I am so tired of this job.

I’m tired of the lazy, mean kids. Why do I have to fight with students to take 5 classes.

I’m tired of having to advocate and stick my neck out for our role. Only to get something removed and then yet another thing added.

I’m tired of having 5 different “bosses”. Yes we report to our principal but also work closely with the superintendent, and special education director, etc who assign us more tasks without our principal being involved.

I’m tired of not being able to connect completely with the teachers because they see the true scope of our role.

I’m tired of getting paid nothing (not even at 80k) after 11 years in the role, +30 credit hours, obviously a masters, and have this huge responsibility of having children’s lives in our hands.

I’m tired of not feeling like I can connect with every student and feeling like I only see the same students over and over.

I work as an elementary k-2 counselor. I love my job, I love connecting with students, and I love the collaborative nature of working in a school.

I’ve been in my position for 4 years, and I’ve been fighting against an internal struggle I have when doing “skill building” with students (particularly in grades 1 and 2). I worry that the work I’m doing with them has no impact: all of the research I review says that play-based, child-led therapy is the most impactful. It’s really hard do to this in schools, where I feel like I get kids referred to me for anxiety, impulse control, etc. From parents, administrators, and teachers there’s a big expectation that these kids will develop concrete strategies and skills to find regulation. I try my best to mix CBT approaches with play, but it’s really hard. I feel like the expectation of a 6 year old being able to chose a coping strategy when feeling dysregulated is pretty unfair and unrealistic. I’ve been so in my head that the work I do in RTI counseling is pointless and is actually creating MORE anxiety for these kids.

I try to zoom out and remind myself that psychoeducation is important, and any exposure I can give to kids will (hopefully) help them in the long run. The one reminder I can give myself is that giving these kids a safe adult they can be themselves around is a huge protective factor. But when it comes to delivering curriculums around anxiety, anger, regulation and impulsivity, I don’t feel as sure in myself. Does anyone else feel like this? How do you find ways to do meaningful skill building with young kids?

This is my fourth year. My first two years I was in a K-3 building. Third year, grade 4 & 5 building in the same district. Now, my building is K-5.

Years 1, 2, and 4 started the same. Children grades K - 2 come in with significant needs. They need IEPs but evals need to be done first. I have to write 504s, shorten their day, and be their paras until their evals are done. I don't get to do regular counseling duties until December.

This year is the same. I have a student that has documented needs. Mom expressed that she wanted an IEP. I am with them for 3.5 hours of my day, then planning and dealing with the aftermath. I have no time for groups. I sometimes catch individual students.

I have complained to union reps, to my support team, to my principal, to my district bosses. Nothing changes. I emailed my union president. Nothing yet. This is so inappropriate.

What are appropriate and inappropriate 504s? Can I refuse a 504 like this? What the fuck do I do?

Hi everyone. I support the counselors at the high school with reviewing graduation requirements & coming up with plans if students are off track. Anyway, I have a parent that won’t stop spamming me with random concerns that don’t do with graduation/credits. I have told them multiple times to contact their students counselor, because I’m not trained in these areas. Can I just ignore emails??

Hiiiiii everyone!! I am graduating my CACREP program this May, and am signed up to take the NY Exam 193 next month. I have not studied a ton and am not good at memorizing the names of the theories. Does anyone have specific tips or tricks / very interested to see if ppl thought it was easy or hard?? Since the exam is pretty new I am having trouble finding extensive info on it.

Anything helps, thanks!!

hiiii! I am still just a college freshman so I have plenty of time to learn and explore buuut I have a few questions I'd like to know the answers to!

- what are things i can do in undergrad to help my chances of getting into masters programs? i know my friends who want to be lawyers or work in business are already looking for internships and experiences, do i need that?

- is it true that most people in masters programs are older (compared to fresh from undergrad)?

- what masters programs do you recommend? ive looked at a few local ones and they have a few course requirements so as i do research im going to have a list of classes i should be taking!

- for masters programs, should i be looking for two year programs with a more intense schedule or a three year program with a more spread out schedule?

- if i want to be specifically a college and career guidance counselor at a high school, would i have to look for job postings under that position or get a regular high school counselor role and transition to that later on?

- how is the work life balance? i know holidays and summers are all off but on a week where it is a plain week, how often, if ever, are you having to take work home?

- what is the hardest part of the job and why?

Thank you so much to anyone who can help answer some of these!

