School Counselling Service

Counselling is a way of helping people through talking and listening. It encourages people to talk about their thoughts, feelings and experiences and can help people understand themselves better, make changes and find solutions to their difficulties.

Young people may seek counselling for a wide range of reasons, including: difficulties in school; friendships/relationships; coping with changes; family difficulties; personal development or working through past experiences.

No matter how good our relationship with our children, there can be times when they find it hard to share a worry or concern with us. At these times, the opportunity to speak to a counsellor can be really helpful.

At Ditton Park Academy we have an in-house School Counsellor 4 days a week. Counselling sessions occur during the school day and generally last for 50 minutes.

The majority of students will be of the maturity required to consent to counselling sessions themselves.

As confidentiality is key to counselling being effective, it is not school policy to inform parents when their child is attending counselling sessions. This means that everything that is said in the counselling sessions remains between the counsellor and student, unless the counsellor believes that there is a significant risk of harm, in which case you will be informed. If you have any questions or concerns about this please contact Ms Dawson on 01753 537594, who will be happy to talk with you.

We have an in-house referral process, so if you have any concerns or feel that counselling would be helpful for your child, please speak with their Academic Mentor or House Leader, who will be able to help.