Find out if we provide counselling in your school.

Some answers to questions pupils may have

What’s counselling/therapy about?
Sometimes we all have problems that are worrying. Think of a confusing jigsaw when all of the pieces are difficult to match together. Talking about a problem in counselling/therapy is like sorting out the pieces so that we can build a picture that makes more sense to us.

What happens in counselling/therapy?
Counselling/therapy gives you the opportunity to talk in private about anything which is worrying you. The counsellor/therapist will not take sides or tell you what to do or how to live your life, but they will help you to look at choices and encourage you to make your own decisions.

Who is the Counsellor/therapists?
They are a team of professionally qualified and experienced people who have experience working with children and pupils. Counsellor/therapists are trained to listen without judging and to help people sort out their thoughts and feelings about whatever is concerning them.

Where will counselling/therapy take place?
Counselling/therapy will take place in a room set aside by the school. This room will be a safe place where no one will be able to listen in to what you are telling the counsellor/therapist. Sessions can last up to 50 minutes and appointment times should be varied so that time is not lost from the same subject.

When is counselling/therapy available?
Your counsellor/therapist will be available on specific school days and sessions will be scheduled with you. There will also be designated times when you can just drop in without an appointment. 

How do I get to see the counsellor/therapist?
You can see the counsellor/therapist by talking to one of your teachers, self-referring by using the post box in the reception Area or asking your parent or carer to arrange an appointment.

Is counselling/therapy Confidential?
What you say in counselling/therapy is not repeated to others without your permission, unless there are very serious concerns about your safety or another person’s safety. This will be explained to you at the initial meeting with the counsellor/therapist.

Do my parents/carers need to know?
Counselling/therapy works best when you are able to tell your parents/carers and they can support you. If you want to have counselling/therapy without your parents/carers knowing your school will decide if you can do this. This decision is based on how well you understand what counselling/therapy is about and the consequences of not telling your parents/carers. This is known as being ‘Gillick’ competent.

Whether it is face to face support from our service or you choose to use the online support programme you will be guided through 5 simple steps that can help you. These are:

1) looking at what life has been like for you living with these issues.

2) Giving information on alcohol and drug use, addiction and mental health to help you understand more about the situation

3) Looking at coping and what methods of coping are helpful or unhelpful and what else you can do

4) Identifying the support you have available and who else you could reach out to

5) Looking at further help you may require

Information on Steps to Cope for parents or carers

When there are issues like alcohol, substance use or mental ill-health difficulties in a family, children can struggle to understand what is going on, feel they are to blame or having difficulty coping. They cant change what is happening in their family but they can learn how to make them selves more resilient to these challenges. If your family is experiencing these issues then Steps to Cope can be of help to your children. 

If your child or young person has questions, whether it be about alcohol use, drugs, mental health or associated issues, it may help reduce their anxiety to have answers and develop their understanding. They can also look at how they cope and what supports they can use to help them.

If you think your child would benefit from face to face support, then our Steps to Cope service for young people can help. Just complete the online form below or give us a call on 0800 2545 123.

Or your children get information from the Steps to Cope area of our website or use the online self care tool to help them.

Make an online referral to Steps To Cope

Information on DAISY for parents or carers

The DAISY service can support young people to help them reduce their alcohol or substance use or make changes that will reduce the impact or harm it has for them. This is a voluntary service, so the young person has to have agreed to be referred and willing to engage with us. We can also provide advice and support to family members, even if the young person is not willing to accept help.

DAISY provides the space for the young person to talk confidentially about how to cope and deal with their substance and alcohol use. Within the working relationship with our practitioners they will be able to explore how they are feeling and understand why they are using. They will receive support on how to reduce their use, and also to reduce the risk to themselves. The therapies offered are client led, which means we support the young person based on where they are in life, we work collaboratively with them to agree what changes they want to happen and what support them need to do this.

Family is an extremely important source of support for the young person, and also how things are in the family can be an influence on the young person’s alcohol or substance use. We know that parents, siblings or other family members like grandparents are also often impacted by the young person’s behaviours and can struggle to deal with what is happening.

DAISY offers informal advice or more structured support to family members to help understand and manage things. There are options for therapeutic family support which creates a space to gain understanding around substance / alcohol use, help support and repair relationships and have better connected family .

Make an online referral to DAISY

Make an online referral to Targeted Lifeskills