Sandi Logan

This weekend, I was reminiscing of what I was doing this same time last year. What popped into my mind was the following: Well, it was nearly half way through the school year and I could confidently say that things were in full swing. I conducted classroom guidance lessons for all of my second graders on tattling, which was identified area of need. I completed “at-risk conferences” with all of my 7th graders and their caregivers, when possible. I collaborated with an English teacher and have integrated my career exploration workbooks into her 7th and 8th grade curriculum. My intern has developed a keen understanding of how a school counselor functions and is working quite well independently.

Oh, what a difference a year makes! This time last year I was fervently submitting my applications for PhD programs in Counselor Education & Supervision. I was comfortably living in Southern California, where I have resided my entire life, working as a professional school counselor. How could I and why should I consider leaving my nest? Well, first of all, the notion of burnout was prevailing in my life. I found myself thinking “I do love my career. However, if I ever want to do this again, I need to get out now.” So, thus a contributing factor to my desire to reach for future goals.

Who is responsible for providing supervision for professional school counselors? Is it the responsibility of their site administrator? Or perhaps, a district level individual whose job entails overseeing various educational support professionals?

I heard this phrase nearly half a dozen years ago when I was working as a school counselor intern for a local school district. I was collaborating with a few school counselors in creating a presentation for the upcoming California Association of School Counselors’ (CASC) annual conference. Little did I know that this phrase would continue to resonate with me. When I think of continuous improvement, I think of counselors and educators in general. No matter what our specific role is, we should all be striving towards continuous improvement. So what would happen if we didn’t strive for such a thing? Well, I believe we would be stuck with status quo, in stagnant position.

Making the decision to pack up my entire life and move across the country from California to Florida was not so easy; I had lived in Southern California my entire life. My whole social network of friends, family, and colleagues were no longer at my fingertips. I would like to say that I knew my environment quite well and became known as the “Resource Queen” within my colleagues. Whether it was providing a parent a referral to access medical and mental health services or a fellow professional school counselor with an organization within their community, I seemed to usually have someone or somewhere to refer a person to.