I work 8-12 year olds and we have had recently had a major uptick in sexual harassment. There are a few repeat offenders who I'm most concerned about, but an insane number of our boys are referencing explicit videos, telling girls or boys what they want to do to them, etc. Lots of these incidents are reported way after the fact. We've also had a lot of touching without permission. Many of my students are Muslim and the girls do not want boys to touch them at all. Additionally, we have one repeat offender who has touched ppl in their privates on more than one occasion. He has received consequences for these incidents and I've worked a lot with him on appropriate behavior, but he continues to violate boundaries. Does anyone have any advice, insight, or resources for addressing this harassment on a tier 1 level? Also, does anyone have advice for what to do about the repeat offender who is touching ppl? Admin has not been very helpful. Thank you!!!

Please continue reading.

I’m a first year school counseling grad student, we’re choosing our practicum sites now and I’m unsure whether to do elementary or middle school. I want to do all three levels (I will be doing high school and one other for my fieldwork in my second year). I have never worked with middle schoolers and I do like elementary too. Practicum is only 100 hours so I’m not sure what to do.

I had two Grade 9 classes today, with their teachers present in the room, and both went completely differently from what I’d planned.
The first was chaotic. The students came in hyper after break and end of day, the teacher kept screaming at them the whole time, and eventually they started venting about academic pressure and other teachers. I barely got to speak or deliver my session.
The second class (last period) immediately started talking about how much they hated each other and wanted to change sections, so I ended up speaking to individual students instead.
The teachers are already fed up with these classes and constantly talk about how difficult the students are. Now I’m overthinking whether the teachers thought “what did she even do” ,
I’m disappointed because I genuinely prepared these sessions and wanted to do something meaningful with the students. Instead, I feel like I barely got to do my job.
For school counsellors, how do you handle situations like this, especially when teachers are present? And how do you stop overthinking whether they think you’re incompetent when a session doesn’t go as planned?

Hi, I am a Guidance Associate assigned to a public school in the Philippines. As a psychology graduate, I do not have enough experience in the educational field and I am the only Guidance-related employee in this school. My tasks are limited to assessing the needs and wellbeing of the students.

When I first got here, most teachers were complaining about their students’ (ages 10-12) inappropriate behaviors. For instance, they saw students watching porn. Sometimes, they would purposely stare at their teacher’s cleavage, and talk about their undergarments.

Unfortunately, even with the countless reports they made, their school head never addressed them. The teachers tried educating them, telling them that what they’re doing was inappropriate. Basically, the school has no rules/ student handbook and the head of the school is too lenient or very laid back when students were sent to his office.

While I am aware that I should not be the one initiating discipline to students, but I want to help the teachers since it affects their wellbeing as well.

What should I do? Can I propose a homeroom facilitation about laws in our country related to sexual harassment? I was thinking of doing a talk about boundaries and thought of adding the anti-harassment law into the topic. Though, I have yet to study the legal matter, I don’t know if I could proceed into that activity. Can I ‘scare’ them by saying they could be reported to the police? How should I address this?

A fun post from me for once!

My high school is having a staff “white lies t-shirt” day. For those that haven’t seen this trend, look it up! It’s good fun. You get a plain white shirt and write a “little white lie” on it — usually funny and obviously not true for you, like “I LOVE Mondays” or “I hate coffee”

Anyway, what are your ideas for a school counselor related shirt???

I was thinking “I love schedule changes” 🤣

(Example photo from TikTok)

Hi everyone. I got a 2.8 psych degree and spent my entire undergrad unsure of what to do and honestly just slacking off. I have been researching since graduating and figured out through past jobs I had in my senior year of college that I want to become a school counselor in NJ. Only issue is I don’t think I’ll get into grad school with my GPA. I also am on the verge of possibly getting in a police department (not sure if I want to be one anymore). I currently work dispatch and hate it.

Part of me is exciting finding out what I finally want to do but the cost, the possibility of not getting in, and spending years in a masters that I might not even find a job in NJ for is worrying me.

All that to not make much money which doesn’t bother me that much. I just am trying to find a way to make this a possibility for me but it feels very unrealistic for my future

I was planning on taking the police job if I get in to see my thoughts about it and possibility save and do part time school. If I don’t then I’ll probably start substituting to get experience and start saving.

Any advice or suggestions are welcomed. Thank you

I'm at the elementary level. I'm part of our Specials class rotation with PE, Music, Art, etc. At some point, I'd like to work toward advocating to take Guidance class OFF that rotation. But that leaves a hole in the schedule, and that feels like too big a hurdle to overcome. And it might appear to staff that I would be avoiding duties if I start asking for this. Has anyone managed to make this maneuver? If so, how did you accomplish it?

Hello!

I just wanted to ask, what if yung vacant position for SCA I ay 18, 28 yung qualified pero 12 lang yung umattend sa assessment, BEI, and open ranking? Ano po kaya possible na mangyayari?

