East Lothian Schools Counselling Service – Information for Parents/Carers and Professionals
Our East Lothian Schools Counselling service provides counselling for children and young people (aged 10 to 18) living in East Lothian.
The service is available to young people regardless of their current participation in mainstream education or where they attend. This includes young people who are educated at home, by other providers or who are not attending any education or training at present.
How to request school counselling for a young person in East Lothian
Requests for school counselling in East Lothian are made by a Named Education Contact. In Primary Schools, the Named Education Contact is the Head Teacher and in Secondary Schools, the young person’s Guidance Teacher.
Young people, parents and professionals can contact the Named Education Contact to ask that young people be considered for School Counselling. The Named Education Contact then completes a Request for Assistance Form and sends this to the Mental Health and Wellbeing Single Point of Access.
If the young person (aged 12 to 18) does not wish to go through their Named Education Contact, then they can contact MYPAS directly to make a request for assistance. Please note that 10 and 11 year olds must go through their Primary School Head Teacher.
If the young person lives in East Lothian, but does not attend school in East Lothian then a Request for Assistance should be made directly to MYPAS.
All requests for assistance are considered.
East Lothian Mental Health and Wellbeing Single Point of Access
The Named Education Contact completes the young person’s Request for Assistance Form and sends it to the East Lothian Mental Health & Wellbeing Single Point of Access mhwap@eastlothian.gov.uk.
The Request for Assistance Form provides information about the child or young person’s current mental health and presenting issues.
Requests for Assistance are considered by a multi-agency Triage Team, which is made up of representatives from MYPAS, Connected Communities, Educational Psychology, Children’s Services, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS), School Nursing and Art Therapies.
The Triage Team consider each Request for Assistance and decide on the best available option for the young person. This can include:
- School Counselling
- Seeking additional information
- LIAM (Let’s Talk about Anxiety Management)
- Music Therapy
- Youth work support
- Referral on to alternative supports
The person who made the Request for Assistance will then be informed of the Triage Team’s decision.
Service delivery
The East Lothian Schools Counselling Service provides counselling at times that suit the child or young person. Counselling usually takes place within school time but is also available out with school times and during schools holidays.
The young person would normally meet with the counsellor for approximately an hour each week for up to 10 weeks. This meeting would be in a confidential setting for the young person, where there are no disruptions.