Kelso High School Case Study
Filling a counselling gap
The key points to this case study are:
- emotional health and well-being
- counselling
- multi-agency working.
The Kelso Locality Integration Team identified a need for emotional support for an identified group of young people at Kelso High School in Scottish Borders. A gap was also identified in the available resources in terms of capacity and skill level of staff as appropriate to a Tier 2 service in the Scottish Borders Mental Health Strategy.
| Tier 3 | Clinical Services |
| Tier 2 | Gap |
| Tier 1 | School/Primary Care |
| Tier 0 | Family/Community |
Why it was developed
A number of key issues had been identified by the Kelso Locality Integration Team including:
- professional concern and judgement that there were issues regarding the emotional and mental health needs of young people in the area
- there appeared to be an issue relating to stress levels of a number of young people across the range including high achievers
- particular aspects of concern were body image, self-esteem, expectations, stress and self-harm.
In order to look at these issues a Working Group was established with a range of partners including:
Scottish Borders Council
Education Department
Kelso High School Rector
Locality Integration Manager
Social Work Department
Family Support
NHS Borders
School Nurse
Nurse Co-ordinator
Health Promotion
Andrew Lang Unit (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services)
Penumbra
Police
Learning from elsewhere
Through the Working Group it was agreed to look at examples of other school counselling services in Scotland. After some research using the Scottish Health Promoting Schools Unit website, the School Counselling Service in East Renfrewshire Council was identified as having a model which was of interest to the Working Group. Information about the East Renfrewshire project and others can be found on the mapping exercise page.
A study visit was arranged to the Counselling Service in East Renfrewshire to look at the model used and processes and procedures in place. As a result of the visit elements of practice which could be transferred to the Kelso situation were identified.
The development of a counselling service within Scottish Borders Council fits strategically with:
- Bright New Futures – for Borders Children and Young People – Strategy for Children’s Services in Scottish Borders
- Scottish Borders Mental Health Strategy.
A bid was made to Children’s Change Group to develop a school counselling service at Kelso High School. The bid was successful and the Working Group moved into the commissioning stage.
As the work had to be put out to tender, the Working Group involved a Contracts Officer to help with the specification. The whole tendering process was required to be robust in order to be fair and transparent, particularly with partner agencies bidding to provide the service.
The Working Group was involved in the selection process with particular school interest as the school would be hosting/housing the project.
Through the tendering process NHS Borders Psychological Services was identified as being the most suitable provider of the school counselling service.
What we did
On conclusion of the tender and contract process the service was established in May 2006 and provides a half-time professionally qualified psychotherapist/counsellor.
The systems and processes for the project have been developed including:
Referral pathways
Referral system/pathway - a referral process has been set up with all young people being referred either through the school nurse or through guidance staff as identified below:
Consultation forms
Consultation forms were developed to record the required information for the Service as follows.
Post-counselling evaluation forms
There are three post-counselling evaluation forms which have been developed as follows.
Statistics
The collection of statistics is important for the service as it looks at the impact it is having in the Kelso area and for future funding purposes given that the funding is short-term (due to end in June 2007). The project needs to be able to prove the difference it is making.
Some of the key aspects of information being collected include:
- numbers and attendance figures
- reasons for referral
- numbers referred on
- contact time.
The school counsellor was involved in raising awareness of the service by attending personal and social education (PSE) classes, involvement with teaching staff and other agencies.
It was felt that it was important to create an appropriate space for the counselling to take place. A space was identified and it was refurbished to provide a supportive space and to provide confidentiality. The space created can also be used by others in the school when the counselling service is not operating.
In addition to working directly with young people, the other part of the school counsellor’s remit is to work with guidance staff and the school nurse. Supportive supervision sessions have been set up to provide additional support to the school nurse and guidance staff to ensure they feel confident and able to support the young people they are working with.
What have we learned?
It is important to recognise the time it can take to develop projects and in this case to take account of the time required for the commissioning and contracting process. The project took just over a year to go through the development phase.
Another time aspect for this project was the time to get the processes and systems in place and working.
It was interesting to note how adults can sometimes get hung up on things more than young people. The example here was that of confidentiality and the room for the meetings. The adults looked to have these things in place whereas the young people were less bothered and were just looking to have the service available.
The service has proven that it was and is still needed and is being used by approximately 10 young people per week. A waiting list is being considered as a necessity due to demand.
Where are we now?
The school counsellor is only one part of how Kelso High School is supporting young people in a multi-agency way. The school counsellor supports young people directly and also teaching staff and health staff through supportive supervision. All referrals are discussed with both guidance and health staff and where necessary with a member of the senior management team.
A bid has been submitted to the Children’s Change Group for continued funding to June 2008, which would enable the project to be effectively evaluated.
In addition, emotional and mental health is also supported through a block of six 40-minute sessions around various topics of emotional and mental health which are delivered through the PSE curriculum to all S2 students. The topics covered include body image, bereavement and coping strategies.
Toolkit
The key partners who developed the Kelso High School Counselling Service have been involved in the development of a mental health toolkit for use with S2 in PSE. It was decided that it would be beneficial to increase awareness around mental health issues at the S2 stage. This age stage was chosen as appropriate with the onset of puberty and potentially being exposed to risk-taking behaviours.
It is an early intervention model with the topics being:
- emotional well-being
- body image
- bereavement
- coping strategies
- relationships
- feelings and behaviour.
On completion the toolkit is to be rolled out to all nine secondary schools in Scottish Borders.
The Kelso High School Health Promotion Committee now has emotional and mental health and well-being as a standing item on its meeting agenda alongside other items such as the School Nutrition Action Group (SNAG) and Scotland’s Health at Work (SHAW).
Contact details
Charles Robertson
Rector
Kelso High School
Bowmont Street
Kelso
TD5 7EG
Tel: 01573 224444
Email: Charles Robertson
khs@kelso.scotborders.sch.uk
Web: www.kelso.scotborders.sch.uk
| School | Roll |
|---|---|
| Kelso High School | 671 |
