High School Counselor Office Prep for Back-to-School Season [Episode 135]

Here's What to Expect in This Episode:

When you’re a new high school counselor, you think you need to have a Pinterest-perfect office in order to be effective. However, your worth as a high school counselor isn’t dependent on how much stuff you have in your office or how much financial support you get from your principal, districts, or PTSA. But having a few essentials and office must-haves that you can’t live without will certainly make your life easier!

This episode highlights a few back-to-school tips and some high school counselor office non-negotiables and “would be nice” things to get your space and program ready for students. While these things worked for me when I was working as a school counselor, everyone’s must-have office items will be different and need to work for you. Rest assured, all the things in this episode will just enhance the wonderful things you’re already doing as a high school counselor since it’s your skills, knowledge, and experience that make you an effective high school counselor!

Topics Covered in This Episode:

Why it’s important to decide what you want versus what you need for your office and counseling program
The question you need to ask yourself: What would make your life as a counselor easier?
Setting the non-negotiables for your office and the two things you actually need to have an effective office space
The importance of starting slow and building your office and program each year
Knowing your worth isn’t defined by the items in your office but by the skills you possess

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

Read the transcript for this episode:

Episode 135 Transcript

Lauren Tingle 0:37
Let me start out by saying here’s your preface before we get into any of this: your worth as a high school counselor is not defined by whether you do or do not do any of these things in this week’s episode. That’s how I feel about everything here. But especially this as you’re heading into back to school, and it’s like, what do I need? How do I need to be best prepared?

Lauren Tingle 0:58
These are just some ideas because high school counselors are often asking for these types of tips. People are moving from elementary to high school, and they’re wondering like, what do I need to do? How do I need to prepare for back to school season? What do I need for my office? How do I decorate it? Where do I start? What do I need?

Lauren Tingle 1:14
And I am here to tell you, we’re going to talk about the difference versus need and want. I really think that the cool part about all of this, the reassuring part is that you don’t need anything. If you’ve graduated from a master’s program in school counseling or counselor education, whatever yours was, you are qualified to be a school counselor. ou have the skill set and you could do this job with nothing else other than your counseling skills.

Lauren Tingle 1:40
However, I think of it similarly as having a baby. You go through all of this prep work before you have a baby. And maybe I’m saying you maybe this was just me. You search Pinterest for ideas of how to decorate your nursery, you find packing lists for what to put in your hospital bag, you pull your friends on their favorite baby items, you meander the aisles of Buy Buy Baby because that just feels like the right thing to do. And you add things to a list in hope that people will get you for this baby.

Lauren Tingle 2:08
If you’re an educator, you’re doing similar things. You’re dreaming of how to decorate your office and make it a welcoming space for your students, you’re looking for checklists to prepare you for back to school, you’re throwing everything in your cart at Target and you’re creating an Amazon wishlist. So it’s literally like a parallel illustration I did get on this one right.

Lauren Tingle 2:26
After you have a baby or when you go to have a second baby. Again, maybe just personal experience. You realize I’m actually very equipped for this with even just a few basics. If I have diapers, if I have wipes, if I have a place for the baby to sleep, we could survive, I will be good. However, there are a few things that you’ll discover with each kid that are like luxury items that really do make your new baby life easier. Hit me up if you want that list of things because I am very passionate about those items that make your baby life easier.

Lauren Tingle 2:57
I digress. We’re going to talk in this episode about a few of the things that will make your counselor life easier or just more enjoyable. And none of them are necessary hear me. But depending on what you’re looking for support wise, some of them can be really useful for you. So I want to make sure that we talk about them before we head into back to school season.

Lauren Tingle 3:16
These things are all just icing on the cake for this awesome high school counseling job that you are either stepping into or that you already have. I want you to use this episode to think through and maybe even separate what you need and what you want for your office and your program.

Lauren Tingle 3:31
Let’s talk about your office first. You have to avoid the comparison game here. I personally I love it. I love seeing pictures of everyone’s offices. But it’s really hard not to compare your office to others or idolize that perfect boho aesthetic or you know, whatever your style is. Everyone’s situations are different. You see one picture and this person has a classroom size office and then you look over here, and that person has an office that’s a closet size under the stairs like Harry Potter.

Lauren Tingle 4:01
When we’re thinking about our office, think about this question: is it a place that you can do counseling, where you can provide a safe and confidential space for the students that you are working with? Check. Perfect, great. If not, it’s time to advocate for that space.

Lauren Tingle 4:17
I know that real estate in a school is sometimes really hard to come by. But you do need an appropriate space to do your job. This means no sharing an office with anyone though I’ve wanted to do that with some counselor friends of mine, you know, in theory, not actual practice. This means no hallway passing through the middle of your office for someone to get somewhere else like you cannot have people walking through your offense in the middle of a session. These things do not make sense for a counselor’s office space.

Lauren Tingle 4:44
Next, you’ve got to make your office work for you. You don’t have to have an extreme office makeover and get this place all glammed up the moment you moved in. Transform it slowly and let it work for you. Your space needs to be practical. I think in a high school more than anywhere else that this is really absolutely true.

