School Counseling Simplified Podcast
196 episodes - English - Latest episode: 10 days ago - ★★★★★ - 95 ratingsSchool Counseling Simplified is a podcast offering easy to implement strategies for busy school counselors. The host, Rachel Davis from Bright Futures Counseling, shares tips and tricks she has learned from her years of experience as a school counselor both in the US and at an international school in Costa Rica.
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Episodes
192. Using Mindfulness As An Anxiety AND Executive Functioning Strategy
April 16, 2024 09:00 - 17 minutes - 24.6 MBIn this episode of School Counseling Simplified, your host, Rachel, shares powerful mindfulness strategies for managing student anxiety and executive functioning. Here are some highlights: Mindfulness activates the prefrontal cortex and cingulate cortex, areas of the brain linked to attention, executive functions, and learning. A study found students who practiced mindfulness improved their executive functioning skills like behavioral regulation. Rachel demonstrated mindful breath...
191. Setting Boundaries, Therapy Dogs, and More Ways to Beat Anxiety with Laura Filtness
April 09, 2024 09:00 - 35 minutes - 48.5 MBIn today's episode, I chat with Laura Filtness about anxiety strategies. Laura talks through the importance of setting professional boundaries and using therapy dogs in counseling programs. We discuss practical applications for managing anxiety in students and school counselors, including mindful moments, expanding the window of tolerance, and using cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) techniques. Laura also shares her passion for using picture books in counseling and her involvement in mentor...
190. CBT Anxiety Strategies with Jessica Leinen
April 02, 2024 09:00 - 32 minutes - 44.5 MBAnxiety remains our focus this week as we have gotten such an overwhleming response and need to continue to cover this topic. Today, Jessica, from Counseling Adventures, joins the conversation to share valuable insights and practical strategies for addressing anxiety among students. Drawing from her 10 years of experience, Jessica offers tips for parents, teachers, and fellow counselors, emphasizing the importance of understanding and managing different types of anxiety in the school sett...
189: Anxiety Roundup: How to Support Anxious Students with Ashley Bartley
March 26, 2024 08:00 - 20 minutes - 32.4 MBSeparation anxiety has always impacted kids but it seems to be much more prevalent in the past few years since the pandemic. We see it in students crying as they are exiting their cars in the morning, refusing to come to school, and feeling sick in the nurse’s office. We all want to help these students cope with this anxiety as best as possible so Ashley Bartley is joining us to share practical tips and strategies to help our students who struggle with separation anxiety. A...
188: Anxiety Deep Dive with School Psych Sophia (Everything From CBT to Selective Mutism!)
March 19, 2024 08:00 - 32 minutes - 48.6 MBAnxiety does not just impact older students and adults. There are many elementary students who struggle with anxiety as well! As a school counselor, it can be challenging to determine the root of that anxiety and figure out what strategies may be beneficial for your student. I know we all want to support our students as best as possible so I am so excited to have Sophia from School Psych Finds on to share some knowledge and insights about helping our students with anxiety! ...
187: 3 Grounding Strategies to Help Anxious Students
March 12, 2024 09:00 - 13 minutes - 22.5 MBI think all of us can agree that kids are more anxious now than ever. And as school counselors, trying to find effective tools and strategies to figure out why our students are so anxious and help our students calm down can be challenging. So how can we help these students? I completely understand how difficult it can be to come up with strategies when you have a student in your office whose anxiety is high. Having practical, easy to implement strategies handy for when your...
186: Easy and Effective Anxiety Strategies with Mallory Zolinas
March 05, 2024 09:00 - 20 minutes - 32.3 MBStudents of all ages can suffer from anxiety or feel anxious about certain situations. Teaching them effective coping strategies for managing their anxiety is so empowering for them and can help them feel more calm in stressful situations. I always love to hear tips and strategies from other school counselors and I am so excited to have Mallory Zolinas join me to share some coping strategies for anxiety that she teaches her students. Mallory is a 5th year Elementary Sch...
185: Assessing Counseling Lessons...Simplified!
