July 21–24, 2026 8pm ET
Free on Zoom
Four free nights of real talk about the parts of school counseling nobody taught you, but everyone expects you to know.
Grad school prepared you to counsel.
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It didn't prepare you for this.
You've probably promised yourself that this year will be different.
More organized.
More in control.
Less overwhelming.
And it can be.
But only if your plan accounts for all the ways things go sideways once the year gets moving.
The unexpected referrals.
The last-minute meetings.
The weird admin requests.
Keeping track of students seen, waiting- or forgotten.
The behavior concerns that instantly become your responsibility.
That’s where back-to-school planning fails.
Because it's impossible to predict what's headed your way each school year.
So if you're planning events, lesson times, and curriculum progressions, you're going to feel behind and stressed and overwhelmed.
Seems backward, but it's true.
You've only been taught to plan for a version of school counseling that doesn’t actually exist.
It feels like a lot, doesn’t it?
(And the school year hasn’t even started yet.)
No system can create time that doesn't exist.
Setting boundaries won't help if your admin doesn't understand what you're supposed to be doing in the first place.
And color-coding folders just avoids looking at the real issues.
You were taught to expect the impossible from your job.
But this year, you'll be handed a caseload that would make meaningful counseling difficult even on your best day.
You'll be given a schedule full of other people's emergencies.
You'll work to implement a school counseling program that grows by ten responsibilities every year, every expectation compounding on the next.
Nobody ever asked if what you're doing is reasonable- or even realistic.
They just know they want it all done "right now," regardless of how you have to turn yourself inside-out to make it happen.
So of course you're tired.
Of course you're frustrated.
Of course it feels like you're constantly trying to catch up.
Your problem isn't your plan.
It's that your plan was built for a version of this job that doesn't exist.
You are a great school counselor.
"Best Year Ever!" is four free nights that help you lighten the load.
Over four free nights, you'll learn how to build a school counseling program that fits your campus, your caseload, and your life, so you can stop spending the year trying to catch up and start looking forward to working with students every day.
Imagine walking into work all year long without dreading your caseload.
Imagine being treated like your expertise matters more than your ability to cover lunch duty.
Imagine ending the day feeling like a counselor instead of a firefighter.
The answer isn't more planning.
It's a different foundation.
One built around the job you actually have, the students you actually serve, and the realities you're actually facing every day.
This year can be different.
Actually different.
And we'll start building it July 21.
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And-
It's completely free.
Best Year Ever! has been running every summer since 2021.
More than 5,000 school counselors have joined us over the years.
-A.B., High School Special Education Counselor
"I can't believe I didn't have to pay for BYE. All the good stuff that came out of it- including the inspiration. I would have paid a million dollars."
-A.H., 16-year school counseling veteran
"Going on year 16, it's so nice to have a high-quality PD opportunity just for counselors. Steph is so knowledgeable, down to earth, and accessible. That means the world to me."
-E. G.
"I have really enjoyed this whole week. 120%."
This is not a virtual summit with 47 speakers all giving sales pitches at the end of their "workshops."
It's not another collection of ideas that sound great in the moment but never actually work on your campus.
Best Year Ever! is four live nights built around one belief:
School counselors deserve training built for crowded schedules and real caseloads... not a fantasy.
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Most professional development trains you for an imaginary job.
"Best Year Ever!" is built for the real world.
Large caseloads.
Limited time.
Constant interruptions.
Competing priorities.
Real campuses.
Real students.
Real constraints.
Everything you'll learn is grounded in the reality of modern school counseling:
No corporate sponsors.
No fluff.
No more bologna.
Just four nights of practical ideas, honest conversations, and a room full of people who understand exactly what you're carrying into this school year.
NIGHT THREE: Why the Behavior Referrals Never Stop
You weren't supposed to be the behavior department.
So why does your walkie squawk all day long?
Take an honest look at why the standard approach to behavior intervention isn't working, why you keep getting handed the same students over and over again, and what to do instead.
You'll leave with a clearer understanding of where counseling helps, where it doesn't, and how to spend more time on the work you were trained to do.
i'm in!
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NIGHT TWO: The Documentation Nobody Taught You
Keeping notes can actually protect you.
Most school counselors don't discover that until they need them.
Create a documentation system that's fast enough to actually use, defensible enough to matter, and designed for the realities of modern school counseling.
Along the way, we'll tackle some of the biggest myths school counselors have been told about documentation, and why some of the advice you've received may be creating more risk than protection.
Most back-to-school plans are built on hope.
THIS ONE IS BUILT ON MATH.
Build a realistic framework for your counseling program based on your actual caseload, your actual campus, and the time you actually have... Not the time you wish you had.
Because a plan that ignores reality isn't a plan. It's a fantasy.
NIGHT ONE: Engineer Your Year in Reality
NIGHT FOUR: What a Sanity-Based School Counseling Program Looks Like
By now you'll have practical tools, systems, and strategies.
On the final night, you'll see how everything fits together, and you'll walk away with a complete picture of what a school counseling program looks like when it's not built on adrenaline and sheer willpower.
Because the goal isn't just surviving another school year.
It's creating the kind of year that doesn't have you checking job postings in February.
I’m a full-time school counselor, licensed therapist, and the founder of School for School Counselors.
I’ve personally mentored over 500 school counselors, my podcast has been downloaded over 300,000 times, and I’ve spent nearly 30 years in education.
I built "Best Year Ever!" because I kept having the same conversations:
Counselor after counselor. Talented. Trained. Deeply committed to their students.
But also- secretly wondering if everyone else had figured something out that they hadn’t.
Wondering if they were the only one who felt overwhelmed.
Assuming the problem was effort, organization, or training.
But it was always the same thing: they hadn’t missed anything.
The problem wasn’t a lack of caring.
It was trying to build a school counseling program on a campus that made real counseling incredibly difficult.
They needed a room where nobody had to pretend anymore.
"Best Year Ever!" exists because that conversation needed to happen somewhere.
Six years later, it still does.
I hope you'll join us.