Lauren Tingle 5:03
Do you need a filing cabinet to store file folders for all your students? Yes, probably. And they can be so ugly and take up so much space, but it’s probably a non negotiable once you get into it. And there are ways to make that prettier. So don’t panic just yet.

Lauren Tingle 5:17
So maybe unlike an elementary school counselor who has a big ole classroom space, like maybe you don’t have the space to have a big beanbag chair in your tiny office or a whole couch for students to lay on. Some of you might, and that’s awesome. But some of you don’t, and you just have to work with what you have, and make it work for you.

Lauren Tingle 5:35
From personal experience, the way I set up my office was really standard, I really don’t think it was like anything out of the ordinary. I love change and I love you know, shaking things up. But I honestly never moved things around in my office once I got them set up. Like your days are too crazy.

Lauren Tingle 5:51
I always talk about this, but I would have like a bulletin board up for more than two years because I couldn’t find the time to go pull the things down and put something new up. Imagine the same for the office, I would never rearrange just because that’s like nothing I’d ever make a priority.

Lauren Tingle 6:06
I had my desk and my rolly chair. And then I had two other main chairs that like came with the school building on the other side of my desk. And then I had one fun pattern chair from Target that honestly wobbled a little and made adults really nervous when they plopped down in it. But I like how it looked in my office. And it was another place to sit so I kept it.

Lauren Tingle 6:25
I am not the most organized person. And so I do commend high school counselors who are, so I’m just here to tell you and be honest and transparent that my desk was constantly full of sticky notes and stacks of papers. So in terms of like things I needed in my office, it was really important for me to always have basic desk supplies flowing: good pens that I liked writing with, sticky notes, washi tape to hang important reference sheets on my walls, like the bell schedule and phone numbers around the school. I needed a quality stapler, I needed tacks, highlighters, like all the office things, all that good stuff.

Lauren Tingle 6:59
I also loved having a basket of fidgets right there on my desk because even if a student wasn’t sitting there using them, I would catch myself using them when I was on the phone. So it’s something a win win for everyone really.

Lauren Tingle 8:03
I’d say move slowly. This is the key for prepping your office and your program for back to school. Keep a running list of must-haves and the would-nice-to-have list, I don’t know how to say that better. That way when you’re sauntering through those Target aisles are mindlessly adding to your Amazon cart, you’re not making impulse buys, you’re investing in things that you have already thought about that you know that you will use and things that you know you’ll need.

Lauren Tingle 8:28
If you’re an experienced counselor, you know what sorts of practical things need replenishing in your office. And you’ll have an idea of what now could make your life easier as a high school counselor now that you have a little bit of experience under your belt.

Lauren Tingle 8:40
I remember my district gave all staff a stipend each summer to spend like you turn in the receipts, of course. And the first year I felt like I blew through that money so easily. There was a ton that I felt like I needed to just get situated in my office and get all the essentials in place. And then each year after that, I was like, Oh, wow, this money is nice. And I gave myself more time to spend it. Like I would spend it all the way through December like the deadline that they gave us versus letting it immediately burn a hole in my pocket.

Lauren Tingle 9:08
And after that first year of spending it was what would help me be a better counselor? What would help me serve my students better? What would I like to add to my comprehensive program if I only had the money? It was a bit of money but I wanted to think through it wisely.

Lauren Tingle 9:26
Depending on how your school lets you spend that money like they might have some limitations on it or some guidelines that you have to spend it in a certain area or on certain things or within a certain timeline, if you get to be creative or flexible with it, you could potentially spend it on PD opportunities or the resources that we talked about back in episode 29. The one remember where to find relevant High School Counseling PD or you can think outside of that box too.

Lauren Tingle 9:50
I have so many resources to help you here with your back to school prep. Some are available right now and some are coming. In terms of office and so that’s what this episode is about office and program prep, I have an Amazon storefront with things organized into categories that I just think would be helpful for you to scroll through. I’ll link that in the show notes.

Lauren Tingle 10:08
You can always bookmark this and come back to it. I think it just gives you some good starting places some good starting ideas of things you might want to get for your office. And remember, you don’t need these things to be a rockstar counselor.

Lauren Tingle 10:20
If you’re looking for free support right now, I’ve got a bajillion blog posts over on my website. You’ve got this podcast, High School Counseling Conversations, and then there’s that private back to school podcast, How to Kick-Start Your Year as a High School Counselor like that’s free too.

Lauren Tingle 10:34
And then of course, as you know, I have a TPT store full of high school counseling resources for you to energize your high school counseling program because you know that when you’re actually doing real life counselor, like like the job you signed up for the first place, you are going to be guaranteed to love your job again, if not more than you already do.

Lauren Tingle 10:49
Okay, I know that was so much, that was a lot. I just want to tell you about all the goodness coming your way so you can know that there is any and every support you could need at any level to help you move forward and help yourself as you go into the school year. I can’t wait to walk alongside you and cheer you on as you head into your best year yet. See you next week.