Simplified please follow and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts!

What comes to mind when you hear “self-care”? We all know self-care is important, but what about self-care at work? There are actually ways to practice self-care at work that can make your life a little easier and relieve stress…and they have nothing to do with bubble baths and essential oils.

In this episode, I’m sharing unexpected self-care tips for the new year, specifically for school counselors. These tips will make your counseling life a little easier and your time spent at school more productive. These are things that you can begin to implement at the beginning of a new year, or anytime!

Resources mentioned:

• Join my school counselor membership IMPACT here!
• Episode 70, How to Conduct a Mid-Year Data Checkup
• Show Notes: https://brightfutures-counseling.com/podcast-episodes/unexpected-self-care-tips

Connect with Rachel on social media:

• TpT Store
• Blog
• Instagram
• Facebook Page
• Facebook Group
• Pinterest 
• Youtube

If you are enjoying School Counseling Simplified please follow and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts!

Tracking and collecting data throughout the school year is a must. In this episode, I’m sharing how you can conduct a mid-year data checkup so you can continually make changes to your program to better serve your counseling students.

Sending a needs assessment to students, parents, and teachers is a great way to see how things are going with your program. It’s the perfect time to make changes in your groupings and student lessons. Not only will you be better equipped to meet the needs of your students, but it’s the perfect time to advocate for your role. Being able to show your principal and administrators the impact your program is making with students at the time of year when they are making decisions about funding is crucial to showing just how valuable your role as a counselor is.

Resources mentioned:

• Join my school counselor membership IMPACT here!
• Grab my School Counseling Data Tracking Tools Bundle.
  
• Check out the 5 Small Groups to Start in January Blog Post
• Show Notes: https://brightfutures-counseling.com/podcast-episodes/how-to-conduct-a-mid-year-data-checkup

Connect with Rachel on social media:

• TpT Store
• Blog
• Instagram
• Facebook Page
• Facebook Group
• Pinterest 
• Youtube

If you are enjoying School Counseling Simplified please follow and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts!

What are some of your favorite memories from elementary school? It’s important for kids to have positive experiences around school and for our counseling students to have positive counseling experiences. Holiday parties are a great way to add some fun to counseling and build relationships with your counseling students.

In this episode, we’re keeping it light hearted as I give you ideas to plan a Counseling Holiday Party that you can host even without a classroom. These ideas work great for groups of students or individuals and can be done during group time or as a drop-in system. 

Break out the holiday music and festive snacks and get ready for some fun!

Resources mentioned:

• Join my school counselor membership IMPACT here!

• Episode #68: Countdown Calendar

   

• How to Plan a Fun Elementary School Counseling Christmas Party

• sELF-Control Christmas Games

• Dress an Elf With I-Statements

• Show Notes: https://brightfutures-counseling.com/podcast-episodes/host-a-counseling-holiday-party

Connect with Rachel on social media:

• TpT Store
• Blog
• Instagram
• Facebook Page
• Facebook Group
• Pinterest 
• Youtube

If you are enjoying School Counseling Simplified please follow and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts!

Happy December! The countdown to winter break is on. I absolutely love this time of year. Everything is so fun and festive, especially at the elementary level. I’m always trying to think of ways that I can put a seasonal twist on counseling activities to keep your students (and you) engaged.

At the same time, I always had the problem of “frequent flyers” popping up. You know the ones. The kids who are always stopping by wanting to chat instead of going to their classroom. I used to think I just needed to rush them back to their classroom as quickly as possible. However, I realized over time they were stopping by to see me for a reason. They wanted to build a relationship with me and I didn’t want to dismiss that.

While I wanted them to feel welcome in my office and comfortable with me, I also wanted to make our time together purposeful...especially if they were missing class. Over time, I thought of some fun ways that I could accomplish this. Since it’s the winter season, I created my “Countdown to Winter Break Interactive Calendar”. 

In this episode, I’ll explain exactly how this calendar works and even how you can DIY one. If you create a countdown calendar of your own, snap a picture and tag me on Instagram @brightfuturescounseling so that I can see the final product!

Resources mentioned:

• Join my school counselor membership IMPACT here!

• Grab my Countdown to Winter Break Counseling and SEL Activity and Game Pack

• Read the blog post, Countdown to Winter Break with School Counseling Activities
  

• Show Notes: bright-futurescounseling.com/podcast

Connect with Rachel on social media:

• TpT Store
• Blog
• Instagram
• Facebook Page
• Facebook Group
• Pinterest 
• Youtube

If you are enjoying School Counseling Simplified please follow and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts!

The first episode back after Thanksgiving break is the final episode of the Team Player Series, focused on students. I have spoken about how to collaborate with other stakeholders in the last few episodes and couldn’t possibly leave out the kids we work with day in and day out. The ideas I share are action items that can be done from the first session you have!

It goes without saying that it is so important to build rapport and trust with students from day one. While you may consider playing games to establish a connection with the student, I will share activities that are twofold. Not only will your students enjoy themselves and have fun, but you will also gain insight into their thoughts and feelings. And if you’ve been listening for a while, you know I love doing feelings checks!

Resources mentioned:

• Join my school counselor membership IMPACT here!
• Episode 66, Team Player Series: Admin
• Episode 65, Team Player Series: Parents
• Episode 64, Team Player Series: Teachers
• Episode 62, Ideas for School Wide Initiatives
• Show Notes: bright-futurescounseling.com/podcast

Connect with Rachel on social media:

• TpT Store
• Blog
• Instagram
• Facebook Page
• Facebook Group
• Pinterest 
• Youtube

If you are enjoying School Counseling Simplified please follow and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts!