Most school counselors plan their programs in the same order they were taught: start with the data, identify the need, choose the intervention, and try to make the model fit.

But that's exactly why so many carefully built plans fall apart by October.

In this episode, Steph explains why school counselors may be planning their programs backwards — and the two questions that should come before goals, calendars, initiatives, or action plans.

Because the goal is not to reach May with the most comprehensive school counseling program.

It is to reach May still recognizing yourself in the work you do each day.

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"Best Year Ever!" happens July 21-24. Get your ticket today.

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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.