Counselling

What is counselling?

Counselling is a talking therapy which gives you the opportunity to explore issues which are causing you concern or distress. The Counselling Service can give you the space to find a new perspective on a problem or think about options for change. We won't tell you what to do but we will listen to you and help you find a way forward.

What will my counselling session be like?

Your counsellor will welcome you to the building, or to the online session - and once you're comfortable, you can start by telling them what has prompted you to arrange a session. If possible, we suggest that you identify in advance one main issue that you'd like to talk about in the session with your counsellor.

Your counsellor will listen to you, and maybe ask some questions - and working together, the two of you will try to make sense of how you've been feeling. Your counsellor may help you to come up with some practical ways to make a difference to your problem, if appropriate - or you might prefer to just talk and know that someone has really listened. What we want from counselling may vary, so it could be useful to identify this before your session.

How long will my counselling session last?

Each session lasts for 50 minutes and has definite start and end times (these will be in your booking email). If you arrive late, we still have to finish your session at the planned end time. If you arrive more than 20 minutes late, the session may be too short for any real therapeutic work to take place, and so your counsellor might advise you to book a session on another day instead.

What happens after my counselling appointment?

We encourage you to take some time to reflect on the work you and your counsellor have done together in your counselling session. There could be some ideas or techniques for you to put into practice, which might help you to better manage your issue. You may want to take some action regarding your situation (for example, speaking with your personal tutor, or contacting your GP). You might realise you're able to think about things differently, once a little time has passed.

After that, if you decide you want to talk to someone again, please book a follow up appointment.
You can choose to see the same counsellor again, or you might like to book a session with another member of the counselling team. It's important that you felt you connected well with your counsellor - so if that didn't happen, please consider choosing another of our counsellors to speak with if you're planning to return.

How many appointments can I book?

We offer you one appointment at a time, which may be all you need - we encourage you to take a bit of time to think things over after your sessions, and see how you feel. We don't limit the number of sessions you can access, for as long as the sessions are helpful to you. Some students come to see us once, some come once a week, some come once every few months... We aim to be available when you need to talk.

Who are the counsellors?

We are a team of professionally trained and qualified counsellors. Between us, we have a range of different approaches, different training and different specialisms. All of us have a huge amount of experiences of working with a wide variety of clients, bringing all kinds of issues and difficulties. As a service, and as individual practitioners, we abide by the Ethical Framework outlined by the various professional bodies we are registered with (e.g. the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP)).

Multilingual counselling

We can currently provide counselling in the following languages: Cantonese, Doric, English, Hindi, Malay, Mandarin, Manglish, Polish, Scots, Singlish, Spanish and Urdu.

Couples' counselling

We can provide couples' counselling, and see you and your partner together, as long as one of you is a registered student.

Counsellor Gender Preference

At the moment we only have female counsellors in our team, if it is important to you to see a counsellor of another gender, we can help with signposting to other services.

Cancellations

Please give us as much notice as you can if you need to cancel or reschedule your appointment - you can email your counsellor at the email address they'll send you after you've booked a session. We have limited counselling spaces, and we'd ask that you let us know if you can't attend so that we can offer your space to another student.

If your counsellor needs to cancel your session, for example if they are unwell, we will text and email you to let you know as soon as possible before the time of your session.

Confidentiality

The fact that you've seen a counsellor is a private matter, and is kept private within the university's Student Support Services (which the University Counselling Service is part of). Your attendance at counselling will not show up in your academic records, or your medical records with your GP.

All counsellors are required by their professional body to review their clinical work with an appropriately qualified external supervisor to ensure you are given the best possible help; they may choose to discuss your session with their clinical supervisor.

The content of your session is also private, and will not be shared or discussed outside of the University Counselling Service unless in rare circumstances where we are very worried about your safety or the safety of others. If your counsellor believes you post a significant risk of harm to yourself or others, we will take action to minimise the risk and keep everyone safe.

We will always try to talk with you about this first, but your counsellor may need to inform your GP and/or other professionals if this situation arises, even if you do not give consent for the information about you to be shared in this way.

We are sometimes required by courts of law, the police, or by clients themselves to share information about a client. This may include requests for client notes and files. We would always aim to involve you in any decisions we make and act in accordance with your wishes. Without client consent, we only release information in these circumstances if required to do so by a court of law. This applies even after you have left University.

You can read our privacy notice here.

The Counselling Service offers workshops to students and members of staff throughout the year. These are facilitated by experienced qualified counsellors from the University Counselling Service.

ANXIETY

• As a student do you struggle with anxiety regarding your studies, your research, or in general?
• Are you a staff member who experiences general anxiety to do with work or your personal life?

Join us for an informative 90-minute workshop, where you will learn the biology behind anxiety and the tools to help deal with it.

SELF ESTEEM

• Do you struggle to believe in yourself?
• Do you beat yourself up with a negative mindset towards self?

Join us for this interactive workshop as we talk through the negative pitfalls of this way of being and offer tools and strategies of challenging the critical narrative.

PROCRASTINATION

• Do you struggle with procrastination with your studies or in the workplace?
• Do you put things off and find it hard to prioritise the jobs you need to do?

Join us as we offer a step by step approach, which will empower you in helping yourself.

BE READY WORKSHOP

As a new or already existing student do you feel Ready to start or maintain your university journey?

For most people, the new-found level of independence that university brings is a whole new experience. Surprisingly, one of the most challenging parts of university life is mastering the basic real-life skills of day-to-day living to be able to perform well at the academic level.

Would you like a safe confidential space to explore these skills, so that you can prepare yourself for the challenges of this new learning environment?

If you do not feel Ready yet, join us for our 90-minute Be Ready Workshop, which will offer you some practical tools and strategies to enable yourself to be better prepared to pursue your goals!

