From Glenn Fleming, Counsellor
In last week’s edition of Nurrunga, I discussed the role of the College counsellors and the types of issues that the counselling team are unable to assist with.
This week, I thought it would be good to include further information about the service we provide.
Typical issues appropriate for student counselling include:
- Self-esteem
- Family separation.
- Anxiety
- Challenging behaviour
- Grief and loss
- Bullying
- Depression
- Organisational skills
- Peer relationships and friendship problems
- Lack of school connection
- Social skills
- School refusal behaviour
- Assisting parents, but only in relation to the needs of the student
As I mentioned last week, we aim to be proactive in supporting our students, intervening before a crisis point is reached. Often this occurs through information we receive from teachers and occasionally other students. With this in mind, please feel free to contact our team if you have any concerns about a student.
How do students agree to counselling?
Students at Waverley can access counselling as they require, but there are some limitations to this process.
Waverley students who are over 15 years of age are able to access the counsellors without requiring permission from their parents. For our students under 15 years, we are unable to provide ongoing counselling without permission from a parent. Each of us on the counselling team will call or email parents to confirm permission to provide counselling.
However, this does not mean that we will refuse to provide counselling until permission is granted. If a student requires urgent assistance, we will see them immediately and follow up with a phone call or email in order to gain permission to continue counselling.
If a parent of a child under 15 years old does not want their child to access the school counselling service, they can simply decline the offer to access counselling. If a parent would prefer that their child does not access the counselling service in their entire time at Waverley College, we request that the parent notify the Head of College or a School Counsellor in writing.
In next week’s newsletter, I will provide some information regarding the services external to Waverley College that the counselling team commonly recommend.
