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From the editor

鈥業 don鈥檛 think you need counselling.鈥� Have you ever said that to a student who has sought your help or support? I have. And do. 鈥榊ou need to see a counsellor鈥� has, in many instances, become shorthand for 鈥業 think you need help鈥�. And this explains 鈥� in part at least 鈥� the huge demand we all struggle with every year as more and more students 鈥� as well as their parents and tutors 鈥� see life problems through the lens of 鈥榤ental health鈥� and conclude that they need psychological or talking therapy.

But counselling isn鈥檛 appropriate or necessary for everyone and we shouldn鈥檛 pretend that it is: I believe we risk undermining the distinctive features of counselling if it comes to be seen as a first-line option for any and all emotional distress. We need, as professionals, to have the confidence to say 鈥楴o鈥� 鈥� with care and compassion 鈥� to some of the students who make their way to our services. And while some students seem disappointed when I tell them that I think another service would be more appropriate for them, others seem relieved. Being told that actually there鈥檚 nothing intrinsically wrong with you, that your problems are understandable and there are other really good services which can help sort things out, can be a great relief. It reduces a sense of being at fault, or the sense that the issue is an individual problem rather than an environmental or social one. As one student recently wrote in the Warwick University Student Union newspaper, The Boar, after attending a counselling assessment: 鈥楩rom [the counsellor鈥檚] reassurances and suggestion that I needn鈥檛 make a followup appointment鈥� I began to realise that I was neither a particularly 鈥渟erious鈥� or stand-alone case.鈥� ¹

But if we are to point students to other sources of support, it鈥檚 crucial that we develop strong links with other services, individuals and projects on our campuses, in our cities and towns, and within the NHS. 鈥業 don鈥檛 think you need counselling鈥� is certainly not the same as saying 鈥榊ou don鈥檛 need help or support鈥�. It鈥檚 simply honest to acknowledge that a given issue may not be most amenable to resolution in counselling, that certain students may not be ready to make use of therapy, or that something else could have a greater positive impact on them.

So this issue has as its theme 鈥榗ollaboration鈥�. We need to develop collaborative links with other teams, and know how to refer students to them. Careers services, chaplaincies, wellbeing services, mental health advisors, tutors, student mentors, GPs, academic skills centres, and others鈥� all represent a wide range of resources. Students are fortunate in having access to these services and interventions (although it can often seem that we are all struggling to cope with the level of need and demand) and in this issue we explore some of what other services potentially have to offer. I鈥檓 convinced that we need to help students realise that being connected with high quality, professional support takes many forms and that counselling 鈥� while an important part of the support network 鈥� is not the be-all-and-end-all for every problem.

I noted in the last issue that 鈥楴o man is an island鈥�.² I would like to think, too, that 鈥楴o counselling service is an island鈥�: we work best when we maintain a compassionate, equitable flow of inward and onward referrals, when we work collaboratively with professionals in other specialisms, and when we acknowledge our debt to those who support us in our work.

David Mair, editor david.mair@bacp.co.uk

References

1. The Boar, Wednesday, 22 February 2017; 39(9).
2. https://web.cs.dal.ca/~johnston/poetry/island.html (accessed 3 March, 2017).

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