Meet Beth
Your family’s post-secondary cheat code
Hi! I’m Beth. I spent most of high school equal parts confused, excited, and overwhelmed trying to figure out what came next. My guidance counsellor did her best — though her top career suggestion for me remains hilariously unprintable. Most of what I figured out, I figured out on my own.
That experience is a big part of why I became a school counsellor, and it’s exactly why I started Next Step Prep. In more than thirteen years of counselling, I’ve worked with thousands of students navigating this process. I loved the work, but the system only ever allowed fifteen or twenty minutes per student, and I always knew they deserved more. More time to explore. More space to discover programs only someone living in my world would know about. More of what I’ve always wanted to give every student who has ever trusted me to sit with them through this process.
Next Step Prep is what that “more” looks like. Thoughtful, caring, unhurried support for students and families through one of the biggest transitions they’ll navigate together, so the process actually feels the way it should: exciting, hopeful, and maybe even a little fun.
What Working With Me Feels Like
Before families find me, there’s usually a lot of stress. Maybe some arguments. A feeling like every decision carries enormous weight and one wrong move could close a door forever. Parents are trying to help, students are pulling away, and everybody’s Googling the same things at midnight and getting more confused.
Working with me doesn’t make the process effortless. There’s real work involved, and your student will need to examine what they actually value, sit with hard questions, and sometimes compromise. But the weight shifts. I become the accountability person, the one tracking deadlines and following up on scholarship essays, which means you get to stop being the one who nags about all of it. You get to just be the parent again, and that alone changes the temperature in most families.
By the time we wrap up, families tell me they feel like they’re on the same team, maybe for the first time in months. Your student has a direction they chose, not one they defaulted into, and you have a clear plan in your hands. But underneath all of that is a quieter kind of confidence: my kid is going to be okay. And if the plan changes, they have the tools to figure out what’s next.
Why I’m Great At This
Education
Two master’s degrees — Adolescent Education (Canisius College) and Educational Psychology (University of Alberta) — focused on how young people learn, grow, and make decisions.
Scholarship Expertise
Application assessor for one of Canada’s most prestigious national scholarship programs. I’ve read hundreds of competitive applications and I know exactly what stands out.
Credentials & Experience
Certificate in Career Development and Academic Advising (University of Calgary), plus nineteen years of working with students as a teacher and a counsellor across every path: university, college, trades, gap years, and everything in between.
How I Work With Students
Every student gets a different version of me. Some need to think out loud, some need time to process before they’re ready to talk, and some need to move or draw or look at something before an idea clicks. I pay attention to what works and I adjust. Sessions aren’t me talking at your kid for an hour. There are activities, choices, and plenty of room to say “I need to think about that” and come back to it. I use humour because teenagers are more honest when they’re not bracing themselves, and I build every plan around how your student actually works, including the ones whose brains don’t love linear checklists and rigid timelines. Mine included. I have ADHD, and it’s one of the things that makes me great at this work.
Get to Know Beth
Number of Open Browser Tabs
Over fifty. And the number doesn’t get smaller until my computer shuts itself off in protest.
Something Unexpected About Me
I saw more tornadoes in one week than most people in Canada have seen in their lifetimes.
Favorite Part of the Job
The optimism that shows up when students realize there is a place for them in the adult world.
Currently Reading
Fierce Self-Compassion by Kristin Neff.
What I do to Recharge
I watch the Great British Bakeoff while under a giant blanket and cross stitch.
Favorite Quote
“The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.” — W. B. Yeats