Counselling Service

At St Edward’s School we are committed to supporting the mental health and wellbeing of our young people. In line with our mission statement, we endeavour to nurture confidence and maturity in our students and strive together for justice, love and peace as a community.  You can find out more about our mental wellbeing services below or within this leaflet.

Adolescence can be a challenging time, and we believe it is vital for young people to have opportunities to talk through their difficulties in a welcoming and supportive environment. Counselling can have a positive impact on young people. The aim of counselling is to assist the young person to achieve a greater understanding of themselves and their relationship with their world, ensuring they have a greater awareness of their personal resources in order to build resilience. This supports their ability to address problems and pursue meaningful goals.

At St Edward’s we have a professionally accredited full time counsellor with over 10 years of experience working with young people. Based within the wider Pastoral Team, Tanya Knowlton can provide one to one counselling to young people from years 7-13, with a wide variety of issues. Counselling is carried out in a private counselling room away from the school traffic to respect the young person’s confidentiality. Students are referred for counselling through the Directors of Learning or the SENCo and a full assessment is done with the student to advise the most suitable support for the young person’s needs. The counselling service also offers placements for trainee counsellors; as well as offering guidance and expertise for new counsellors it helps support the service for the young people of St Edward’s School.