Welcome back to School Counseling Simplified! This week, I’m sitting down with Elissa Hughes, a middle school counselor who shared a standout presentation during Summer Summit. If you didn’t get a chance to attend live, don’t worry—Summer Summit recordings are available inside the IMPACT membership, along with PD certificates and hundreds of other school counseling resources.

Elissa Hughes is a middle school counselor with experience at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. She is a member of her school’s attendance committee, focusing on tiered supports, student engagement, and family communication. Elissa is passionate about creative, practical strategies that build positive habits, foster resilience, and strengthen connections between schools and families. She is a certified RYT-200 yoga instructor with additional training in children’s yoga and enjoys weaving mindfulness into her work to support student well-being. She holds a Specialist degree in Professional Counseling, a Master’s in School Counseling, and a double major in Psychology and Sociology.

In today’s episode, Elissa walks us through how her team approached improving attendance this school year through a tiered, relationship-driven strategy—and saw real results.

In this episode, Elissa shares:

• Tier 1 Strategies: A fun, low-effort incentive program involving 7th period attendance tracking and Dairy Queen Blizzard rewards (yes, Dairy Queen donated them!). Teachers submitted attendance data daily, and one class per grade level was rewarded with a treat.

• Tier 2 Support: A more individualized approach focused on understanding student and family challenges around attendance. Elissa discusses the importance of genuinely getting to know students, building trust, and having honest conversations with families to problem-solve together. She walks through common barriers like anxiety, transportation, trauma, and basic needs, and how to respond with empathy and actionable support.

• Results: Their school’s chronic absenteeism rate dropped significantly within just one year. Elissa credits this to consistent team collaboration, community involvement, and a mindset focused on connection over compliance.

Elissa also shares:

• What her daily schedule looks like as a middle school counselor, including mindfulness groups, classroom lessons, and flexible student support

• Her team’s collaboration with counselors, a social worker, and a family engagement coordinator, and plans to integrate PBIS more deeply next year

• Practical tips for embedding student wellness practices throughout the school day

Advice for New School Counselors:

"Always try to see things from another person’s perspective and point of view." Elissa reminds us that the foundation of strong counseling work is empathy, curiosity, and a willingness to learn from the lived experiences of others.

If you loved this conversation and want to explore more practical tools like these, be sure to join the IMPACT membership. You'll gain access to every Summer Summit session recording, PD certificates, monthly resource drops, and a supportive community of school counselors like you.

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More About School Counseling Simplified:

School 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.

You can listen to School Counseling Simplified on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and more!