In this issue
Features
College counselling in the听age of biological psychiatry:听a Szaszian perspective听(free article)
John Breeding challenges听the psychiatric model and听its reliance on drugs to treat听student distress
Responding to risk through听behavioural intervention teams
How can we best work with听and contain students at risk?听Dave Wilson outlines a听cross-service approach
Keeping mental health in听mind: the importance of听that first conversation
Jackie Williams introduces听a pilot e-learning programme听for non-specialist staff who听encounter students in distress
Freedom and chains:听the duality of the university听experience for young men听with eating disorders
A call for greater awareness听of how eating issues affect听men as well as women.听Russell Delderfield shares听his research findings
Joining the dots:听the impact of undiagnosed听dyslexia on students
Sarah Olds explores the personal听and academic costs for students听whose dyslexia remains hidden
Tales from the woods
David Mair shares two听metaphors relevant to short-term听counselling in education
Divisional news
Notes from HUCS
David Mair
Notes from the chair
Jeremy Christey
Notes from FE
Mary Jones
A pdf of this issue is available in the University and College Counselling archive
From the editor
In recent weeks the media have been full of stories about student mental health. A narrative is emerging that students are a fragile group and that university and college life is fraught with high levels of anxiety and stress. We鈥檙e told that the introduction of tuition fees has played a pivotal role in driving the increase in presentations at counselling services, and that without fast access to counsellors or other mental health workers, students鈥� chance of success, or even of completing their studies, are compromised.
Narratives create reality. And so it鈥檚 important that we critically assess them as they emerge, because they surround our work as counsellors, as well as the lives of the clients we work with. In our opening article, John Breeding offers a critique of the biopsychiatric narrative of mental illness. Writing from the US, he alerts us to the huge rise in prescribed medications and their potential impact on young lives 鈥� often, he argues, without good evidence for their need or effectiveness. Yet the distress that students experience is real and we need to be clear about what counselling can 鈥� and can鈥檛 鈥� offer this group of emerging adults.
Hidden distress is all the more difficult for being unacknowledged. Sarah Olds writes about the distress of undiagnosed dyslexia. When teachers, doctors, parents 鈥� and counsellors 鈥� are unaware of possible indications of dyslexia, students suffer from unrecognised barriers to success. Conversely when appropriate diagnoses are made, what was experienced initially as a burden can, potentially, become a gateway to embracing an alternative way of seeing the world 鈥� a liberation. And Russell Delderfield shines a light into the often hidden distress of men who are suffering from eating disorders. Gender bias can lead us to miss symptoms which are more often associated with women but which can have a profound impact on young men鈥檚 experience of university.
Dave Wilson argues for the need for all staff in institutions to take student distress seriously. For any one service to work in isolation, attempting to support students at risk is not only ineffective, he argues, but potentially unethical. Building on this assertion, Jackie Williams informs us of a new e-training package aimed at nonclinical staff in colleges and institutions, to help them interact more confidently with students who need support.
Our professional settings are challenging places to work, requiring us all to be aware of the narrative currents that swirl around us. I hope you find the contributions in this issue enlightening and supportive.
David Mair
Editor
david.mair@bacp.co.uk