Counselling and Student Welfare

What is counselling?

Counselling involves providing a safe environment for students to share their challenges and work through their social, emotional, behavioural and mental health issues with a trained counsellor.

A School Counsellor supports students by helping them learn and use strategies to manage and cope with their emotions or situation and enables them to make choices for positive change and development.

What is student welfare support?

Student Welfare Support refers to the work with students with attendance issues. These students may not attend school regularly due to their family or home situations, lack of motivation for learning or poor peer influence.

A Student Welfare Officer assesses the needs of students with poor school attendance and works with community partners, parents and teachers to address their needs and help them return to school.

Support and Referral Process

There are 3 levels of counselling and student welfare support in schools:

1. Support by teachers
Students are encouraged to talk to their teachers who will provide the first level of support. 

2. Referral to counsellors or student welfare officers
Students who need specialised attention may be referred to a teacher-counsellor, school counsellor while those with irregular attendance or are involved in statutory cases are referred to student welfare officers. School counsellors also provide early intervention for students facing social, emotional or mental health challenges.

3. Referral to specialists or community agencies
Students who require more intensive intervention will be referred to our Lead School Counsellors, Lead Student Welfare Officers  or mental health professionals from the multi-disciplinary Response, Early intervention, Assessment in Community mental Health (REACH)  or social service agencies. 

Counselling and student welfare support is provided by the following:

• School Counsellors who are professional counsellors with either a Diploma, Bachelor or Master Degree in Counselling.
• Teacher-Counsellors (TC) who are trained on in counselling skills including and in areas such as suicide intervention, grief and loss counselling, and psychological first aid.
• Student Welfare Officers who are trained to help mitigate the risk factors that may affect students' attendance and reintegrate these students back to school.