Counselling

It's ok to not be ok.

There are times when anyone can experience low-mood, stress, anxiety, depression or a general feeling of being overwhelmed with studies, which is absolutely normal. These feelings could be the result of something that you have experienced or just affect your mood for no apparent reason.

We therefore offer one-to-one sessions with qualified counsellors who offer support and advice to any student. You don't need to suffer alone.

We have dedicated counsellors available to offer support to students who may find they need emotional support whilst studying. We offer one-to-one counselling, solution-focused time-limited counselling and crisis drop-in support.

All counsellors have a counselling diploma and post qualification experience and have either gained BACP accreditation or have membership. There is no charge for students using our counselling services.

Counselling at college usually follows this straightforward process.

Referral to Counselling

Attend a Drop In Session

Attend Additional Appointments

1. Referral to Counselling

First of all we need to know you want to speak to us. Step 1 is to ask for help.

Asking for help can often be the hardest step, but it doesn't need to be. We simply need to know that you want to speak to our counsellors.
Your request to be referred to counselling will be treated with discretion and on a need-to-know basis.

There are a number of ways to be referred to our counsellors but the easiest is to either speak to your Progress Tutor or email "I would like to speak to a counsellor please." to studentcounsellingservice@southport.ac.uk. You will then be invited to a Drop-in session with a counsellor.

2. Attend a Drop-in Session

Drop-in sessions take place on Tuesdays between 08:30am and 12:00pm.

A Drop-in session is a brief meeting with our counsellor, offering you a chance to offload. You can use it to vent your feelings or talk about something that has happened. You can talk freely about whatever is on your mind and sessions usually take around 15-20 minutes.

Drop-ins are great if you aren't sure if counselling is for you. By the end of the session, it will be decided whether just the Drop-in was enough or if you could benefit from being booked into further sessions. This will be a mutual decision between yourself and your counsellor.

3. Attend Additional Appointments

Further appointments will be booked if you and your counsellor decide you need more time together.

Following a Drop-in session, you and your counsellor may decide that you will benefit from spending more time together. Usually, students are allocated a 6 session block of appointments.

Appointments will be scheduled around what works best for you. They will fit around your timetable ensuring that none of your learning is interrupted. At the end of the 6 sessions you will be informed what (if any) further steps need to be taken.