How we work
Integrative counselling sessions with specific CBT sessions if required. Face to face in schools and offsite at the Beacon Centre in Chafford Hundred.
Schools can purchase an annual contract – 35 weeks of a 1⁄2 day of counselling (3 sessions) or a full day (6 sessions). Each session is 40 minutes in school.
Ad hoc sessions: usually 10 sessions per pupil or can deliver 6 sessions if required. We can invoice per piece of work for budget management.
We provide School Counselling services and Mental Health Training
We provide counselling from qualified counsellors who have been trained in working with children, young people and adults and have many years of experience working in this field.
Our team works with pupils, staff and parents in primary and secondary schools, 6th Form Colleges and deal with issues like bereavement, anger management, depression, anxiety, loss, self-harm.
A large proportion of pupils referred to our service are Looked After Children in foster care who can also access Life Story Work on request from Social Care, if appropriate.
We provide bespoke training for school staff to cover child and adolescent mental health issues and other therapeutic topics.
We also offer supervision to school staff and counsellors who are employed in-house.
We provide CPD sessions for school staff who want to develop their skills to deal with and manage the children and young people they work with.
Why we do it
800,000 children suffering from mental health difficulties according to The Children’s Commissioner’s Report on Vulnerability July 2017.
1 in 10 children aged 5 to 16 years had a clinically diagnosable mental disorder (The Mental health of children and young people in Great Britain study 2004)
240 020 young people in contact with mental health services in 2016/2017 (NHS MHSDS May 2017)
Of all pupils referred to CAMHS in 2015, only 14% were able to access the service immediately while 28% of those referred were not allocated a service at all (Office of the Children’s Commissioner survey)
1 in 10 young people will self-harm at some point (Mental Health Foundation Research 2006)
13 Years Old – The age teens start to worry about self-harm (stats Young Minds))
Around 1 in 6 young people experience anxiety at some point (stats Young Minds)
Around 1 in 100 young people aged between 10 and 20 suffer from anorexia each year (stats Young Minds)
1 in 8 children aged 10 to 15 reported symptoms of mental ill-health in 2011 to 2012 (Office for National Statistics 2015)
Over 2,400 children were victims of sexual exploitation in gangs and groups from August 2010 to October 2011 (2012 Children’s Commissioner Report on Child Sexual Exploitation)
16,500 children and young people as being at risk of Child Sexual Exploitation (2012 Children’s Commissioner Report on Child Sexual Exploitation)
Mental Health Training
We provide mental health training to schools to empower them to respond appropriately to the needs of their pupils. These days, mental health problems affect as many as 1 in 10 children and young people. Staff who typically benefit from this training are the senior leadership team, pastoral teams, coaches, child protection officers and teachers. Training packages we’ve delivered in the past include:
Understanding and responding to Self-harm in Young People
Understanding and responding to Mental Health Problems in Young People
Working with young people at risk of sexual exploitation
Understanding Attachment patterns in children