Counselling services at Aloeric
Time to Talk
Time to Talk is one of the ways in which young people are supported at Aloeric. It is facilitated by a Relate counsellor, which means she can engage with students impartially and confidentially.
Young people - traditionally, but not exclusively, Key Stage 2 - might like to talk to a counsellor when they are worried, sad or angry. They might need to talk with a trusted adult when enduring grief or separation (even though they try to put up a brave front in support of their loved ones). Sometimes it helps to unburden stresses, pressures or relationship difficulties at school or home.
During an allocated 6 sessions of Time to Talk we might aim to achieve any or all of the objectives below:
- We unravel thoughts and self-talk
- We unpack feelings
- We explore relationships
- We facilitate changes
- We will refine coping skills and explore alternative ways to deal with issues, and
- We will certainly focus on strengths, supports and feel-good activities
There are a number of ways to access counselling: A young person can drop a message in the T2T post-box; a parent/carer may make a referral through the tutor-teacher or the T2T school rep; and sometimes, the school might suggest counselling. Nevertheless, a parent must always give permission for their child to come to counselling; the parent will also be invited to a pre-meet.
The Counsellor will use a strength-based approach and brain-friendly methods to aid talking (i.e. drawing, sand tray work, card production, making worry dolls).
Relate counsellors are professionally qualified, accredited with their respective professional bodies and are supervised to ensure good practice.