Humanistic school-based counselling

Domain III · Humanistic, existential & experiential · Mick Cooper, Rebecca Kirkbride, Hill · 2014 · United Kingdom

What it is

SBHC is a brief, individual, person-centred counselling service delivered in secondary schools for young people with emotional distress. It does not target a specific disorder. The counsellor listens actively, reflects empathically, helps the young person reach and express the emotions and needs…

Format

• Format
• Individual, face-to-face sessions in the young person's school, about 45 minutes, weekly where possible.

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Counsellors: qualified to at least diploma level (about two years' part-time training), in ongoing clinical supervision, with audio recordings audited for adherence.

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Does it involve fasting, a special diet or 'detox'? Have you discussed this with your doctor?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• the drivers of dissatisfied dropout (see §5).
• "Oh, it's because I thought everyone was laughing at me."
• dissociation, panic, or disclosures that raise risk (4.26).
• the check-in eating into exploration time. Keep it to a few minutes.
• pursuing your own agenda, which was a factor in dissatisfied dropout.

Problems the guide addresses

• Long or repeated silences
• "I don't know what to talk about" / stuck sessions
• The young person wants advice or strategies
• Hesitancy or ambivalence about talking about feelings
• Resistance, "sent" clients and alliance ruptures
• Overwhelm and dysregulation in session
• Non-attendance
• The young person wants to stop early, or others want them to
• Withheld risk, or loss of trust after a disclosure
• Suspected psychosis, eating disorders, needs beyond competence

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.