The Ultimate Kickstart for New High School Counselors [Episode 76]

Hi, my friends, I wanted to start this episode with a listener shout out. Kamera left a review for the podcast recently and she called it “My favorite self care activity”. She said, “I love listening to this podcast first thing in the morning when I’m getting ready for my day. I also really enjoy listening on my way to work. I commute and so this podcast really helps make the time productive. I find Lauren’s insight really helpful as a first year counselor. And this is truly an integral part of my self care routine. This podcast makes me so excited about the profession I’m entering.”

Thank you for your kind words Kamera. Have you left a review for High School Counseling Conversations yet? It’s really easy. So I’m going to share with you how to do it. Just open up Apple podcasts, go to the show and scroll down past the episodes. Leave a five star rating of course and then write a review under that it’s really simple.

You got into this profession to make a difference in your students lives, but you’re spread thin by all the things that keep getting added to your to do list. I can’t create more hours in the day, but I can invite you into my counselor clinic where you’ll finally catch your breath. Come with me as we unpack creative ideas and effective strategies that will help you be the counselor who leaves a lifelong impact on your students. I’m Lauren tingle your high school counseling hype girl here to help you energize your school counseling program and remind you of how much you love your job.

This week’s episode is a special one. It’s no secret that I’ve been working behind the scenes on a resource for new high school counselors. So I wanted to take some time to tell you about it because doors are officially open to the High School Counselor Kickstart Course.

That’s a mouthful or a tongue twister say at 10 times fast. I’ll mention this a few times of the episode. But at any point, if you want to move away from here and learn more about what I’m talking about inside this course, and enroll, you’ll go to counselorclique.com/newcounselor, and of course it’ll be linked in the show notes and everyone on my social media. If you’re on my email list, I’ll send an email or two about it as well.

So where did the High School Counselor Kickstart Course originate? Well, I noticed a gap in what I was offering for high school counselors. I have a free three day video challenge for high school counseling job interviews. And if you’re still in this stage, no worries, you can still jump into that at counselorclique.com/interviews.

And new counselors were loving that I still get lots of DMS about it. Of course, it’s not a guarantee that you’ll get a job because let’s be real, I’m not writing checks over here that I can’t cash. I don’t have control over that. But what we do have control over is how we show up with confidence and preparation to an interview. So that’s what that resource is three days of videos delivered to your inbox to help you get ready for that.

So then people were getting jobs and I felt like I was hanging them out to dry. They jump into my world getting my weekly emails listening to my podcast and seeing me post what I mean, I hope is helpful content on social media. Some even then waited patiently to jump into my monthly membership for high school counselors called the Clique Collaborative.

Currently doors to that are open twice per year in August in January. And that could change maybe how we structure that but I’m not sure yet. I just wanted to have a resource for the in between. So you get the job and you’re anxious, but you’re excited. You’ve got a real nervous energy behind you. You want to enjoy your summer but you also want to start out ahead and not behind. Enter High School Counselor Kickstart Course.

It’s an audio only course which means you just listen to it just like you listen to this podcast, except we call it a private podcast where you get a special unique link just for you. You click it and it ends up in your podcast player. Inside you’ll find eight episodes all under 15 minutes each. In less than two hours, you’ll find yourself building competence and confidence as a new high school counselor.

So whether you’re moving from elementary to high school, middle school to high school, maybe you’ve taken some time off from being a school counselor and now you’re back or you’re a brand new high school counselor ready to take on the world. There’s something inside this course for you.

If you’re a new high school counselor in any capacity who wants to minimize overwhelm, sort through the noise and prioritize students and yourself right from the beginning, the High School Counselor Kickstart Course is for you. It’ll help set you up for success and navigate those beginning years while I’m also over here encouraging you and motivating you along the way. Because remember, I’m your high school counseling hype girl.

Okay, so let’s walk through the eight episodes, I’ll give you a quick little rundown of what’s inside because I want to be completely transparent. I want you to be able to make an informed decision either way if this is the right fit for you. So there are eight episodes 15 minutes or less. I’m going to kind of walk you through what the eight of them are and kind of give you just a little sneak peek into each of them.