February 27, 2024 09:00 - 11 minutes - 19.2 MBWe are wrapping up our series on school counselor competencies with my favorite topics: assessing and data! Showcasing assessments and data is such an incredible way to advocate for your role and show your program’s progress to stakeholders. In addition to it being an amazing way to advocate for your role, assessing and reporting program results is an ASCA school counselor competency! Sharing your program’s progress and impact doesn’t need to be incredibly complicated ...
184: Planning Counseling Lessons...Simplified!
February 20, 2024 09:00 - 13 minutes - 22.7 MBHave you looked at the ASCA school counselor competencies and been totally overwhelmed? This whole month, I am focusing on simplifying these standards and making them easy to understand and easy to implement. We’ve previously covered direct and indirect student services and now it’s time for one of my absolute favorite topics, planning. If you’re a planner like me, you are going to love this, too! Planning doesn’t need to be complicated! There is a lot of jargon in the ...
183: Direct Student Services 101
February 13, 2024 09:00 - 13 minutes - 14.4 MBDirect student services may not sound super interesting but this is the good stuff! It’s the things we all enjoy doing and the reasons we became school counselors. Direct student services are when we are working with students in one on one settings, small groups, and class lessons. We all know that providing these services are the key parts of our role but how can we be sure we are delivering the best services possible to your students? The ASCA professional competencie...
182: Indirect Student Services 101
February 06, 2024 09:00 - 21 minutes - 33.2 MBWhat are indirect student services? We all know there is so much that goes into school counseling besides just the class lessons, small groups, and individual sessions. There is so much that goes on behind the scenes. These indirect student services are so important to making the biggest impact possible on all of our students. If you’re looking through the ASCA website, it may seem wordy, formal, and confusing making it challenging to determine what you should consider ...
181: Document Services and Cross Off To-Dos
January 30, 2024 09:00 - 12 minutes - 20.1 MBIf you’re like me, you’re always looking for new ways to increase your productivity. As busy school counselors, we need to save every minute we can by finding more efficient ways to do things that work for our personalities and busy schedules. As we wrap up our productivity series, I want to share some of my favorite ways to more efficiently document services provided and ideas for how to make your to do list a little more effective. You know I love sharing tips, tricks...
180: Increase Productivity with Batching!
January 23, 2024 09:00 - 14 minutes - 23.6 MBWe are all about productivity this month because I love helping school counselors make the most of their time to make the biggest impact they can! We talked last week about using a time audit to figure out where you are spending your time and how to cut out things that you don’t need to be doing, but how else can you make the most of your time? Batching! We have so many things to accomplish each day and it’s amazing how much time we spend switching between these tasks. ...
179: How to Perform a School Counseling Time Audit
January 16, 2024 09:00 - 15 minutes - 25.1 MBIt’s January, the start of a new year and what better way to kick off your year than with a time audit! You know I love time audits because they are so incredibly helpful for making the most of your time and helping you make the biggest impact you can. I know, you might be thinking that adding another thing to your to-do list just isn’t possible. But believe me, you can regain so much time just by doing a quick time audit of what you’re doing each day! As school counsel...
178: A Day in the Life of a School Counselor with Sheyenne Hernandez
January 09, 2024 09:00 - 31 minutes - 47.3 MBI absolutely love hearing from other school counselors and getting an inside look at what their role looks like. Every counselor’s position is unique based on so many different factors - their background, their caseload size, if there are other counselors on their team, etc. That’s why I am so excited to chat with our guest today! Sheyenne Hernandez has a social work background, has a caseload of about 400 students, and has some great ideas for how to build relationships with her students! ...
177: New Year, New Counseling Goals!
January 02, 2024 09:00 - 16 minutes - 25.7 MBHappy New Year! We made it to 2024 and I am so excited to kick off a new year with you and see what 2024 holds for us! I always love to kick off the year with some new goals, selecting a word of the year, and a fresh start and I thought it would be perfect to share that with you! I think we all like to go into a new year with a fresh perspective and ideas of things we’d like to accomplish, I know I do at least! So to kick off the year, I thought it would be fun to share...
