When you hear the word ‘counselling’ what do you think of?

Two people in a room; one talking and the other just nodding and listening? 
Films have a lot to answer for, and for me that image conveys nothing of the aliveness of the relationship that counselling offers.

For instance, when was the last time that a friend or someone in your family really listened to your experience, without confusing it or comparing it with their own? 

The real trick of counselling is that it creates the circumstances that mean you can fully be yourself. By providing relational sounding boards and mirrors it allows you to see and hear the self you are in this moment. Sometimes someone else can see you changing when you can’t see it yourself.
Most people emerge from experiences of counselling feeling better than they did at the start, more able to function and on a positive trajectory in terms of their mental health, but the chances of this are much increased if they can come along with some openness to the process, some belief it could help in some way. This is one of the reasons we ask people to refer themselves, rather than being required to come: they need just a tiny bit of belief, and it can be just tiny.

The other surprise to some is that counselling is not just about two people in a room, in fact increasingly this is less and less so. The Student Counselling Service now offers about 300 students direct support each week and whilst some of them will be in individual appointments, most of these are either initial assessments to establish the best pattern of care for someone, one off follow ups to these meetings to support a person’s self help, 20 minute initial meetings to establish support choices, or 20 minute ‘Drop ins’ to offer immediate triage and signposting to support, or to help keep them on track with ‘Beating the Blues’ (our online CBT support programme). Even our regular sessions tend to be for fewer than 6 weeks.

Over 100 of the total seen are accessing our regular closed groups or coming just this week to an open group, or attending one of our workshops. And that’s without keeping a count of the number of people who use our resource library and website self help pages.

Because of the range of what we offer we registered over 1600 students last academic year, and so far this year we are experiencing a 20% increase on that. We can’t work with everyone but we have a number of useful contacts in the wider community of Bristol, so that no one needs to feel alone with their concerns.

And just one little plug for group work. If counselling helps you see aspects of yourself you can’t yet see , imagine what it might feel like if other students just like you provided the sounding board, or if someone in the group told a story that made you feel you were not the only one struggling with similar things. It is a powerful moment, and every group sees it, when someone says, ‘it’s such a relief…I thought it was just me’.

http://www.bristol.ac.uk/student-counselling/

 

Mental Wellbeing Week (20/02/12)

Look around you.

Wherever you are, whatever you are doing,  1 in 6 of the people around you will be struggling with a mental health problem at this time. 1 in 4 will have a problem at some time in their lives. Maybe it’s you, maybe it’s your flatmate or friend, partner or another student on your course.

The important thing is to know how and when to get help if you or your friends need it, or advice if you’re not sure what to do.

At the Students’ Health Service 1 in 4 of our doctors’ consultations is for a mental health problem.

Students, like anyone, can develop anxiety, depression, social phobia, obsessive compulsive disorder, eating disorders, bipolar and schizophrenic disorders, as well as rarer problems such as body dysmorphic disorder and borderline personality disorder. (For more information see www.patient.co.uk )

If you are thinking of harming yourself, we want to help you.
If you can’t leave the house because of fear or low mood, we would like to hear from you.
If you think that life’s not worth living please talk to us.

If you know someone who is suffering, please encourage them to make an appointment with a GP or bring them in yourself. We don’t judge, we listen. We really want to help you.
This is what we do, this is why we are here.

It is time we as a society started talking more openly about mental health issues and how to deal with them positively.
Less stigma would lead to quicker access to help and better long term health.
So look around you… 1 in 6 of us is suffering.

Can you act today to help that person feel better?

Talk to the Students’ Health Service or Student Counselling Service for guidance, support or treatment.

Mental Wellbeing Week starts 20th February, at locations around the precinct, especially between Senate House and the Library, with free activities and much more.

 Students’ Health Service; 0117 3302720

Student Counselling Service

Other good sources of info;

Mind

Living Life to the Full  (depression advice)

Moodgym  (depression advice)

b-eat  (eating disorders information)

Bipolar UK  (bipolar disorder support)