So Episode One is just a welcome. It’s kind of like the you got the job now what.

Episode two is a pep talk and we’re going to do some self reflection and I know that this might be that woowoo stuff that don’t really want to spend a lot of time on. But inside here we address some things like imposter syndrome, because whether you admit it or not, or whether it’s hit you yet or not, you’re going to have moments of imposter syndrome feeling like you’re not qualified for the job. But everybody else is.

I’m reminding you here in this episode that you were hired for a reason and kind of giving you some foundational truths to remember as you are a new counselor. And then you’re going to spend some time reflecting on your values as a counselor, and how you want to incorporate those into your school counseling program.

Then we move into episode three, which is all about stepping into a new role. So kind of those first things that you’re going to address as you get the job as you know where you’re going to be working. Some questions that you want to get answered right off the bat, like, what’s your caseload? Are there any notes that you need to dig into as you get started? Do you have 504s that you need to start thinking about and get on the calendar. We talk about all the things you need to address immediately as soon as you step into that new role.

In episode four, I love this one. We’re talking about plotting out your workdays. And so we’re talking about your work days, your weeks, your months, your whole school year. And this can feel overwhelming, because you don’t really know how to start planning because maybe you’ve either never done it, or you’ve never done it this school before. You’ve done stuff like this and an internship. So you probably have an idea of what the day to day looks like. But you know that every day is going to be different. So obviously, I can’t give you a template of your day. But I can give you some ideas of what it might look like.

So when you listen to episode four, you’re going to think day to day all the way through big picture of planning the year. And I’ll come back to this to tell you about a bonus that’s going to be included in this course that you’re not going to want to miss. So stay tuned to later the episode for that bonus.

Episode five is all about setting up your system. So this is probably one of the longer episodes being closer to 15 minutes. But this is going to talk about how you’re going to set up what works for you and what serves you as a counselor. Whether that’s paper or digital, getting some systems in place to make you work more effectively and more efficiently. Because chances are your caseload might be big, and you’re gonna feel overwhelmed. And this is one of the things that you can control to minimize that overwhelm. And to help you feel like you can make an impact on students, because you’re seeing the most students in the least amount of time. Does that make sense?

You’re going to maximize your time by having some better systems in place. And coming from me, I’m not a systems queen. And so you can expect that what I’m going to give you is going to be something that anybody can put into place. You’re never going to get it all done. But with some of these systems in place, you’re at least going to be able to move the needle on making an impact on your students and your program.

Episode six might be my personal favorite. We are talking about establishing connections in your school and why these are so important. They’re actually vital in the success and the health of your school counseling program. The job itself is relational. So we’re going to talk about those key relationships that are going to help you make the biggest impact on your students as possible.

This is extremely important if you’re a solo counselor, because you’re gonna have to call on other stakeholders to help move your program forward. But it’s also important to think about you as a counselor with your team, and then your team as an integral part of the whole school and how all of those pieces work together. So this one might be my personal favorite.

And then episode seven is all about encountering pushback. Because let’s face it, it will happen. I love talking about advocacy with high school counseling. And you know, maybe there’ll be a day when we don’t have to advocate for our profession. But unfortunately right now, that is not the day. So episode seven is talking about what to do when you encounter pushback and different unique ways that you can advocate for your profession. Because you might not be hearing every day that you’re doing a great job, but I know that you are and that you will. So episode seven is going to help equip you to be assertive and to advocate well for the profession and and to advocate well for your job in the school that you’re working in.

Then we’re gonna get to the last episode, episode eight, which is all about finding continued support and just an overall reflection on your time and what you learned throughout the course. So we’re going to talk about ways that you can continue learning and growing and then reflect on everything that you learned in episodes one through seven. You’ll look back through your notebook, you’ll decide what your action steps are going to be from here on out, and you’ll be able to reflect on how awesome it was how much you learned and how excited you are to get going as a new high school counselor.

So by the end of these eight episodes, you will have save time and reduce you’re overwhelmed. That’s a big goal of this. For me, I already mentioned this, but I want you to effectively manage your workload and responsibilities without feeling overwhelmed. There are so many things to juggle as a high school counselor and we’re going to get your ducks in a row so you don’t feel overwhelmed by all of those things.