176: Best of School Counseling Simplified in 2023
December 26, 2023 09:00 - 11 minutes - 20 MBI hope you are enjoying your much needed and well deserved break! We are wrapping up 2023 with a look back at some of the best episodes from School Counseling Simplified this year to help you easily find what you may want to go back and listen to. This year has been so fun and I am so grateful for each and every one of you for tuning in and sharing the podcast! As I looked back on what we covered this year, there were four main topics we spent several episodes covering ...
175: How Collecting Calendar Data Can Actually Advocate for Your Role with Lauren Tingle
December 19, 2023 09:00 - 14 minutes - 23.2 MBAre you currently using a calendar to keep track of what students you are seeing, what you are seeing them for, and what tasks you are spending your time on? Let me tell you, if you are not, hearing from our guest, Lauren Tingle, is going to make you realize how helpful collecting data using a calendar truly is! Lauren is a former high school counselor turned content creator and curriculum writer. She is the high school counseling hype girl behind Counselor Clique helpi...
174: How to Help Students Learn Coping Skills with Janine Halloran
December 12, 2023 09:00 - 24 minutes - 36.7 MBHave you seen some of your kiddos really struggling with stress, worry, or other challenging emotions? Teaching these students some helpful coping skills they can do at school when these emotions come up can be a game changer for them! But how can we as school counselors help them and what types of strategies can we teach them to help them manage their emotions both at school and at home? Janine Halloran is joining us today to share some great tips for helping our students with coping skills...
173: How to Use a Seasonal Countdown Calendar in School Counseling
December 05, 2023 09:00 - 19 minutes - 29.7 MBHappy December! Holiday season is in full swing which means it’s a great time to pull some holiday and winter themed activities into your counseling sessions. This is a great opportunity to mix things up a bit, keep students excited to see you, and practice some important skills your students need! One winter activity idea I absolutely love is a seasonal countdown calendar. With winter break quickly approaching, this is a fun way to keep the students engaged during the ...
172: Supporting Students' Sensory Needs with Jessica Sinarski
November 28, 2023 09:00 - 32 minutes - 47.9 MBAs a school counselor, you’ve likely worked with a student who needed a little sensory support. But how can we help to support these students with sensory issues? Today I am joined by therapist and brain science expert Jessica Sinarski, who is giving us some wonderful insight into the eight senses and helping our students who benefit from various types of sensory input. Jessica Sinarski is a highly sought-after therapist, speaker, and change-maker. Extensive post-gradua...
171: How to Showcase Your Students' Progress Using a Data Wall
November 21, 2023 09:00 - 9 minutes - 17.2 MBYou know I am all about showcasing your work and impact as a school counselor! And midyear is the perfect time to do just that. One way I love to show the impact that school counselors make is by including student progress data on a data wall that shows how much students have improved because of counseling services. Now, this may sound a little intimidating especially as you’re thinking of everything that you need to do midyear, but it can be completely manageable and t...
170: A Day in MY Life as a School Counselor
November 14, 2023 09:00 - 21 minutes - 33.1 MBYou know I love having other school counselors join me to share their experiences and insight with you! And I thought it would be fun to share my experiences as a school counselor so you can hear a little more about my background and how I got started. Today, I am giving you a glimpse into my path to becoming a school counselor and what my role looked like in my schools. No two school counselors have the exact same background, experience, or journey school counseling. F...
169: How to Showcase Your Counseling Services Using a Data Wall
November 07, 2023 08:00 - 8 minutes - 15.9 MBCan you believe we are getting close to the end of the semester already? As we approach the midpoint of the school year, this is the perfect time to showcase your amazing work! I absolutely love creating a data wall to show parents, admin, and other stakeholders just how much of an impact school counselors have on the students. Putting a school counseling data wall up in a high traffic area is a great way to ensure that as many eyes as possible see the impact of your wo...
168: How School Counselors Can Support Special Education Students and Teachers with Michelle Vazquez
October 31, 2023 08:00 - 18 minutes - 25.7 MBWhen it comes to supporting our kiddos with special needs, there are some things to consider that you may not have thought about. We know these students may need extra support and working collaboratively with the special education teachers can help us understand how to provide this support and ways we can help our students get the most out of our lessons. I am so excited to have Michelle Vazquez joining me to share some insight into how we can work with our special education teachers to best...
