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Counselling

USW Counselling is a short-term intervention service within the university. You may be referred to USW Counselling following a Wellbeing Advice Appointment.

How can counselling help?

Your counselling journey will begin with a single session in which you and your counsellor work together to; make sense of your experiences, explore your hopes and aims for counselling, and consider how you might be supported to move forward from any issues that you wish to address. Counselling can:

  • provide greater self-awareness and understanding of your experiences,
  • help you focus on and clarify your thoughts and feelings so that you can arrive at your own solutions,  
  • support you to develop and implement effective coping strategies that you can use to prevent issues escalating to an unmanageable level,
  • build self-esteem and confidence, and empower you to make changes in your life and overcome barriers to engaging with your studies.

Your Counselling Journey

  • Prior to your first appointment, you will need to read the Counselling Agreement that is sent to you with your appointment confirmation email. This will explain how the service works, what you can expect from counselling, and what is expected of you.
  • You will also be asked to complete a brief questionnaire to help us understand what it is that has brought you to counselling.
  • Your counselling journey will begin with a single session. For some people, this one session will be enough, but for more complex and/ or longstanding issues further sessions may be appropriate. The aim will always be to keep counselling as efficient and focused as possible and to help you to overcome barriers to engaging with your studies.
  • If further sessions are agreed, they will be scheduled for the same day/ time each week for the agreed number of consecutive weeks. You will need to make yourself available at your allocated time each week.
  • If you need to cancel an appointment, we ask that you let us know as soon as possible by the means outlined in the Counselling Agreement. Failure to do so will result in you losing your place in counselling.

Inclusivity

The counselling team has extensive experience working with neurodiversity, gender identity, sexuality, culture and ethnicity. We are committed to working in ways that are inclusive, accessible, non-judgmental, and affirming to students from all backgrounds.