School Counsellor
Who is the School Counsellor?
Hi, my name is Clare and I’m the School Counsellor. I am a Play and Creative Arts Therapist, that means there are lots of different ways we can try to help you think about and feel about things you may be experiencing. I will be working alongside other professionals in and outside of school to ensure you can access the support you need.
What is therapy?
Click here to view a booklet which helps you think more about why people need therapy and how it might help. Therapy can be a painful and scary process but the hope is that having a better understanding of yourself, your experiences and your relationships, allow you to develop self-acceptance, improve self-regulation, express a wider array of emotions and develop your own strategies for now and in the future. Sometimes having therapy makes things feel worse before they start to feel better.
What is in the therapy room?
There is art equipment, sand trays and symbols, instruments, relaxation space, talking space and movement space. Sometimes talking isn’t the most helpful way of exploring what is going for us. In the therapy room you choose to do whatever you feel you need.
What does confidentiality mean?
Confidentiality means that what happens in the therapy room stays in the therapy room. You can talk to anyone you want to about therapy if you wish. I will not tell anyone what you say or do in therapy unless I think you or someone else is unsafe. If I think you are unsafe, I will let you know about that in the session and tell you who I will talk to and what may happen next.
How can I get to see the school counsellor?
Please take any of your worries straight to either your Head of Year, the Safeguarding Team or an adult in school you trust. If school feel you need more help, we will explore if there is another service who may be able to support you. If we feel support from the School Counsellor would help, I will need to meet with your parents or carers first to ensure they understand and agree for the work to start. Once this has been done and a consent for has been signed, I will arrange to meet you.
There is also a drop-in session every Friday Lunch time. For one-off sessions parents do not need to sign consent forms.
Where else can I go for support?
You may not want to have therapy in school but are interested in getting support outside of the school setting. Below is a list of organisations that offer therapeutic support.
You can also let school know about any worries you have by using Student Voice on Teams. Here you can tell the school about anything that is going well as well as things you might find more difficult.