167: Sneak Peek: Not So Scary Social Skills
October 24, 2023 08:00 - 7 minutes - 13.8 MBAt this point in the school year, you are likely seeing lots of referrals coming in for social skills. But, teaching social skills can be beneficial for all students, not just the ones being referred to you. I actually LOVE teaching social skills preventatively as a class lesson and then as needed in small group and individual lessons. Now, you may be a little nervous about coming up with ideas for teaching social skills. That’s okay! I have a whole training for you foc...
166: Recap: Not So Scary Small Groups
October 17, 2023 08:00 - 37 minutes - 54.4 MBTeaching small groups doesn’t have to be scary! When you have a consistent routine and amazing activities planned, small groups can be super fun to teach. But don’t worry, you don’t need to figure it all out on your own. In today’s episode, I am explaining how you can spice up your group counseling sessions so you can engage your students and make your small group lessons effective and fun! Small groups can be so much fun for you and the students if you do them correctl...
165: Bullying Prevention Ideas to Fit YOUR School's Needs
October 10, 2023 08:00 - 13 minutes - 22 MBOctober is Bully Prevention Month and unfortunately we all know that bullying is everywhere. Regardless of the socio economic status of the school, population, or even the country of the school, there is likely bullying happening. The good news is that we, as school counselors, can address this issue with our students and help to bring awareness to the harm of bullying and hopefully prevent it from happening. Now, you don’t always need to teach the same general bullying...
164: Fall Fun in School Counseling!
October 03, 2023 08:00 - 10 minutes - 17.3 MBIt’s spooky season which means it’s the perfect time to bring some Halloween and fall fun into your counseling lessons! Our kiddos absolutely love when we bring in props and tie the seasons into our lessons. Plus, it makes our lessons more memorable and engaging. And the best part is it doesn’t need to be complicated or take lots of time to prepare! There are super simple and fun ways you can incorporate fall fun into your counseling lessons. Whether you are looking to ...
163: Eliminating Burnout and Embracing Radical Self-Care with Brittany Blackwell
September 26, 2023 08:00 - 31 minutes - 46.5 MBWe’ve all heard about how important it is for educators to practice self-care, especially in the past few years. But oftentimes when we hear “self-care” we think of it as indulgent or selfish. What we as school counselors really need is true, radical self-care that will help us prevent burnout. Brittany Blackwell is joining me today to share some incredible insight on the importance of practicing radical self-care. Brittany Blackwell, M.Ed. is an award-winning special e...
162: How to Impact More Students Using Minute Meetings with Heidi MacDonald
September 19, 2023 08:00 - 23 minutes - 35.4 MBIs it really possible to meet with EVERY student in your school? We know it’s important to check in with students to see how they are doing but how could you possibly sit down and talk with every single student? Our guest today, Dr. Heidi MacDonald is a school psychologist who uses “minute meetings” to talk to every student in her school and is sharing how you can implement this in your school as well! Dr. Heidi MacDonald is in her 25th year of being a school psychologi...
161: How to Plan Data Driven Small Groups
September 12, 2023 08:00 - 12 minutes - 20.4 MBYou know I absolutely LOVE using data as a school counselor! But why is having a data driven school counseling program so important? Well, first it allows us to see if what we are doing is actually working and helps us tweak things when needed. Second, it’s an amazing way to advocate for our role as school counselors. And I know it’s early in the school year and you might be wondering why I’m talking about data already but it’s so important to start using and tracking d...
160: Shift Your Mindset from Stressed to Obsessed with Class Lessons
September 05, 2023 08:00 - 10 minutes - 18.1 MBDo you feel overwhelmed when it comes to teaching class lessons? You are not alone! One of the things I hear most often is that school counselors want to feel more prepared and competent when it comes to teaching class lessons. I want to help you to love teaching class lessons so I am sharing how I became obsessed with teaching class lessons! You may not have any classroom teaching experience before teaching class counseling lessons and that is totally okay! There are s...
159: Learn From My Mistakes When it Comes to Class Lessons!
