School for School Counselors Podcast

School Counselor, That's Not Anxiety. Here's How to Prove It.

In this episode, I’m challenging a common habit in school counseling: labeling student distress as “anxiety” before it actually meets clinical criteria.You’ll hear the research behind "prevalence inflation," how DSM standards separate normal worry from clinical anxiety, and the four-question test that will change how you approach 504 plans, school refusal, and all your anxiety-related counseling referrals.Because when we mislabel discomfort, exclusion, or instability as anxiety, we don’t just miss the root issue. We build an entire intervention around the wrong problem.Run the four-question test before you write the accommodation.********Join our new Skool for School Counselors community ********Want support with real-world strategies that actually work on your campus? We’re doing that every day in the School for School Counselors Mastermind. Come join us! ********All names, stories, and case studies in this episode are fictionalized composites drawn from real-world circumstances. Any resemblance to actual students, families, or school personnel is coincidental. Details have been altered to protect privacy. This work is part of the School for School Counselors body of work developed by Steph Johnson, LPC, CSC, which centers role authority over role drift, consultative practice over fix-it culture, adult-designed systems and environments as primary drivers of student behavior, clinical judgment over compliance, and school counselor identity as leadership within complex systems.

School Counselors, Stop Accommodating Anxiety. (Yes, Really.)

What if the anxiety accommodations you've been writing into your 504s and IEPs are actually making your students more anxious?In this episode, I'm sharing a section from a recent masterclass inside the School for School Counselors Mastermind- one that had members circling accommodations on their plans before it was even over!You'll hear the research behind why avoidance-based accommodations backfire, how we're accidentally teaching students they can't handle hard things, and one dead-simple question you can ask yourself Monday morning to evaluate any accommodation on your caseload.Plus- someone left a review calling this podcast "tragic." Wait till you hear my response...********Join our new Skool for School Counselors community ********Want support with real-world strategies that actually work on your campus? We’re doing that every day in the School for School Counselors Mastermind. Come join us! ********All names, stories, and case studies in this episode are fictionalized composites drawn from real-world circumstances. Any resemblance to actual students, families, or school personnel is coincidental. Details have been altered to protect privacy. This work is part of the School for School Counselors body of work developed by Steph Johnson, LPC, CSC, which centers role authority over role drift, consultative practice over fix-it culture, adult-designed systems and environments as primary drivers of student behavior, clinical judgment over compliance, and school counselor identity as leadership within complex systems.

School Counseling Has Two Futures- and We’re Running Out of Time

You hold a master’s degree. You studied crisis intervention, psychopathology, and therapeutic technique.So why is your profession still fighting to be seen as essential?It doesn’t have to stay this way- but the window is closing.In this episode, I lay out two possible futures for school counseling: one that ends in irrelevance, and one where we finally become the campus influence we were meant to be.What’s pushing us toward the wrong path isn’t what most counselors think.And fixing it will require a shift few are talking about.Stop being helpful. Start being undeniable.********Join our new Skool for School Counselors community ********Want support with real-world strategies that actually work on your campus? We’re doing that every day in the School for School Counselors Mastermind. Come join us! ********All names, stories, and case studies in this episode are fictionalized composites drawn from real-world circumstances. Any resemblance to actual students, families, or school personnel is coincidental. Details have been altered to protect privacy. This work is part of the School for School Counselors body of work developed by Steph Johnson, LPC, CSC, which centers role authority over role drift, consultative practice over fix-it culture, adult-designed systems and environments as primary drivers of student behavior, clinical judgment over compliance, and school counselor identity as leadership within complex systems.

The Catalyst Problem in School Counseling

Most school counselors aren’t ineffective.They’re mis-measured.In this episode, Steph challenges one of the profession’s most sacred assumptions and names something about her own work that most counselors wouldn’t dare say out loud.This conversation explores what it means to do catalytic work in a system obsessed with finished products, and why that mismatch is costing counselors their confidence.*********************************Join the next-level conversation in my Substack.*********************************Want support with real-world strategies that actually work on your campus? We’re doing that every day in the School for School Counselors Mastermind. Come join us! *********************************All names, stories, and case studies in this episode are fictionalized composites drawn from real-world circumstances. Any resemblance to actual students, families, or school personnel is coincidental. Details have been altered to protect privacy. This work is part of the School for School Counselors body of work developed by Steph Johnson, LPC, CSC, which centers role authority over role drift, consultative practice over fix-it culture, adult-designed systems and environments as primary drivers of student behavior, clinical judgment over compliance, and school counselor identity as leadership within complex systems.

The Unspoken Cost of Compassion in School Counseling

Caring is what makes you good at this job. It’s also what puts you in the most danger.If you’re a school counselor who still cares deeply about students, but you’ve noticed yourself feeling flatter, heavier, or more guarded than you used to- this episode is for you.You’re still showing up. Still doing the work. But the caring itself has started to weigh on you, and you don’t know why.In this episode, I talk about a kind of exhaustion that doesn’t come from being busy or overwhelmed. It builds from sitting with hard stories, holding emotional weight, and being the safe place for everyone else inside a role that rarely offers closure or relief.This isn’t about burnout.It’s about the unspoken cost of compassion in school counseling.If you’ve ever thought, "Something feels wrong, but I don’t know how to name it," this conversation will help make it make sense.*********************************Episodes I referred to:Ep. 87- Some of the Best School Counseling Advice I've Ever HeardEp. 180- The Question School Counselors NEVER Get AskedEp. 181- Why School Counselors Are So Tired (It’s Not Burnout)*********************************Join the next-level conversation in my Substack.*********************************Want support with real-world strategies that actually work on your campus? We’re doing that every day in the School for School Counselors Mastermind. Come join us! *********************************All names, stories, and case studies in this episode are fictionalized composites drawn from real-world circumstances. Any resemblance to actual students, families, or school personnel is coincidental. Details have been altered to protect privacy. This work is part of the School for School Counselors body of work developed by Steph Johnson, LPC, CSC, which centers role authority over role drift, consultative practice over fix-it culture, adult-designed systems and environments as primary drivers of student behavior, clinical judgment over compliance, and school counselor identity as leadership within complex systems.