What Is Counselling?

Counselling is essentially a confidential and supportive discussion between the boy and the counsellor about the things that are worrying the boy or creating distress and disturbance in his life. For example, family troubles, relationship problems, feeling low and sad, unhappy at school, problems with friends, worrying a lot, feeling angry all the time…

The purpose of counselling is to offer a space to talk and think through things. It is intended to be helpful. If it is not, then the counsellor and the boy must explore other ways of finding solutions. The counsellor cannot make a problem magically disappear and may not have all the answers, but she is trained to help the boy find his own solutions within a safe and comfortable space. Sometimes there are no immediate solutions, but just sharing the problem with someone can help a person feel better.

Counselling is different to a conversation because in counselling, the counsellor and the boy meet with a purpose: to find a solution to whatever is troubling the boy and to support the boy in his situation. This is different to a casual chat or conversation. Counselling only really works when the person who is seeking help actually wants to understand his situation and is open to doing something - changing his thoughts or behaviours - in order to overcome the problem.