Introduction
Counselling in Schools specialises in providing therapy and counselling in a school setting. We also offer training and consultation throughout the UK and abroad. (See: Where we work)
Counselling in Schools has a team of counsellors and therapists which has many years experience of working with children and young people in schools. This is unusual because there are not many therapies that specifically train counsellors to work with children. It is even more unusual to find such experience of working with primary school children. (See: Who we are)
All our counsellors are qualified and have been trained by organisations offering recognised accreditation for counsellors. Two of the leading accrediting bodies are the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) and the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP). Accreditation usually occurs some time after qualifying so some counsellors will already be accredited, some will be working towards accreditation. Occasionally we provide placements for counsellors in training. All counsellors carry professional indemnity insurance and have Enhanced Disclosures from the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB). Our counselling practice is in accordance with the ethics and Code of Conduct of our training organisations, or accrediting body, and with statutory legislation. We work in co-operation with any school’s Child Protection Policy, following Area Child Protection Committee guidelines.
At any particular time, many children might need extra emotional support beyond the normal pastoral care offered by their teachers. Schools today often have all sorts of professionals in them who aim to help children and their families. Many schools may have adults such as Learning or Behaviour Mentors; Family Liaison Officers; Behaviour or Inclusion Managers. Schools also use the traditional external services of Behaviour Support, Educational Psychology, and School Health Services. Despite all this extra support, many of these workers are identifying children who have emotional and psychological needs that require even more specialist help. (See: Why some children need counselling)
Counselling children is very different to counselling adults. What we do and how we do it depends on a child’s age, their development, whether they have any specific difficulties. Many people may think that counselling is about talking to our clients about their problem. Actually it is more about listening but children are unlikely to talk for 50 minutes about their problems. We therefore have to use many methods for children to be able to tell us about their difficulty and find many ways to explain to them what might make things better for them. (See: What we do)