At the end of this you’ll have a game plan for prioritizing your students and your own self care. Because I want you to be able to identify your values and your goals for your own role so that you could prioritize your students and yourself. I want you to last in this job and I want you to love your job.

You’ll also have built your confidence and your competence by the end of this. You’ve heard me use those words already before. Of course, this is always a work in progress. But I want you to start out with some confidence. And that might not be the norm starting out somewhere new. You were chosen for this job. This audio course will equip you with tools and strategies that you need to build your knowledge or skills, your confidence so that you can provide the best support possible to your students.

And lastly, I think something that everyone is looking for that you will have accomplished after these eight episodes, you’ll have started to streamline your processes and your systems. I mentioned this already, but you’ll grow and you’ll change and you’ll work through this. But I want you to at least start out on the right foot efficiently and effectively. In the high school setting, it’s the dream to spend less time on administrative tasks and more time with students. And that’s what we all want. I’m just gonna go ahead and say that.

At $47 for this course, I want it to be a no brainer for you. You’ll walk away with a two hour PD certificate. But more importantly, you’ll have a clear roadmap with actionable steps to help you manage that workload, manage your responsibilities without feeling overwhelmed. Investing now will just help you save some missteps in the long run. And if you’re wondering what I mean by missteps, head back to Episode 73, where I talk about what I wish I knew as a beginning high school counselor.

I can arrange purchase orders or provide you with a receipt to get reimbursed if your school is willing to do that. When you join, you obviously get the eight private podcast episodes that we talked about. But you’ll also get one giant workbook that has accompanying links and places to reflect and take notes on each episode because I want you to be inspired and take action from this.

I’ll also mention that each podcast episode comes with a full text transcription if you want to read it, or if you want to reference it in text form as well. I mentioned that PD certificate that you get. You can turn that in for points to your school or your district. Unfortunately, I don’t have all the fancy ways to be able to make it count as official CEUs. But if your school is anything like mine was, you’re responsible for learning and growing outside of school hours, and if you can prove that you did it, it counts for something. So you’ll receive that with the course too.

And what would an incredible course be if I did not have some bonuses thrown in for you. So in episode four, I mentioned that I’ll be helping you plot out your days, but also your weeks, your months and your year. So I’m including my high school counseling curriculum map and a tutorial video walk you through how the whole thing works. ]

Basically, it’s a really fancy Excel sheet that’s filled in for you as a sample. But then there’s also a tab that is a template that’s completely yours to edit and make your own. This is not available anywhere else. The only time I’ve given away in the past has been as a bonus to those who have come to a live workshop and also as a bonus inside of the Clique Collaborative Membership. So that curriculum map is one bonus.

Next, the second bonus is all about needs assessments. Now, the reason I’ve never put out a true Needs Assessment resource to people is because I feel like there’s so different for everyone everywhere. So I’ve created a sample editable Needs Assessment with a PDF guide and a video walkthrough explaining why I chose the questions I did. You can cater this to your own school but I at least wanted you to have a jumping off point for creating a data driven experience for your school counseling program to work from.

So I mentioned that the price is $47 right now for two weeks and then I will always leave it up but the price is gonna go up after those two weeks. So after Friday, June 9, the price will increase. So if you’re in grab it before the price goes up. Your assignment leaving here is to head over to counselorclique.com/newcounselor

Over there you can read more about the High School Counselor Kickstart Course and if this resonates with you and you’re in come on over and join us. You’ll click that button right at the top of the page and then you’ll have instant access right as soon as you jump in to the private pod.

New counselors that you will be ready to crush your role after doing this course. I cannot wait to hear the amazing things you’re going to do after you’re enrolled in the High School Counselor Kickstart Course. I hope to see you inside.

Thanks for listening to today’s episode of High School Counseling Conversations. All the links I talked about today can be found in the shownotes and also at counselorclique.com/podcast. Be sure to hit follow wherever you listen to your podcast so that you never miss a new episode. Connect with me over on Instagram. Feel free to send me a DM @counselorclique that C L I Q U E. I’ll see you next week.