Sid has been working in the education and charity sector for over 12 years and is a registered member of the British
Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists. She will be working closely with the pastoral and wellbeing team in identifying students that may benefit from the school-based counselling service. With a non-directive and person-centred approach, Sid works to build a strong therapeutic relationship to support, a sometimes apprehensive, young person to feel heard and understood in a safe and confidential environment. Her down-to-earth and honest approach has helped those she has worked with to have a voice and express themselves freely without fear of judgment or criticism.
What is counselling?
Counselling offers an opportunity for the student to explore thoughts and feelings in a safe, confidential setting, with someone who is trained neither to judge nor advise. Sid is an integrative counsellor, which means she can tailor her work to suit the needs of her students. The overall aim of counselling is to provide a safe space to explore thoughts, feelings and behaviours which are impacting the student’s life. Counsellors cannot give “the answer” or “fix”, but the counselling relationship is established with the student to find their own way through their present and past difficulties.
Information for Parent/Carer’s
Who makes the referral?
Students will be referred by the Assistant Head of Years. These referrals will then be discussed weekly with the counsellor and safeguarding leads and prioritised according to need. Parents and carers are unable to refer directly to the counsellor.
As a parent/carer will I be notified of my young person’s referral?
The right to ask for confidentiality will depend on the mental capacity of the child. However, a child who is deemed competent can consent to their own counselling, and as to whether their primary caregivers are aware. If a student isn’t deemed competent, the parent/carer may need to consent before a young person can receive counselling.
As a parent/carer am I allowed to know what is talked about?
The information discussed within sessions is considered confidential and is in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the BACP Ethical Framework for Counselling Professionals. As a registered member of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy, Sid abides by their Code of Ethics. There may be instances where there are exceptions to keeping confidentiality in cases of safeguarding concerns. These will be shared with the safeguarding team, who will contact you should they feel it necessary.
For counselling to have the best chance of being effective it is important that your young person is permitted to keep their counselling relationship, and what is shared in sessions private. Please note the following:
- Please allow your young person to decide what they share with you and how much they wish to talk with you about their sessions.
- If your young person discloses something I believe indicates risk of serious harm to themselves or others, then I will liaise with the safeguarding team.
- I check in with my students on a regular basis to see if they are finding the work, we are doing together helpful. If they are not, then we will bring our work to a close.
- Integrative Counselling is talking therapy based. There is, however, an array of creative elements and therapeutic techniques that support this, to help deepen the therapeutic process.
Information for Students
As a student can I refer myself?
If you would like counselling, tplease speak to your Assistant Head of Year who can advise you of next steps.
As a student what if I am referred and don’t want counselling?
Then you don’t need to go! Counselling is not mandatory and so you have the right to say ‘no’, however, it is advisable for you to attend the initial session and see how you feel.
Number of sessions: This will be dependent on need. Issues may be resolved after a couple of sessions, contracting may be open ended or a fixed number of sessions agreed after the initial assessment.
Student - What happens when we first meet?
In our initial session we will discuss what the hope is from counselling, and if the work together highlights a specific need outside of my training and expertise, it may be necessary to consider referral to another specialist counsellor or psychotherapist. If this becomes apparent, it will be discussed with the student/young person and parent/carer if consent has been granted by the student.
Student - Attendance & Lateness Policy
Lateness to sessions will not be made up at the end of the session, for example, if you are ten minutes late then your session will still end at the arranged time. If Lateness or cancellation of sessions is repeated (2+ occasions) this will impact the therapeutic relationship and the impact the therapy can have. We will need to discuss if we can continue working together, which parents/carers will be notified where appropriate.
Student - Professional Boundaries
The relationship that develops between student and counsellor is an important part of the therapeutic process. Part of what enables the process to work is the maintenance of clear boundaries. I am not able to offer support between therapy sessions unless this is arranged/booked as an extra session.
Ending Counselling
Counselling can involve accessing painful feelings and it is possible if this happens that you may begin to feel that counselling is not helping you. Should this be the case I would encourage to come and talk to me about these feelings and not to end suddenly. How we end our work together is also important to the counselling process. When it feels right to end our sessions together, we (counsellor and student) will discuss how best to work towards an ending.
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