August 29, 2023 08:00 - 11 minutes - 19.9 MBI made a lot of mistakes when I first began as a school counselor. But, everyone makes mistakes and mistakes are amazing learning opportunities. Obviously, if mistakes can be avoided, we’d all prefer to avoid them, right? So to help you avoid the same mistakes I made, I am sharing four mistakes I made when teaching classroom lessons and what I learned from them. It’s easy to share all the amazing things we do as school counselors but getting vulnerable and sharing our m...
158: The Power of a Ticket Out the Door
August 22, 2023 08:00 - 9 minutes - 16.5 MBHow can you easily gather data during class lessons? We know how important it is to collect data during our small group and individual sessions, but it is also important that we gather data from our class lessons as well. The good news is, collecting data from a whole class doesn’t need to be time consuming or complicated! An easy way to collect data from your class lessons is by using a ticket out the door. Whether you are teaching young students or older students, a t...
157: How to Feel More Confident Teaching Classroom Lessons
August 15, 2023 08:00 - 9 minutes - 16.1 MBTeaching class lessons can be nerve wracking and stressful if you aren’t confident in your ability to teach a whole class. But, just because you may not have been a teacher before, doesn’t mean that you need to dread teaching classroom lessons! I am sharing my favorite tips for feeling more confident when teaching class lessons. When you have a better understanding of how to teach classroom lessons, you become more confident in teaching them. I know I struggled with fee...
Exciting news!! You don't want to miss this training!
August 10, 2023 12:00Bonus annoucement! I am hosting a free back to school workshop next week and believe me you don't want to miss this! I'll be sharing how to use a meet the counselor activity to engage students and advocate for your role! Everyone who attends live gets a FREE meet the counselor lesson! In this training, you'll learn: 1. The ins and outs of my favorite meet the counselor activity Learn how to organize, set up, and deliver a perfect meet the counselor lesson 2. How to use a meet the c...
156: How to Create Engaging Classroom Lessons Using the Lesson Builder Framework
August 08, 2023 08:00 - 8 minutes - 14.9 MBHave you struggled to keep students engaged during class lessons? Over the years, I have tried out many games, activities, and strategies to keep students engaged. Through this, I have found a framework for creating class lessons that are engaging and are also rich in content! Creating engaging class lessons for your students doesn’t need to be difficult. The Lesson Builder Framework is a five step framework that takes the guesswork out of how to create a class lesson t...
155: I’m Supposed to Teach How Many Counseling Lessons?!
August 01, 2023 08:00 - 9 minutes - 16.5 MBHow can we possibly meet with every class every month? I get asked this question all the time! Thinking of all the class lessons you need to teach on top of the individual and group lessons can be a bit overwhelming. I totally get it! That is why I am sharing my favorite scheduling tips to help you manage all your lessons this upcoming year. When it comes to scheduling all your class lessons, individual sessions, and groups, it is so important to do it in an organized w...
154: How School Counselors Can Affirm Culture with Jocelynn Hubbard
July 25, 2023 08:00 - 44 minutes - 64.3 MBI think most of us want to get better at being culturally competent and ensuring that our students feel included, welcome, and safe in our classroom and schools. But it can definitely be a struggle if we aren’t sure how to make this happen. The truth is that we don’t know what we don’t know and when we do know, we do better. I am so excited to have inclusion expert Jocelynn Hubbard joining me today to share how we can get started creating a more inclusive school for our students. ...
153: Google Calendar Scheduling Hacks
July 18, 2023 08:00 - 7 minutes - 13.3 MBOne of my absolute favorite tools for scheduling is Google Calendar. There are so many things to keep track of as a busy school counselor and Google Calendar just makes it so easy to keep it simple and organized. Today, I am sharing some of my favorite tech hacks for maximizing your Google Calendar features to simplify your counseling calendar. There are so many great features and tools within Google Calendar and I am slightly obsessed with how beneficial they are! Whe...
152: A Day in the Life of a School Counselor with Leslie Jones
July 11, 2023 08:00 - 22 minutes - 33.8 MBI know I’ve said it before but I absolutely LOVE connecting and hearing from counselors with different backgrounds. I feel like they share such an inspiring and different view on school counseling that we can all learn from! Today I am joined by Leslie Jones whose journey to school counseling included being an adult outpatient therapist, youth pastor, and spanish teacher which has helped her develop incredible relationships with her pre-k through 8th grade students. Thi...
