School for School Counselors Podcast

How in the world can a student demonstrate every executive functioning skill you practice in a counseling group perfectly...

and still fail their classes because they don’t turn anything in?

Happens all the time.

Because knowing how to do something is not the same as actually being able to do it when it counts.

In this episode, we’re looking at why planners, checklists, and executive functioning small groups don’t always translate into better functioning in the classroom, and what we need to be looking at instead.

Because the goal isn’t to get kids better at “executive functioning.”

The goal is to help them function better where it actually matters.

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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! 

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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.

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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.

“Executive function” has become one of those phrases we use ALL THE TIME in schools.

Kid’s disorganized = Executive function.

Missing assignments = Executive function.

Can’t get started = Executive function.

Impulsive = Executive function.

ADHD... Well, obviously, executive function... right?

Maybe.

But what the heck are we actually SAYING when we say a kid “struggles with executive functioning?”

Because- as it turns out, that answer is a whole lot more complicated than the cute little executive function group plans would have you believe.

And- some of the things we’re confidently calling “executive function problems" might not be executive function problems at all.

So before we make another assignment tracker or study skills sheet, or start wondering about ADHD...

we probably ought to figure out what the heck we’re looking at.

Y'all, this one sent me down a research rabbit hole, and I did NOT end up where I thought I would.

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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! 

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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.

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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.

Whodunit? It's time to open the case file, y'all.

We’ve got a student who keeps leaving class, a behavior plan that is NOT working, and a school counselor whose fingerprints are all over it.

So... who’s actually responsible for the mayhem?

Because when campuses start talking about behavior plans, the details get complicated fast:

Should the school counselor be involved?
Are you actually qualified to write the plan?
And if you do write it, does that make you responsible for whether or not it works?

We’ve got a whole lineup of possible suspects: the student, the staff, and the school counselor.

And by the time we close the case, you may be surprised to learn that “Who wrote the behavior plan?” is the least important question of all.

Grab the companion guide at schoolforschoolcounselors.com/plan

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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.

When a student is struggling, school counselors often hear, “Can you talk to them?”

But in determining if a student needs counseling, we tend to skip some very  important steps.

In this episode, I'm talking about a common jump everyone on campus tends to make (and nobody ever questions)- and why it's such a big deal.

You’ll hear why context matters more than the referral itself, how easily schools move from observation to interpretation to prescription, and the one question that can keep you from taking on student problems that may not belong in your office in the first place.

(Also- there’s also a huge plot twist here for experienced school counselors.)

If your caseload is exploding, teachers are constantly asking you to “check on” students, or you’re trying to make smarter decisions about behavior, anxiety, coping skills, and other student concerns, this one is for you.

Listen before you add one more student to your list.

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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.

It doesn’t work.

And if you’ve tried it, you know it's true.

The school counseling advocacy model most of us were taught was supposed to be simple: explain your role, show your data, cite the standards, make the case.

THEN we were supposed to be able to MAKE THINGS HAPPEN.

The problem is- information isn’t influence.

So in this episode, we’ll talk about how school counselors can become influential long before "advocacy" meetings ever happen.

We’ll talk about why your principal does NOT need to care about school counseling as much as you do, why constantly sharing information can keep you stuck, and how a little out-of-the-box school counseling thinking can completely change your situation.

There’s a HUGE difference between being the school counselor who's always asked for more effort, and being the person they stop in the hallway to ask:

“Hey- what do you think?”

One is asking for your labor, but the other is asking for your judgment.

THAT’S influence.

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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.

School counselor advocacy is supposed to create change. But what if some of what we’ve been taught to call advocacy is actually doing something else?

You can explain your role, bring the data, cite the standards, and make a compelling case...

And still walk out with the same testing assignment, MTSS responsibility, impossible caseload, or non-counseling duties you walked in with.

This episode takes a hard look at the advocacy model our profession has inherited, why school counselors can do everything they’ve been told to do and still end up stuck, and three questions that may completely change how you approach advocacy on your campus.

If you’ve ever stated your case, watched admin nod in agreement, then wondered why absolutely nothing changed afterward- this one is for you.

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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.

You’ve explained your role. 

You’ve shown the data. 

You’ve pulled out the appropriate and inappropriate duties list. 

You’ve advocated. 

But... nothing changes.

So- what are you supposed to do now? Just advocate harder? 

(Spoiler: Nope.) 

In this episode, I’m questioning one of the biggest assumptions driving school counselor advocacy.

Because there’s a big difference between someone not understanding what your job is supposed to be, versus someone understanding your job... but not changing anything. 

Which means: we may all have been working to solve the wrong problem all along. 

Before you print that list yet again, listen to this.

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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.

Everything difficult or weird on a school campus somehow gets shuffled to the school counselor.

And nobody is likely to stop you from taking it all on.

In fact, sometimes the whole campus seems perfectly happy to let you do ALL the things.

So before the school year really gets rolling, there are four decisions worth making.

These aren’t decisions you can make with a list of “appropriate” and “inappropriate” duties or another lecture about setting better boundaries. 

They require a better way to look at what keeps landing in front of you, and a way to decide when something really deserves more attention or effort from you.

Bottom line: caring deeply about your students and your school does NOT mean you are responsible for fixing everything that needs fixing.

Make these four decisions now, before the year starts making them for you.

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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.

School counseling on paper and school counseling in real life are not the same job.

You were trained to support students, build relationships, and run a comprehensive program. Then you walked onto a campus with an impossible caseload, unclear expectations, constant interruptions, and demands coming from every direction. So you did what good school counselors do: you worked harder.

But what if effort was never the missing piece?

In this episode, I'm looking at:

• three places where school counselor training collides with campus reality
• why self-care, better boundaries, and repeated advocacy cannot fix a structurally misaligned role
• why capable counselors so often end up questioning themselves instead of questioning the expectations placed on them

And I'll give you three questions that can change how you make decisions this year, starting with your first week back.

You do not need another program, planner, or motivational poster. You need a way of doing school counseling that works in the school you actually have.

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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.

The educational system doesn't need to plot to keep you quiet.

It just needs to keep you tired.

And after that, the silence takes care of itself.

A few nights ago, I watched over a hundred school counselors simultaneously go quiet.

It was weird.

They'd been engaged in my presentation. They were animated and alive. The conversation was popping. 

But then... I changed the subject from talking about the problems to talking about what to do next... and suddenly the entire room changed.

Some people instantly started explaining why it wouldn't work.

But most just...stopped talking.

I left that session asking myself:

What just happened here?

Why did so many dedicated, talented school counselors suddenly retreat?

If you've ever wondered when you stopped speaking up- or why- it starts here.

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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.