Counselling children and young people who attend a school for children with complex needs: A Case Study

Abstract

We report the findings of a case study exploring the views of the student, teacher, teaching assistant and counsellor who participated in a project to evaluate counselling with young people who attend a school for children with complex needs in the UK. The student was offered twenty six weeks of humanistic counselling. The student, teacher and teaching assistant were interviewed pre and post counselling using a semi structured format. They were asked about the student's development in the seven areas of self concept which are named in the quantitative scale Piers Harris 2, which was used elsewhere in the project. Data was also gathered from the notes and transcripts of the counselling sessions. The case study describes an approach to the use of language and the counselling process with a student with complex needs. Staff were not able to report any significant changes in the student, yet the student reported a change in herself and an awareness of the process in the counselling relationship and the counsellor identified improvements in communication, self awareness and self confidence.

Keywords:

• Case study
• children
• complex needs
• emotional difficulties
• emotional intelligence
• learning difficulties
• school counselling

We would like to thank The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund for their generous funding, Kemi for her participation in the project and allowing us to write our work together for publication, staff at the school for their support and willingness to be interviewed, Ruth Patashnik for her support and interviewing Kemi, Lyn Jennings for her support and clinical supervision.