- Introduction to the College Counselling Service
- Making an appointment to see a counsellor
- The First Session
- Etiquette
- Confidentiality
- Confidentiality and the Children's Act 1989
- Confidentiality and Training
- Records
- Accountability
- Complaints
- Student Comments
Introduction
Counselling at City College Coventry is one of the services offered from the Student Services unit. This general policy statement is intended to inform prospective and current users of the Counselling service at City College Coventry about the operation of the service. Details about who the individual counsellors are and their own personal qualifications are also included.
Life as a student can sometimes be difficult. If you have just come from a school environment or been out of education for a while you may experience difficulties or anxieties that you didn't expect and find that you are not coping with very well. Often these issues are temporary, as you become more familiar with College life. Sometimes they develop and you begin to feel over-whelmed and unable to manage. Such issues may include: being a student, family problems, personal losses, depression, troubling thoughts and behaviours, eating issues, and so on. This is when you might like to see a counsellor.
Counselling at City College Coventry can be said to be an educational as well as a personal process; the counselling provision aims to offer you the opportunity to talk through difficult or problematic issues and to learn to manage them in a better and more creative way. Many people find that change becomes easier as they begin to explore the relationships between their problematic thoughts, feelings and behaviours both past and present.
Sometimes students access the service for information or welfare advice. Because counselling is not about giving advice or information - those students are referred to an adviser or an external agency. The service is free to all students. Sessions last 50 minutes and occur weekly or fortnightly. Counselling is purely a voluntary process. You may need to see a counsellor over a long period of time or only for one session - it all depends. However, all sessions require your cooperation and willing participation
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Appointments
Counselling takes place in interview rooms in and around the Student Services Centre. Yourself or your tutor can arrange the times.
Appointments can be made either in person or over the telephone by contacting the Student Services Unit in Room A44 on 024 76526726.
When making an appointment you can say if you would prefer to see a counsellor at Butts or Tile Hill centre. On some occasions it may not be possible to see a counsellor of your choice immediately. In such cases an appointment will be made as soon as it is convenient for both parties. An invitation to see an alternative counsellor will be offered if one is available.
Limited evening sessions are available for those students who are unable to come to the college during the day. Please speak to the receptionist in Student Services for more details.
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The First Session
The first session is an opportunity for both you, the prospective client, and the counsellor to see if counselling is the most appropriate form of help at the time. While counselling may be useful another form of help may be more appropriate to your needs at this time.
During this first interview the counsellor will ask you for some information including:
- your name and the address where you can be contacted
- your Doctor's address and telephone number
- if you were referred to the Counselling service
- if you have had previous Counselling
- If you are on any medication (please bring details)
- what you are expecting from the counselling sessions
- what issues you want to look into
By the end of the first session a number of options ought to be clear to you. These would be that:
- counselling is not for you - and you will be referred on;
- another assessment session is needed
- both you and the counsellor agree to work together. This will take the form of an initial contract of up to five sessions either weekly or fortnightly. There will then be a review and, if agreed upon, another verbal contract arranged
- you are referred to another counsellor within the service
Once clients have begun work with a counsellor it is likely that they will remain with that counsellor. However, there may be times when, in discussion with the counsellor, and as a direct result of the work that you and counsellor have been doing, it may be beneficial to change to see another practitioner. At this point negotiations will take place between the counsellor, the counsellor's supervisor in order to conduct this transition.
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Etiquette
If you are not able to attend an appointed session, you are asked to cancel your appointment via the Reception Centre. If you turn up late for a session the session will still end at the same time as if you had come on time.
You can stop attending counselling at any time although it is better if you can discuss the ending with your counsellor first.
Counsellors reserve the right to stop counselling when there is a therapeutic need.
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Confidentiality
Counsellors at the College do not offer complete confidentiality. As laid down by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) Counsellors reserve the right to:
During this first interview the counsellor will ask you for some information including:
- discuss certain issues that arise in the sessions with qualified counselling colleagues within the counselling team
- discuss certain issues that arisen in the sessions with a paid and qualified consultant, who is also registered with an approved professional body;
- In most circumstances counsellors will discuss such a measure with the client first - although in extreme circumstances the counsellors reserve the right to break confidentiality and contact the GP without expressed permission
If so instructed by a court of law
- Your counsellor will not discuss with your tutor any issues that have arisen in the Counselling room. Indeed, unless you give your permission your counsellor is not obliged to inform tutors that you have accessed the Counselling service at all even if a tutor asks.
There have been occasions when members of a student's family have contacted the Counselling service to speak to that student's counsellor. However, unless you have given written permission and your counsellor believes that it would be beneficial he or she will refer the member of your family to the Head of Service.
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Confidentiality and the Children's Act 1989
Unlike other members of the College staff, counsellors are not automatically required in law to immediately refer all instances of reported child abuse to Coventry Social Services department. At City College Coventry students between the ages of 16 and 18 who reports abuse as defined under the Children's Act will not be automatically referred to social services. Counsellors reserve the right to take external consultation as indicated above.
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Confidentiality and training
It is a professional requirement that counsellors continue with their own professional development. As such there may be occasions when counsellors at the college wish to draw upon their work to illustrate their own learning and understanding. Such methods may include using a tape-recording of a session or series of sessions with you, or the writing up of 'case studies'. At all times, you will be asked to give your written permission for these arrangements. In all instances personal details will be changed to guarantee confidentiality.
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Records
The counsellor keeps records of counselling sessions. You can also have access to your own records. The files at City College Coventry are kept in such a way as to maximise confidentiality. Personal information on clients such as name and contact details is kept separate from any counselling records. No other person outside the counselling team has access to these records which are kept for a minimum of three years. They are then destroyed by shredding.
In the event of the death or serious accident of a counsellor at the College, his/her named executor will make contact with all the identified clients and inform them of the situation.
The executor will indicate to the counsellor's clients that her role is not only to inform them of the situation but also to provide them with support and possible help in deciding whether to end counselling or to transfer to another counsellor. The executor will ask each student what they want done with their personal records, whether they want them:
- to be returned to the client;
- to be shredded or;
- to be forwarded on to a referral counsellor or agency
Client confidentiality continues after death.
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Accountability
When you have finished counselling you will be asked to complete an anonymous 'Post-Counselling Questionnaire' (PCQ) and return it to the Student Services reception. Along with informal reviews that may occur during the process of counselling, these questionnaires will provide the Head of Service with written feedback on the Counselling provision at the College.
At the end of each year the information is collated into a monitoring report on the work of both the student advisers and counsellors. No information on individual students is revealed during the writing of this report. The monitoring report is available to the senior management staff of this College and is important in determining funding and further support for the service.
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Complaints
Counsellors at City College Coventry are members of BACP They are liable to BACP's complaints procedure. A copy of the BACPs Code of Ethics and Practice and the procedure for making a complaint is available from the Student Services Reception.
All staff are also liable to the College's own internal complaints procedure
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Student Comments
'Counselling really helped me to deal with my difficult friends better'
'I was able to talk to my tutor in a more constructive way after seeing a counsellor'
'I didn't think that my problem was big enough to see a counsellor but when I did I found that I was able to get on with
my parents a lot easier'
'I needed somebody just then... the counsellor was really there for me helping me to deal with my boyfriend problems'
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