Shownotes
The Students You’re Still Worried About
As the school year winds down, most people are focused on celebrations, graduations, and summer plans. But school counselors know there’s another side to this season—the students we're still thinking about.
In this heartfelt episode of Counselor Chat, we'll talk about the students who stay on our minds long after the final bell rings. The students who still struggle with friendships, attendance, anxiety, family challenges, or simply finding their place in the world.
You'll learn:
- Why it's normal to worry about certain students as summer approaches
- What you can realistically do before the school year ends
- Simple ways to help students identify supports and prepare for summer
- How to effectively hand off information to next year's team
- Why counselors need to remember they are only one chapter—not the entire story
In This Episode:
✔️ Supporting vulnerable students before summer break
✔️ Creating meaningful final check-ins
✔️ Helping students identify trusted adults and support systems
✔️ Transition planning and counselor-to-counselor handoffs
✔️ Letting go of the pressure to "fix everything" before June
✔️ Trusting that the seeds you've planted will continue to grow
Key Takeaway
You don't have to solve every problem before summer. Sometimes the greatest gift we give students is consistency, connection, and the reminder that they matter.
The fact that you're still worried about certain students doesn't mean you haven't done enough—it means you cared deeply.
Connect with Carol
🌐 CounselingEssentials.org
📸 Instagram: @counselingessentials
If this episode resonated with you, share it with another school counselor who may be carrying the weight of unfinished stories as the school year comes to a close.
Until next time, remember: the relationships matter, the small moments matter, and you matter too. 💛
Grab the Show Notes: Counselingessentials.org/podcast
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Transcripts
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 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,
and I am so glad that you're here with me today.
Well, today's episode is one that's sitting a little heavier on my heart than the past couple of episodes.
Well,
we are nearing the end of the school year and while there's excitement and countdowns and field trips and,
well, locker cleanouts and the teachers dreaming about sleeping past 5:30am there's also something else happening.
Quiet, quietly in the background.
There is those students that we're still worried about.
You know the ones,
the students whose names immediately pop up into your head when someone says, I can't believe the year is almost over.
They're the students who still don't have the stable friendships or who struggle emotionally.
They still have attendance concerns,
they still carry the heavy things at home.
They still don't fully believe in an in themselves or they still don't have the support system we wish they had.
And I think this is the group we don't talk about enough at the end of the school year.
Because while everyone else is celebrating school counselors, we're often sitting there thinking,
what about that kid?
So today's episode is about the students that we're still worried about,
what we can realistically still do before summer,
how to hand off support thoughtfully and how to hold all of this emotionally as counselors.
Because this work,
this is the stuff that stays with us.
I think one of the hardest parts of being a school counselor is that we don't always get clean endings.
Teachers often get to see final projects or improved grades, completed units.
But counseling growth,
it's messier than that.
Sometimes we see huge break breakthroughs and other times we still see progress that still seems fragile.
And honestly,
May and June can feel emotionally complicated because we're carrying both pride and worried.
And I remember one student years ago who had a really difficult home life.
Some mornings they came to school exhausted, sometimes hungry,
sometimes angry,
sometimes just Shut down.
And throughout the year, we worked on coping skills and emotional regulation.
Them asking for help and building safe connections.
I mean, there was progress.
But as summer got closer, I remember thinking,
school is the safest place this kid can be.
And that feeling,
that feeling sits heavy because we know summer break is not joyful for every student.
For some students, school provides consistency,
meals, relationships, structure,
emotional safety,
unpredictability.
And when that disappears for two months,
it's really hard not to worry.
And I think this time of year can trigger something in counselors.
We suddenly feel urgency to solve everything,
to rescue everyone and close every gap before June.
And I want to gently remind you,
you are not responsible for fixing every piece of a child's story.
Because before summer break,
you can care deeply without carrying impossible responsibility.
Because counseling work is often about planting seeds.
Some seeds bloom quickly and some take years.
And sometimes the most powerful thing we give a student was simply one safe adult who consistently showed up.
Never underestimate that.
And I think sometimes counselors dismiss the impact of listening, noticing,
checking in,
offering consistency.
But for some students,
that changes everything.
So what can you still do before summer?
Let's talk practicality.
Because while we cannot solve everything before summer, there are meaningful things we can still do.
One,
Reconnect one more time.
Sometimes the end of the year gets so busy that our most vulnerable students accidentally get less attention because we're putting out fires everywhere else.
So make time for one more check in,
even if it's brief.
I mean, a quick how are you feeling about summer?
What are you excited about?
What are you nervous about?
And who can you go to if you need support?
Because that conversation right there, it matters.
Number two,
help students identify safe supports,
especially for students with emotional or family concerns.
Help them think about who are their trusted adults, who's in their circle, their relatives, their neighbors, their coaches,
maybe sometimes even an older sibling.
What are their community supports?
Because sometimes our kiddos truly feel like I'm all alone.
