A counsellor’s New Year’s resolutions – in song

With just a few weeks left until the end of the year and the occasion for a well-earned rest, it is time for all counsellors, whether they are naughty or nice, or have been bad or good, to make those New Year’s resolutions.

As you ponder what you will resolve to do in the coming year, the sounds of a neighbour’s New Year’s Eve party disturb your thoughts. Perhaps their playlist might give you some inspiration…

Auld Lang Syne

Robert Burns (1788)

Should auld acquaintance be forgot
And never brought to mind

You haven’t had any applicants for a particular university this year, and you didn’t sign up for the webinar on new courses at another university because you feel that you know a lot about it already.

In our busy jobs, it is all too easy to lose contact with people who have helped us in the past. Try to make time to maintain these relationships – just a short email or text updating them on feedback from students or about events you might be running in the coming year. It doesn’t really matter how seemingly trivial the message is, as long as the recipients understand that you still value the relationship.

Don’t You (Forget About Me)

Simple Minds (1985)

Don’t you, forget about me
Don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t
Don’t you, forget about me

With our busy lives as counsellors, do we prioritise the more high-profile students? The ones who are proactive in seeking advice, or whose parents come to all the meetings and ask lots of questions?

What about the shy girl who doesn’t say very much and who doesn’t seem to have the same ambition as her more vocal peers? Or the boy who hasn’t asked for help and says that he knows what he is doing? Does he really? Or is his insularity hiding a lack of self-confidence?

Why not make a concerted effort to spend more time with these students this year by scheduling regular catch-up meetings or drop-in sessions?

Around the World

Daft Punk (1997)

Around the world
Around the world 
Around the world…

Is your counselling too focused on a narrow range of options? Are the demands of US or UK application procedures taking up too much of your time? How aware are you of exciting opportunities for your students in countries that don’t feature in the lists of the most popular study destinations?

Don’t be afraid to schedule time in your diary for research to broaden your outlook. THE Counsellor online resources feature many useful pieces on applications to places that might not be on your radar.

We’ve Only Just Begun

The Carpenters (1970)

Sharing horizons that are new to us
Watchin’ the signs along the way

Think about how the landscape of university applications constantly shifts. A new government introduces restrictions or caps on numbers; countries that have not shown much interest in attracting international students suddenly make this a priority; new visa regulations; new courses…

Keeping up to date with these developments can be less arduous if we can share experiences and knowledge with our colleagues and counsellor networks and encourage them to do the same. So reach out to them, or set up a group chat.

Here Comes the Sun

The Beatles (1969)

It’s been a long, cold, lonely winter
Little darling
It feels like years since it’s been here
Here comes the sun…

So far, the resolutions have been externally facing, about how to be more effective as a counsellor in the coming year. But we need to look after our own well-being, too.

Our jobs revolve around helping others to plan their futures and achieve their goals – and this, as we know, can be stressful as well as fulfilling. So when you are confronted by the mountains of personal statements and statements of purposes, references and requests, deadlines and demands for help, make plans to enjoy the times when the sun is shining (literally or figuratively), when you can switch off and recharge your batteries.

Resolve to spend more time this year on things that relax you, be it cooking, learning a new skill, art, travel or simply getting more sleep. Plan a couple of weekend breaks to places you haven’t yet visited, treat yourself to a meal at that restaurant you’ve read so much about or have a day at a spa or on the beach.
 

The likelihood, from past experience, is that your New Year’s resolutions will be forgotten by the end of the first week of the new term. Looking back on 2024 (or 2023, or 2022, or 2021), the realisation hits me that I am not healthier, fitter nor more relaxed than I was a year ago. Neither have I learned Italian, visited Tokyo, taken up woodwork, kept my sourdough starter alive or enjoyed wild camping in the Scottish Highlands.

But the point of a New Year’s resolution is not in the implementation but as a tool for self-reflection, to take stock of our lives, achievements, hopes and plans. So as those noisy neighbours put Celebration by Kool & The Gang on repeat, raise a cup of cheer to 2025 and enjoy the music.