Please click on the link below to find out about any upcoming workshops.

Our appointment-based protocol means we have very limited scope to attend to any Crisis or Emergency.

If you are in Crisis or in an Emergency, please go to the Accident and Emergency Department of your local Hospital OR dial 999 and ask for an Ambulance.

Alternatively, please contact your GP Practice and ask for an Emergency Appointment.

When your GP Practice is closed, please telephone NHS 24 on 111. NHS out-of-hours

University of Aberdeen Student Helpline - available 24 hours a day and offers free-of-charge counselling by arrangement.

Helplines include:

• Prevent Suicide - App

• Samaritans Tel: 116 123 (freephone 24 hours) or Email: jo@samaritans.org (response time: 24 hours)

• SHOUT provides free, 24/7 crisis support across the UK. If you are experiencing a mental health crisis and need support, you can text SHOUT to 85258

• HopeLine UK Tel: 0800 068 4141 or Text: 07786209697 or Email: pat@papyrus-uk.org (10am - 10pm weekdays; 2pm - 10pm weekends; 2pm - 10pm bank holidays)

• Breathing Space Tel: 0800 838587 (freephone Mon - Thurs 6pm - 2am & Fri 6pm - Mon 6am)

• Nightline Instant Messaging only (8pm - Midnight term time)

• Rape Crisis Grampian Tel: 01224 590932 (local number, Mon - Thurs 9am - 5pm)

• Rape Crisis Scotland Tel: 08088 010302 (freephone daily 6pm - midnight)

The Counselling Service Team

All our counsellors are professionally trained, attend external supervision and work to the Ethical Framework of their professional body.

Head of Counselling & Specialist Support: Anna Shea

Administration Coordinator: Nicky Mann

Administration Assistant: Harriet Cropper

Counsellors:

• Ania Perlinski
• Felicity Dutton (term-time ~ MS Teams)
• Gaby Valecillos
• Gidget Wong (term-time ~ Cantonese & Mandarin speaking on MS Teams)
• Jacquie Simpson
• Janie Keddie (term-time)
• Namrata Labroo
• Rhona Gough
• Sha'yo Lai

How much does it cost?

The service is free of charge.

Confidentiality

Everything you talk about with your counsellor stays within the Counselling Service.

The Counselling Service works closely as a team, and share tasks and collaborate with each other to ensure smooth operations. We may consult with each other about your engagement with us so we can offer you the best possible support. This means the confidentiality loop covers the whole counselling team but, importantly, does not extend outside this team, without your consent or unless we have serious concerns about your wellbeing.

Our professional body, the British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy, requires all counsellors to have regular supervision with a qualified external supervisor. This may mean that the work between you and your counsellor may be discussed, in confidence, between your counsellor and their supervisor.

We do not pass any information to anyone else, including other University Departments, unless we have your permission to do so. This means we will not even confirm or deny your visit to a counsellor, without your consent.

However, rarely, there may be exceptional circumstances when the counsellor, or the Counselling Service, feels it is necessary to act without your permission, although we would seek to explain this with you first, if this was feasible or appropriate. At such times, the importance of preserving client trust and autonomy will be weighed against the importance of reducing the risk to you or to other people.

Privacy Notice

The PDF here explains how the Counselling Service collects and uses personal information.

BACP Ethical Framework

All members of the University Counselling Service adhere to the Ethical Framework for the Counselling Professions established by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP).

Feedback

The Counselling Service welcomes feedback.

In some instances we can write a 'letter of support' for students who attend our Counselling Service, and who may be experiencing emotional or psychological difficulties where these might be adversely affecting their studies. We can write one letter per semester.

Who should I speak to about my difficulties?

The Counselling Service always encourages you to get in touch with the appropriate Academic personnel as soon as difficulties are impacting on your studies; this may include Personal Tutors, Regents, Course Coordinators, Programme Coordinators, School Administrators. Making contact early allows for more potential flexibility and options regarding how best to resolve the situation.

What can the Counselling Service write in a letter and what is not possible?

We can verify the dates when you attended counselling and, if you are happy to do so, include the main presenting issue that you brought to counselling. But you are under no obligation to verify the nature or purpose of counselling - that is your choice.

We cannot make or confirm any medical diagnosis, which can only come from your GP, Doctor or other medical healthcare professional. As counselling is subjective, and based on what you discuss with your Counsellor, we cannot provide evidence of what you have or have not experienced. We can only refer to what you have told us.

Do I need to see a Counsellor?

We cannot provide a letter of support if you are not known to the Counselling Service. Counselling is rarely appropriate if you are only seeking a 'letter'. However, students often find counselling can help to explore options and coping resources. The fact that you are seeing a Counsellor does not necessarily mean your circumstances are unusually distressing or extreme.

How long does a letter take to write?

We aim to draft this for you within a week. However, at peak times it may take longer.

How do I receive my letter?

We will email you a draft copy for your approval. Once you have confirmed approval, we will email you a signed PDF copy. You may wish to upload the letter to 'My Aberdeen', as appropriate. For security reasons, we only email letters to your University email address.

Who will read the letter?

We email you the signed PDF copy so that you can choose who you want to receive the letter. Once we have sent you the PDF signed copy, the onus for distributing the letter rests with you. The Counselling Service is not responsible for who reads the letter after we have sent it to you or any consequences of so doing.

Can I request a letter more than once?

You can, but we will only write one letter per semester unless your circumstances have changed.

If you are looking for some support outwith the university, you will find a selection of external resources on the Mental Health webpage

We have produced a number of Self-Help Guides which you can view here.

NHS Grampian also have a selection of self-help leaflets which you can view here.