And helping them identify even one support person can make a difference.
Number three,
create a simple summer plan.
Nothing fancy,
just basic reflection questions.
What helps you feel calm?
What helps you when you're upset?
Who can you talk to?
What routines help you feel okay?
And for our younger students, this could even be a coping skills bookmark,
a small coping card,
or a feelings check in tool.
Simple, my friends,
is enough.
Number four,
let them know they matter.
I mean, this one sounds really small,
but it's huge.
Some students genuinely need to hear,
I'm glad you were here this year,
not because of grades not because they were easy,
not because they were high achieving,
but because they mattered.
And honestly,
some students will carry those words for years.
Now, let's talk about something that's incredibly important and honestly sometimes overlooked.
Handing off support.
Because counselors often keep information,
well, important information in their heads.
Because we know the quiet student who internalizes everything,
the student whose behavior escalates during transitions,
the student who's grieving privately,
and the student whose attendance dips when their anxiety increases.
And if we don't communicate those concerns, those concerns thoughtfully,
students can end up starting over every single year.
Now, obviously we protect confidentiality and we follow school protocols, but transition conversations matter.
And they may look like transition meetings, support summaries,
conversations with next year's counselor, or maybe even,
you know, that they're going to be going to summer school.
And so we hand that off to the counselor at the summer school.
Maybe it's a student support team discussions or notes about interventions that work.
I always think it's a great idea to write all of your heavy hitters with supports, maybe that worked or didn't work,
and a running list of just the little things, the things that matter to them, the things that upset them or, you know, helped make a difference.
And keep a little list because two months even for,
for us in the summer is a long time.
And so I know for myself and I usually pretty good about remembering all those little things.
Sometimes I.
It takes me a little bit to get back in the swing of the school year and then I'm like,
oh yeah, now I remember.
And so having a little list can be a good thing to start off next year,
especially if you want to start your MTSS meetings or student support team meetings right away,
real early in the year, you have all those things documented and ready to go.
And honestly,
one of the best things that we can tell next year's teen is not just here's the problem, but also here's what helps when you are keeping this little list.
Write down things like this student responds well to check ins or movement breaks really helped community circles help the student connect,
or this student shuts down when they're corrected publicly.
Maybe even humor and relationship building made a difference because all this little information,
my friends, this is gold.
And can we talk honestly for a second while we're here?
This time of year can be so emotionally exhausting for counselors.
And while it might seem, I mean, we're headed into June here in another week or so,
and my lesson load, I know, will get a little lighter.
I'm wrapping up the lessons.
First of all, it's harder to get in for the lessons because their kids are always out on field trips or whatnot.
But it's heavy.
While that part is lighter, my day might seem a little lighter because I'm without the lessons.
It's actually a little bit heavier there too,
because while everyone else is counting down,
I'm sitting there and I'm processing, what are the unfinished stories? What are the worries? What are the transitions?
What students do we wish we could keep protecting over the summer?
Or how can I provide this family with supports? What kinds of programs will keep them? I know that home isn't good, so what can I recommend for their family?
Or what kind of programs can I help get them connected with?
And sometimes in all of that emotional work,
there's also grief.
I can just remember certain students over the years where I thought I just need one more year with them,
one more year to build confidence or one more year to help them mature,
one more year to stabilize things.
And that's hard.
But part of this work is learning we are. One chapter in students lives could be an important chapter,
a meaningful chapter,
but it's not an entire story.
And sometimes we have to trust that we planted seeds. And those seeds we planted,
they mattered.
The connection mattered,
the support mattered.
Even if we don't get to see the final outcome.
You know, years ago I had a student who struggled socially almost the entire year,
was very withdrawn, very guarded,
lots of self doubt.
And honestly, I worried about this student constantly.
And at the end of the year, during one of our last conversations,
the student said something simple.
Thanks for always saying hi to me.
That was it.
Not you changed my life or you fixed everything.
None of that,
just thanks for always saying hi to me.
And I remembered thinking,
sometimes we truly have no idea what matters most.
Remember those little things.
Consistency,
warmth, noticing,
remembering,
greeting them by name.
Those things count.
And they count more than we realize.
So as this school year starts winding down,
I know,
I know there are students you're still worried about.
And that doesn't make you bad at your job. It makes you human.
It means you cared deeply.
And while we can't control summer or family situations or every outcome,
we can connect,
prepare,
communicate,
encourage and remind students they mattered.
And sometimes that is more powerful than we know.
So to every counselor out there carrying concern for students going into summer break,
I see you.
This work is emotional because relationships matter.
And the fact that you're worried,
it means you showed up fully this year.
Thank you my friends, for doing that.
Thank you for being a safe place for kids,
and thank you for caring enough to carry their stories with you.
And until next time,
I hope you have a really great break.
Well, a great week, because I'll be back next week,
so I hope you have a 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.
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