Episode 150: Not Every Week Is a Highlight Reel

Not every National School Counseling Week looks like a highlight reel, and that’s okay.

In this reflective episode, I share a personal experience from my own school where carefully made plans for National School Counseling Week were replaced by grief, crisis response, and the need to simply be present for students and staff.

This episode is for counselors who felt exhausted, unseen, or overwhelmed, and for anyone who needed permission to let something go.

In this episode, I cover:

1. Why National School Counseling Week can feel complicated and emotional
2. How unexpected events can shift even the best-laid plans
3. What it means to truly “do enough” as a school counselor
4. Why quiet work still matters, even when it isn’t celebrated

A moment from the episode that I hope stays with you:

“Sometimes doing what we can with what we have is the most realistic and compassionate choice.”

If National School Counseling Week didn’t look the way you hoped, if you stayed quiet, or if you focused on crisis instead of celebration, I want you to know this: you didn’t fail. You’re human. And the work you do every day still makes a difference.

Thank you for being here and for all you give to this profession.

Mentioned in this episode:

Perks Membership

You're listening to the Counselor Chat podcast, a show for school counselors looking for easy to implement strategies, how to tips, collaboration, and a little spark of joy.

I'm Carol Miller, your host. I'm a full time school counselor and the face behind counseling essentials. I'm all about creating simplified systems, data driven practices, and using creative approaches to engage students.

If you're looking for a little inspiration to help you make a big impact on student growth and success, you're in the right place. Because we're better together.

Ready to chat.

Let's dive in.

Hey everyone.

Welcome back to another episode of Counselor Chat. I'm your host Carol Miller.

And today's episode,

it's a little different.

It's more reflective.

I think it's more real.

And honestly,

it's really coming straight from my heart.

By the time you're listening to this,

National School Counseling Week has already passed.

And for some of you,

maybe that week felt affirming and celebratory and full of lots of well deserved appreciation.

But for others, let's face didn't.

And if that was you, I want you to know right away,

this episode,

this episode is for you.

Let's just name something out loud.

Not every school counselor has a great National School Counseling Week.

Some counselors are exhausted,

some are burnt out,

some feel so overburdened,

and some feel like advocating for the school counseling profession isn't something that happens one week a year. It's something that they already do every single day.

And when you're already carrying that weight,

being told to celebrate,

it can feel like just one more thing added to an already overflowing plate.

And on top of that, I know social media that week was hard.

You see post after post of flowers, of breakfast, of kind, notes, of gifts, of celebrations.

And if that's not your experience,

I mean, it can feel really discouraging.

It can feel like,

what am I doing wrong?

Or why doesn't my school see me the way that others see them?

So before anything else,

I want to say this clearly.

If National School Counseling Week didn't feel good for you,

it doesn't mean you failed.

And it doesn't mean you care any less about the profession.

Sometimes the plan was there, but life just had other ideas.

And in my district,

we actually, we had a plan.

I'm the teacher coordinator for our elementary school counselors and we talked about how we were going to approach National School Counseling Week. We were going to take pictures in each building, we were going to use the ask assigns, we were going to capture Counselors in action and send everything to our PR department.

I mean, the goal was to show the broader community what school counselors really do,

especially at the elementary level,

that our work isn't just scheduling and college planning. I mean, it's about emotions, it's regulation,

it's coping skills,

it's conflict resolution,

it's heart work.

And our plan,

it was solid.

But sometimes, my friends,

life doesn't care about the plan.

The Thursday before National School Counseling Week began,

one of our teachers died very unexpectedly.

I mean, she was deeply loved by staff, by students, by families.

And we were able to tell faculty that Thursday after school,

but we couldn't tell students yet.

And then Friday, it was a snow day.

And then the weekend came.

And Monday,

the very first day of National School Counseling Week,

became a day centered entirely around grief.

We brought in our crisis team.

Our county employee assistance program came in to support our staff.

We gathered and shared resources.

I created flyers for the teachers about grief,

about caring for themselves while still standing in front of kids.

And the crisis team.

They shared this small, beautiful book with me about how all life has a beginning,

an end,

and in between,

we're all living.

And that became the anchor for how we talk to kids.

And even that morning, I was still writing the script because I know how important that was to be prepared.

And I didn't want to lose my words.

And I was still figuring out how to say the right words.

I was still planning how to hold space for our kids who just had lost someone so important to them.

And for most of the day, I was pretty calm.

I was steady. I was present.

Until one group of kids,

they were especially close to this teacher. And when they began to cry,

when I saw their emotions come pouring out,

it hit me.

That's the thing about this work.

We don't just witness emotions,

we absorb them.

And in that moment, National School Counseling Week wasn't even a thought.

Pictures didn't matter.

Social media didn't matter.

Advocacy posts,

they didn't matter.

All that mattered was being there.

And my CO counselor,

she had been sick the whole week before.

So we never got our pictures done in our building.

And at some point, I realized I just didn't have the mental capacity to chase it all down.

And certainly on Monday, I wasn't taking any photos.

So I sent our PR person the photos I did have from the other buildings.

I didn't hound anyone. I didn't stress about buildings that didn't send me theirs.

I simply said,

this is what we have.

You know what?

That was enough.

Because sometimes doing what we can with what we have is the most realistic and compassionate choice.

And here's the truth I really want to leave you with.

We never really know what we're going to walk into on any given day.

We never know when our carefully laid plans are going to be replaced by crisis, grief, or something heavy.

And this work, it is heavy.

So it's okay to say I can't do it all.

I need to let something go.

And I don't have the mental capacity for one more thing.

And that doesn't mean you don't care, and it doesn't mean advocacy doesn't matter to you.

It just means that you're human.

I didn't post a video during National School Counseling Week this year.

And you know what?

That's okay.

The world, it kept turning.

No one was mad.

And the work that we do, it still mattered.

And the longer I've been a school counselor, the more I understand this.

Giving yourself permission isn't quitting.

It's surviving.

It's abstaining.

And it's how you stay in this profession long enough to keep making a difference.

So if National School Counseling Week didn't look the way you hoped,

if you stayed quiet,

if you focused on crisis instead of celebration,

I see you and your work,

it still matters.

So until next time,

I hope you have a really great, great week.

Bye for now.

Thanks for listening to today's episode of Counselor Chat. All of the links I talked about can be found in the show notes and at counselingessentials.org podcast.

Be sure to hit follow or subscribe on your favorite podcast player. And if you would be so kind to leave a review,

I'd really appreciate it.

Want to connect? Send me a DM on Facebook or Instagram at Counseling Essentials until next time. Can't wait till we chat.

Bye for now.