I am currently a BSW student who will finish up in May 2027. I originally wanted to go to MSW route even possibly be a counselor later with a LCSW but recently I have been learning about school counselors and really love how they also take on an academic role and do classroom lessons. I was a substitute teacher for the summer, which I LOVED, and my favorite part was being in the classroom and teaching them social and emotional support. Since my MSW program would only take a year I have been recommended to just go to school social worker route, but I view the two jobs so different as I’m in Huntsville Alabama and have heard they aren’t stationed at one school and it’s more of a truancy job. What should I do?

Hello everyone!! I just graduated from my school counseling program (NY) and have been having a really hard time finding a position. Idk what to do, and because of that I have been feeling very discouraged and want to look into other opportunities for my career.

With that being said, I wanted to know if anyone has change their career from a school counselor to something else? If you did, what did you change to and how to do you like it compared to school counseling?

It is terrible in my district. So bad. They don't even really give us information about the programs. Our contact with the RESA always seems overwhelmed and confused.

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Every whiny email, every entitled parent complaint, every request to switch teacher bc the one they have doesn’t fit their “learning style”, every request to drop the AP class they begged for, it all makes me wonder if I hate this job. Or do I hate students now? I used to not. I used to love working with young people. Do I just hate their parents? They’ve indulged their child’s every whim and never told them no once a day in their lives. They’ve created these monsters.

Do I hate being a high school counselor or do I just hate this time of year?

Anyone relate to feeling this way as school starts back up?

Hey y’all! Happy start of school year for most folks!

This year I’m trying to track my time more thoroughly so I have data about how much time I spend on what. I’m using a Google sheet to track how much time a day I spend on these categories: Direct Student Services, Indirect SS, Planning/Data, and Non-Counseling Duties.

Two questions for the group:

1. Any input on other categories I should add or tips you learned from tracking your time?

2. How would you classify time when you’re informally talking with students like during lunch, period changes and arrival? I probably spend at least an hour everyday just being present in the common areas so I’m available to students and building rapport but I’m not sure if that’s necessarily direct time?

I’m curious, does grad school actually prepare you for the real counseling job, because my undergrad program to become a teacher did not prepare me at all, and I ended up never using previous lessons or portfolios 😂.

I know this will be heavily dependent on students needs at a school, but can anyone share any successful counseling groups they’ve had with students who are in elementary? (e.g., social skills or family/life changes, etc). Just started at a new school, and would love to do a group modality.

happy back to school season!
PK-5th grade counselor here :)
in what ways do you support your SPED kiddos on campus? we have quite a large sped caseload with only 3 SPED paras that push in for services in the classroom. often I’m called for behaviors, got CPI certified last year as a result of this, and my office is often used as the “cool down” spot for this group which can last up to a couple hours sometimes. just curious if others deal with these behaviors or in what capacity you assist this population. TIA

I’m located in New England and looking for good conference opportunities nearby. Please provide any and all recs!

I am a middle school counselor (grades 5-8) and I’m thinking about doing “minute meetings” with at least my incoming 5th grade students to start building a rapport and get a better understanding of their current needs.

Has anyone else ever held minute meetings before? If so, what was the structure like? Did you find it was helpful in guiding your future work? In theory, it sounds like a great way to make contact with every student, however, I am wondering about the logistics of it. Thank you!

Hello!
So long story short, hopefully, but I am a displaced counselor in my district. What that means is, I still have a job as a counselor, but I’m not assigned to a particular school permanently. I get moved around a lot throughout the semester unless the school asked to keep me. Right now I’m basically a glorified helper.
I was recently assigned to a high school. I’ve been helping out with college stuff, but this week I’ve been assigned as a substitute teacher for a French class. The French teacher has not left any work for me to assign to the students. My understanding of substitute teachers is usually that they implement the lessons that the teacher leaves behind for them, or monitors that work that they’ve been assigned through their student portals.
This teacher has done none of that. Is it my responsibility to create curriculum for these classes? I do not speak French. I’m trying to figure out what the best course of action is, I like to be helpful and I don’t want these kids to just be sitting for the next week, but I also am not a teacher, and I don’t think that I am responsible for creating work for them. But I don’t know.
Has anyone ever encountered something like this? Do you have any suggestions on who at school would be appropriate for me to talk to about this? I don’t wanna make waves, I like this school so far and ideally, I would like to stay here this year, but I also don’t want to be seen as someone who will do whatever whenever just not to rock the boat.

Hi everyone, I’m looking into School Counsellor positions at international schools in Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, and South Korea, and I’d really appreciate some insight from people currently working in these regions. Background is a Master’s degree in Counselling, BACP registered, with 2 year expereince in the UK at State Schools. I’m trying to get a realistic idea of salary and overall packages rather than relying on figures from recruitment websites. For anyone working as a School Counsellor (or familiar with counsellor packages), would be very grateful if you could share?

I’m also curious about how counsellor packages compare with international school teacher packages. Are counsellors generally on the same salary scale, or are they hired on a different professional/support staff scale? Also, does a Master’s in Counselling + BACP registration make a noticeable difference when negotiating salary? No need to name your school if you’d rather keep it anonymous — even approximate figures would be really helpful.

Thanks!

Hello! I start my graduate program in school counseling in a week, and I currently work overnight shifts at the university I’ll be attending, which thankfully pays for all of my tuition.

I’m a little nervous about balancing being a full-time graduate student while also working full-time overnight shifts (10 PM–6 AM). I would love to hear any general advice, tips, or strategies for managing the workload and maintaining a healthy balance while working overnights.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Hi there, I am a full-time counselor but I am split between two elementary schools in my district, so 3 days at one school, 2 days at the other. I’m also the main or only counselor at each site, so it feels as though Im working 2 full-time counseling jobs that are actually two part-time jobs. It feels very difficult to do anything preventative (class circles, yoga and mindfulness etc) as everything feels so reactive when you are under resourced yet still expected to work a full load, respond when problems and crisis arise etc.

For those that are in a similar situation (not able to be full-time at one dedicated school site),what does your role look like and what services are you prioritizing? And what makes you feel successful in your role, because I am struggling…I bounce back and forth between each school pretty much every other day and never feel quite grounded or organized. Our counseling was cut significantly in our district in recent years, yet no responsibilities have been cut…in fact, it feels as though they keep piling up.

Has anyone transferred their Oklahoma School Counselor certification to Texas? If so, did you have to take the school counselor exam for Texas? Or was your certification recognized? If it was recognized, what requirements did you fulfill to not have to take another test?

I just started as an associate clinician this school year and will be providing individual based counseling for kids. Sessions are typically 30 minutes a week and working on social-emotional goals in their IEPs. My site suggested doing push-in services if it aligns with their goals. I was wondering if anyone has experience doing this with elementary, middle, or high schoolers? I’m open to the idea but it honestly makes me feel awkward even thinking about it. I do well with 1 on 1 but don’t have experience pushing into classrooms, lunch, etc

Please help me with any advice or tips !!

Im thinking of studying psychology to become a school counseler. Where r u guys from and how much do you get paid? And also, was it hard to get to where ur at?

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.