Being Your Own Hero: Empower Students to Overcome Challenges
By Lisa King | March 2025
As school counselors, we often find ourselves in the role of supporting students through a range of emotional, academic and social challenges. One of the most powerful lessons we can impart is how students can advocate for themselves. The idea of "being your own hero" is a vital skill that can help students grow stronger through life’s challenges.
School counselors can use SEL concepts in five ways to help students build skills for self-advocacy.
1. Self-Advocacy and Believing in Oneself
As school counselors, we can encourage kids to advocate for themselves by asking for help when needed. Be sure to regularly review your school’s self-referral system so that students can remember exactly how to reach out for school counselor assistance. View ideas for a self-referral system
2. Standing Up for Oneself and Others
Reminding students about how to see the school counselor is important not only so that kids know how to get help for themselves, but also as a way for them to be an upstander if they see injustices happening to others. Often, we advocate for students to be upstanders and we need to remind them that if they see something, they should say something.
3. Having a Growth Mindset
A growth mindset is crucial to becoming one’s own hero. We can help students see that their failures are not permanent but opportunities for growth. We can guide them to reframe mistakes as steps to success, and encourage perseverance. By emphasizing effort over outcomes, students can develop resilience and understand that setbacks do not define them – they are merely part of the journey. To freshen up on new research about growth mindset, check out the podcast by Trevor Ragan at the Learner Lab, New Era of Growth Mindset.
4. Acknowledging That Ordinary People Are Heroes
Heroes are not defined by the challenges they face, but by the way they confront those challenges. If you ask students to identify heroes in their lives, they will often name family members, friends and mentors. A great activity for students of any age is to have them interview one of their heroes. Another way to explore students’ heroes is having the students participate in a Hero Day, dressing up as one of their heroes.
5. Setting Goals and Career Awareness
As our students set goals and strive for success, we can help them understand that goals and dreams are attainable, require hard work and can change over time. One way to support this is through career awareness. Students can ask adults about their career paths, and they will often discover that the journey is full of twists and turns. In an activity linked to this, students can imagine themselves in 20 years – access my free resource.
When students adopt the mindset of being their own hero, they develop essential skills that will benefit them throughout their lives. They become more self-sufficient, more confident and more resilient. They learn to trust themselves, take responsibility for their actions and seek out resources when needed. Ultimately, this empowers them to overcome challenges, achieve their goals and lead lives full of purpose and meaning.
View more resources on student self-advocacy and ideas for lessons and group activities, and please reach out if you have any questions. In the true spirit of school counseling, sharing resources is one way we can be heroes to each other. Just as we teach the kids, we can achieve more when we lean on others.
Lisa King is a school counselor in Marietta, Ga., and the author of seven books including “Be Your Own Hero,” from which these images are taken. Contact her via her website.
School counselors can use SEL concepts in five ways to help students build skills for self-advocacy.
1. Self-Advocacy and Believing in Oneself
As school counselors, we can encourage kids to advocate for themselves by asking for help when needed. Be sure to regularly review your school’s self-referral system so that students can remember exactly how to reach out for school counselor assistance. View ideas for a self-referral system
2. Standing Up for Oneself and Others
Reminding students about how to see the school counselor is important not only so that kids know how to get help for themselves, but also as a way for them to be an upstander if they see injustices happening to others. Often, we advocate for students to be upstanders and we need to remind them that if they see something, they should say something.
3. Having a Growth Mindset
A growth mindset is crucial to becoming one’s own hero. We can help students see that their failures are not permanent but opportunities for growth. We can guide them to reframe mistakes as steps to success, and encourage perseverance. By emphasizing effort over outcomes, students can develop resilience and understand that setbacks do not define them – they are merely part of the journey. To freshen up on new research about growth mindset, check out the podcast by Trevor Ragan at the Learner Lab, New Era of Growth Mindset.
4. Acknowledging That Ordinary People Are Heroes
Heroes are not defined by the challenges they face, but by the way they confront those challenges. If you ask students to identify heroes in their lives, they will often name family members, friends and mentors. A great activity for students of any age is to have them interview one of their heroes. Another way to explore students’ heroes is having the students participate in a Hero Day, dressing up as one of their heroes.
5. Setting Goals and Career Awareness
As our students set goals and strive for success, we can help them understand that goals and dreams are attainable, require hard work and can change over time. One way to support this is through career awareness. Students can ask adults about their career paths, and they will often discover that the journey is full of twists and turns. In an activity linked to this, students can imagine themselves in 20 years – access my free resource.
When students adopt the mindset of being their own hero, they develop essential skills that will benefit them throughout their lives. They become more self-sufficient, more confident and more resilient. They learn to trust themselves, take responsibility for their actions and seek out resources when needed. Ultimately, this empowers them to overcome challenges, achieve their goals and lead lives full of purpose and meaning.
View more resources on student self-advocacy and ideas for lessons and group activities, and please reach out if you have any questions. In the true spirit of school counseling, sharing resources is one way we can be heroes to each other. Just as we teach the kids, we can achieve more when we lean on others.
Lisa King is a school counselor in Marietta, Ga., and the author of seven books including “Be Your Own Hero,” from which these images are taken. Contact her via her website.