The Counselling Service

Counselling - What is it and how can it help?

All students, in fact all human beings, find that there are times in their life when they have unhappy, confused or overwhelming feelings. Sometimes they can be connected to specific problems, or sometimes we may not even know why we feel the way we do.

For most of us, it helps to talk to someone in confidence outside our immediate family and circle of friends who is trained to offer professional counselling help.

Counselling can help resolve specific problems, make decisions, help with phobias, low self-esteem, stress, anxiety, depression, addictions, abuse, bereavement, conflict with others, relationships and many other issues affecting our emotional and mental well-being.

Counsellors can help in many ways. They will listen attentively and without judgement to you, because speaking out loud about your problems can help you put your thoughts and feelings in order. They may also come up with options which you may or may not have considered, but they will certainly help you to examine these options carefully. Counsellors will never tell you what to do, just explore what you can do in order to help you cope with your current situation.

Sometimes it can be helpful to let counselling staff know if you are having problems which may affect your academic progress on your programme of study. We can often negotiate deferral of assessment points, intermitting or repeating years with your programme leader or tutor, but only with your consent. We can guarantee that confidentiality remains paramount, and that any contact with other staff would only be made if you wanted it to happen.

Counselling is freely available to all students at both the Tremough and Woodlane campuses.

Woodlane: 01326 213 735

Tremough: 01326 370 460