Counselling

What is counselling?

Counselling differs from other sorts of help. It is not advice or a means by which the helper provides solutions. It is more a process through which one person helps another by purposeful conversation in a supportive and understanding atmosphere.

The activity is designed to aid self-exploration and understanding, so that you can become more consciously aware of what is happening in your life, and feel better able to face problems more objectively or with less anxiety and tensions. The focus of the counselling will vary according to each individual's needs. Only when you and the counsellor explicitly agree to enter into a counselling relationship does the facility become counselling.

Counsellors can help with a wide range of difficulties. Some of the common problems that students experience include:

• Homesickness, loneliness, anxiety, depression;
• Problems in relationships:
• Family problems and troubling past experiences;
• Bereavements and losses;
• Life changes such as pregnancy and illness;
• Sexual and cultural identity;
• Suicidal feelings;
• Crisis such as assault;
• Academic difficulties.

For those suffering from habitual addictions or chronic eating problems it would probably be best in the first instance to consult either your own GP or one of the doctors at the Barclay Medical Centre.

What provision is available within SCAS?

Counselling is undertaken on an individual basis. Sessions last 50 minutes.

Including initial consultation sessions, individual contracts will involve up to a maximum of 10 sessions at the end of which both you and your counsellor will review the experience and conclude the work or discuss other possible options.

Due to resource constraints, the Service cannot provide longer term counselling on an open-ended basis. Where this option is considered the most appropriate, your counsellor will provide information on external agencies which may be able to offer this kind of help.