Loretto,
I have strong feelings that there ought to be as much choice as possible
and would be unhappy with the idea that counselling has to equal
psychotherapy.
We have two routes into counselling here: one through the Medical Centre
to a bank of part-time counsellors who have various specialisms and to
whom students can be referred by one of the Medical Officers but ONLY if
they are registered with the practice. This means that this part of the
counselling provision is largely NHS funded with the University providing
up to 30% contribution. The Senior Counsellor from the central
counselling service provides some group supervision to these counsellors
and this maintains links but preserves a level of independence. There have
been a few cases where there have been different views about, e.g.
confidentiality, reflecting the different ethics of the Medics. and the
central Counselling Service, and I'd be worried about subsuming everything
under one or the other (checks and balances, etc.).
I can envisage some real problems in setting up a system that had the
effect of "medicalising" counselling and would resist this vigorously if
it were me. There must be access to a counselling service that is not
formally linked to a medical service and does not require GP referral.
This does not mean that I support student counsellors doing their own
thing in isolation (as I am generally integrationist in orientation) but
see the proper monitoring of that as the accountability to the student
services manager as a member of the team. I moved our somewhat
under-utilised Counselling Service (compared with other institutions) to a
position adjacent to the Students Union Welfare Unit recently, with shared
booking/reception and found an immediate increase in take-up.
Also, since counselling and psychotherapy are not necessarily synonymous,
I would be unhappy to take out the element of choice about style.
To link this to dis-forum member's focus: how would people feel if we
insisted that disability advisers/learning support staff had to be based
in the Medical Centre?!
I look forward to seeing other people's responses to this.....
Leila
******************************************************************************
Leila Edwards Direct line: tel: 01225-826879
Dean of Students Internal ext: 6879
Fax: 01225-826709
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Secretary/Diary: Sarah Rosser tel: 01225-826826 ext: 5721
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On Mon, 17 Mar 1997, Loretto O'Callaghan wrote:
> Dear dis-forum. May I seek your comments please!
>
> At Imperial College and on campus is a National Health Fundholding Practice
> which employs in addition to its Doctors and nurses, a psychiatrist and
> psychotherapists.
>
> The College's Student Counsellor works independently (and independently of
> the Health Centre) and in the strictest confidence and offers a service to
> which students have direct access.
>
> Looking to the future, there is some debate here at present as to whether
> the independent service offered by the Student Counsellor should continue or
> whether it should be incorporated in the Health Centre using its
> psychotherapists.
>
> May I ask what happens at other Institutions.
>
> I am most grateful for any comments.
>
> With kind regards, Loretto.
>
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