124. Blueberries, Butterfat, and the Beautiful Mess of School Counseling

Carol: 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 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 there counselor friends,

and welcome back to another episode of Counselor Chat.

I'm your host, Carol Miller,

and today I'm bringing you a story.

A story about blueberries,

arrogance,

ice cream,

and the soul of what we do as school counselors.

Now, before you think I've lost it completely and turn this podcast into a food review show,

just hang with me.

Because this just isn't any story.

This is the blueberry story.

And it's one that every school counselor needs to hear.

Especially as the school year kicks off and our calendars start to explode,

our inboxes overflow and someone somewhere asks if we can just cover lunch duty real quick.

So here's the gist.

A businessman from a premium ice cream company is giving a speech to a room full of educators.

He's confident,

cocky, and he's full of buzzwords like zero defects and total quality management.

And he tells them that every school should run like a business.

He says if he ran his company the way we run schools, he'd be out of business.

And then a high school English teacher delivers a mic drop of epic proportions.

And she asks,

when you get a bad batch of blueberries,

what do you do?

To which he replies,

I send them back.

And her response,

well, we can't send back our blueberries.

We take them all.

Big,

small,

rich,

poor,

gifted,

frightened,

confident, angry,

brilliant, abused,

non verbal, anxious,

and sometimes a little smelly.

And that, sir, is why this is not a business.

It's school.

Cue the standing ovation of 290 educators yelling, Blueberries.

Blueberries.

And come on, if you're not tearing up just a little,

are you even a school counselor?

Because my friends, schools, they're not ice cream shops and counselors.

We're not customer service reps.

I think this story hits hard because we know what it means to take all the blueberries.

We don't get to pick and choose who walks through the doors.

We don't send back students who've experienced trauma.

We don't label students defective because they struggle with anxiety or grief or emotional regulation.

We show up,

we support,

we keep the blueberry patch going even when it's a little wild,

a little overgrown,

and occasionally covered in the metaphorical bird ****.

You, my friend,

you're a cultivator.

School counselors,

they're the cultivators of that blueberry patch.

You don't just receive the blueberries, you nurture them.

You teach them how to grow,

even if they've never had anyone water them before.

You model patience and resilience and empathy and sometimes how to take deep breaths when their Chromebooks won't log in. Or they come running to you first thing in the morning saying, I don't know what to do.

I left my lunch on the bus. What do I do? What do I do?

And while others may focus solely on academic achievement,

you're teaching soft skills that are anything but soft.

You're doing the conflict resolution and the self regulation,

the communication, the boundaries, the empathy, the hope.

You teach children how to solve problems,

not just pass tests and how to identify feelings,

not just fill in bubbles.

How to be kind,

resilient humans and not just rule followers.

And that, my friends,

is life changing work.

And, oh, I know.

Some days your blueberry patch looks more like a jungle.

You've got one student melting down in your office,

one who hasn't eaten since yesterday and another asking if they can have a fidget for their dog.

I mean, you're called to cover classes,

lead safety drills, run groups, answer emails,

mediate conflicts, update the 504s and somehow still remember to eat some lunch.

And some days you wonder,

am I even making a difference?

But let me stop you right there.

You are.

Because unlike the businessman with the perfect blueberries and the 16% butterfat,

you don't need perfect ingredients to make magic.

You work with real kids in real situations and you help them find their way.

That's not ice cream.

That's transformation.

Let's talk about the kid who started the year flipping deaths and left you a thank you note in June.

Or the quiet student who found their voice in your small group.

Or the parent who cried in your office because someone finally listened.

These moments, they're the harvest.

They're not flashy, they're not standardized,

but they're real.

And they're proof that while we can't send anyone back,

we can help everyone move forward.

And here's something that businesses, they don't understand,

but we do.

In business,

they strive for uniformity.

In schools, we strive for equity businesses aim to reduce variance.

We embrace the full range of human experience,

and we meet kids where they are.

Business leaders love KPIs and spreadsheets,

and we love data, too.

But we also love the kid behind the data.

The one who didn't cry today, the one who finally asked for help, the one who made it through the whole day without being sent to the office.

That's our metric.

That's our success.

And if you take nothing else from today's episode,

remember this.

You don't need perfect blueberries.

You just need heart,

patience,

perspective,

and maybe a little caffeine. And a good playlist.

Because you are the difference between a child surviving and a child thriving.

And when someone walks in saying if schools just operated more like businesses,

you can smile,

nod and say,

well, sir, have you ever tried to run a business where the blueberries talk back?

Well, that's it for today's episode. Counselor Friends, I really hope you liked the Blueberry story and it gave you a little boost, a little perspective and a reminder that your work,

your messy, beautiful blueberry covered work,

matters deeply.

And if this one resonated with you,

I really hope that you'll share it with a fellow counselor.

Or better yet,

take a minute to thank a teacher or support staff member because we're all in the patch together.

And until next time,

take care of yourself and keep cultivating kindness, growth and potential one blueberry at a time.

Until next time.

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.