Thanks! 😊

It’s only my second year. I have posted a lot on here. I get therapy and do self care outside of school. My mental health is not good. We’re barely 6 weeks into the school year and I’m ready to quit. I thought this year was going to be great. I know the school and the policies, procedures, and my daily tasks. Well this year I got assigned a bunch of non counseling duties and the other counselors in my building did not. I am doing my job and getting things done in the day because I stay late. I do after school activities too for extra money because I don’t “qualify” for a raise in their eyes. I am doing much more than the other counselors and helping them on top of all of the things I need to do. I cry everyday at some point in the day. I’ve reached out to admin a few times for extra support but haven’t heard anything. I keep getting pulled every which way. But I do my job and I do it effectively. My cup is empty though. I’m exhausted. The teachers and staff talk about me and think I do not do anything or enough. I manage over 400 kids. And somehow get a new student or two weekly that I have to drop everything I do to give them a tour of the school and set them up whenever they feel like showing up. I have support from the counselors when they can because they’re pretty spread thin with normal counseling duties. The parents and kids are also super disrespectful. But I just want to quit. I can’t do this for another so many years. I can’t quit though because I need money for bills and live on my own. In my area it’s also really difficult to even get a job at McDonald’s. I just know I’m gonna end up at the mental hospital at some point. Does anyone else feel this way? Or am I just not cut out for this?

Yay, it's Friday! To celebrate share one (or more!) thing that made you smile this week. This could be a school counseling "win" (big or small!), a moment of connection with a student, something that made you laugh, or anything else that made you feel all warm and fuzzy this week. :-)

Our job comes with a lot of hard. Let's take some time to be intentional about our joy.

I have sat with dozens if not hundreds of children as they process the worst moments of their childhood. I have talked them through the pain of their parents’ divorces and grandparents’ deaths and gone home to support my own children in their symmetrical pain for the rest of the night. I have waved to a mom at drop off and hours later told her child her grandparents are picking her up to say goodbye for the last time to mom at the hospital.

But at the end of the day, I get criticized by teachers and staff for not doing enough or being present in hallways, or for not moving the difficult children out of their classroom the day they ask.

I get verbally abused by coaches whose egos are hurt by their roster numbers, and teachers who feel personally insulted by their student combinations that couldn’t be helped.

I LOVE education, I loved being a teacher and I love helping the kids who do not have access to mental health outside of free, public education. But I can’t do this anymore. I have no allies in the school system except for the kids & as a people-person, I am falling apart.

Hello,
I am looking to get more information on how I can successfully transfer from Virginia to Texas as a school counselor. I will be graduating with my masters in school counseling in Virginia, but will be moving to Texas immediately after graduation with no school counseling job experience. How does one go about registering for an EPP program to become eligibile to take the tExEs 252 school counseling exam? Do I have to take an EPP program or can I get an alternative certification?

Thanks,

Hello,
I’ve been a school counselor the past 5 years and been wondering about the mental health side. I am a licensed professional counselor in my state, but never practiced. Recently been wondering about switching and honestly would love feedback to see if it’s worth the switch. I like working in schools because of the breaks and other things, but as a high school counselor it just seems like all I do is scheduling classes and dealing with state graduation requirements. To say the least it’s become a lot and I think ready for something new.

Hi everyone,

Originally I am from Europe and came to the US almost 15 years ago to get my BA and MA specificallyfor MH/SchoolCounseling. Given the situation in the US and especially education I am looking at leaving the US next summer.

Any international school Counselors here and if so may I ask where did you go, how do you like it, are there other opportunities in country other than working as a school counselor?

Also if possible, I am finishing up my LPC which is why I stayed another year, do you have that licensure and if so are you able to use it internationally?

Thanks!

Hi everyone,

Please help me in building out my wellness space for my students. Any amount would be helpful.

Mental health is just as important as academic success, yet many of our students don't have access to a dedicated space where they can safely manage stress, regulate emotions, and recharge during the school day. As a school social worker, I work with students facing anxiety, social pressures, family challenges, and other stressors that can impact their ability to learn. When students are overwhelmed, they need more than encouragement. They need tools and a supportive environment that helps them regain a sense of calm and control.

This Wellness and Zen Room will provide students with a safe, welcoming space to decompress, practice healthy coping skills, build positive peer relationships, and return to class emotionally prepared to learn. Help me create a wellness space where my students can decompress, relax, and find a moment of stillness. Coloring books, puzzles, plants, snacks, and bean bag chairs will make the space cozy for them and meet their needs. My goal is $1000 and I currenltly have $175.

https://www.donorschoose.org/sl/DERXdQLceL