151: 4 Things You Should Add to Your Schedule
July 04, 2023 08:00 - 13 minutes - 21.8 MBAs busy school counselors, our time is incredibly valuable! So how can we ensure that we are making the most of it? We’ve previously discussed the importance of completing a time audit but there is another way that I have found to be incredibly helpful in finding time to get everything in during contract horse. We set aside time on our calendars for so many things but there are some things you may not be scheduling in that can be super helpful. When we set aside time dedica...
150: How to Use a Time Audit to Streamline Your Schedule
June 27, 2023 08:00 - 15 minutes - 25.1 MBOne thing that counselors always ask me is how are they possibly going to squeeze in all the things they have to do. It can be incredibly overwhelming! But I have found a way that you can look at what needs to be done, streamline your day, and make the impact we know you can make! Summer is the perfect time to step back and take a look at how you can be most effective next school year. One of my absolute favorite ways to do this is by doing a time audit that helps you ident...
149: How to Support Anxious Students with Ashley Bartley
June 20, 2023 08:00 - 17 minutes - 27.6 MBIf you’ve ever had a student who struggled with separation anxiety and cried as they got out of the car, you likely wished you had some strategies you could use to help the student. As counselors (and mothers), a lot of us have experience with children who struggle with separation anxiety and could really use some practical tips to help when our kiddos are having a hard time. That is why I am so grateful that Ashley Bartley from Counselor Station is here to share some of her strategies with ...
148: How to Be a Trauma Informed Counselor with Joyce Harduvel
June 13, 2023 08:00 - 39 minutes - 58 MBTrauma affects everybody, not just certain communities. It is so incredibly important that school counselors are able to support our students who have experienced trauma in positive and impactful ways. Knowing how to best support our students who have childhood trauma can be challenging and I am so glad that Joyce Harduvel is joining me today to share some incredible insight on helping these kiddos. Joyce is a licensed clinical social worker and a certified school social wo...
147: How to Use Picture Books to Enhance Your Counseling Sessions with Laura Filtness
June 06, 2023 08:00 - 37 minutes - 54.6 MBBooks are an incredibly powerful tool, especially when it comes to counseling. They allow for students to relate to the characters, help them to find solutions to problems, and so much more! Our guest today, Laura Filtness is a self-proclaimed book nerd who has found amazing ways to incorporate books into her counseling to help students be more engaged and excited about her lessons. Laura Filtness is a School Counselor in Knoxville, TN and was the 2017 TSCA Elementary Schoo...
146: Productivity Hacks for School Counselors with Khristen Massic
May 30, 2023 08:00 - 22 minutes - 34.1 MBYou know I am all about simplifying your job as a school counselor and helping you to make the best use of your time. We can all benefit from more tips and tricks to maximizing our productivity in the little amount of time we have without students. That is why I am so excited to have efficiency and productivity expert, Khristen Massic joining me today! Khristen Massic, M.Ed., loves efficiency and productivity as much as you love leaving school at your contracted time. (...
145: 5 Things You Didn't Think to Include on an End of the Year Report
May 23, 2023 08:00 - 9 minutes - 16.9 MBYou know I am super passionate about data and I LOVE a good end of the year report! There is so much data that you can put on your end of the year report to show your stakeholders just how big of an impact you are making. You know the importance of including how many students you served, time spent with students, and how many lessons you taught to the report, but today, I am sharing 5 things to add to your end of the year report to really showcase your impact. As a school counselo...
144: A Day in the Life of a School Counselor with Laurel Whitehead
May 16, 2023 08:00 - 25 minutes - 38.4 MBOur days as school counselors are busy! Regardless of what grades we work with, how many students are on our caseload, or how perfectly planned our schedule is, school counselors have a lot on our plates. My guest today, Laurel Whitehead, is giving us a glimpse into what her days look like as a 6-8 school counselor. Laurel is making a huge impact on her middle school students! She starts her days by greeting students at the door and is seeing them individually and in sm...