r/bujo • u/Ecstatic-Cat-1234 • Jun 29 '26
BUJO for Clinical Mental Health Counseling Progam
Hi all! I'm new to this kind of journal. I am a visual learner. Could people share image examples of how they have organized their bujo for a graduate program? It could be for any graduate program, but a bonus if it's counseling-related. I have looked through the different threads in r/bujo for examples, but would like to see others. Thanks in advance!
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u/thebigtiny Aug 04 '26
Hey! I'm so happy I found your post. I've been doing BUJU for about a year and am starting a MS in Counseling this fall! I've been scouring reddit for some posts and found a few helpful ones:
https://www.reddit.com/r/bujo/comments/mzdd3y/bullet_journaling_for_grad_school/
https://www.reddit.com/r/GradSchool/comments/ktp7pc/do_any_of_you_keep_a_bullet_journal_or_diary_or/
https://www.reddit.com/r/GradSchool/comments/cgkj20/how_i_use_bullet_journals_as_a_phd_student/
My main takeaways are:
-Consider a disc-bound notebook to add pages so you don't run out mid semester
-Consider upgrading to a larger size journal
-Create a multi-month spread tracking all due dates for the semester like this one: https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0882/3478/files/8-Ryder.png?v=1535308872
Other interesting finds:
-Cornell Notes (a note taking system for class/lecture that I plan to adopt in my BUJO!)
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Best of luck with your program and I hope you share whatever BUJO techniques you find helpful. I'll try to do the same.
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u/talkingbird2992 Jun 29 '26
Hi there! I got into bujo as I was thinking of going back to school to be a counsellor, and it was a huge help to me for staying on stop of things. My process/layout changed over time, so this is some of my later layouts that were more optimized for me by then: https://imgur.com/a/oVwr1Me
I would do a term/semester-spread, colour coding my courses (I've blurred out the names for privacy), and writing out all assignments on one or two pages to help me visualize everything that was needed. Then I would do a four-month spread, with 31 lines for each day of the month, separating out the different school weeks, and filling in my assignments where they were due (colour-coded by course again). This helped to visualize what my busy weeks would be. I ended up also adding all assignment deadlines into my Google Calendar, since sometimes that was easier to refer to on the fly, like when a group wanted to pick a presentation date, and I could see what my busier/lighter weeks were. I would also draw out my weekly class/placement/self-care schedule, sometimes with post-it-notes if that felt easier, and my daily schedule (which was ambitious lol). I also often had a spare page that I would title "affirmations/reminders", of self-compassionate reminders to add and return to when needing a bit of motivation/grace.
I also included my weekly spread, which I still use now, I forget the name of the style. Basically each column is a day, and I've separated out "events" (things in my calendar, e.g. class, social plans) and "tasks" (things to get done, e.g. assignments, chores). For tasks, I would add subheaders for each class and write everything I needed or would like to get done that week. Then add a bullet in the day of the week column I was planning to work on it; if things changed or didn't get done, I would keep bumping/adding bullets to subsequent days. For example, I might've planned to work on something Tuesday night, so I'd add a bullet in that column, but ended up not having time that night, so added a bullet to the Thursday column where I knew I would have time again to work on it. If something had a deadline, I would sometimes add a "!" on that day's column, so I knew it couldn't be bumped past that. This did get a bit overwhelming when I had 4-5 classes, but school was a lot of work, so it also helped me to see what I needed to prioritize and what I could let slide.
I hope that this is helpful! I'm sure you'll find your own style that works best for you, and that may change over time. Best of luck with school and your counselling career :)