Counselling Service

All students enrolled with Birmingham City University can request support from the Wellbeing Team which may include, where appropriate, the Counselling Service. The Service is professional, confidential and free of charge, and is available to enrolled BCU students 51 weeks of the year. A maximum of 6 sessions of counselling may be provided to a student in any one academic year.

Counselling is a way of addressing problems by talking them through with someone who is able to be supportive, but who is not directly involved in the situation.

A counsellor will:

• give you an opportunity to talk in confidence about whatever is troubling you
• enable you to express your feelings
• help you to explore and understand your difficulties
• help you to find ways of managing these more effectively

Although it might sometimes be appropriate to offer advice or guidance, the emphasis is very much on enabling you to make changes rather than on telling you what to do.

Counselling can help you deal with all kinds of issues, for example: anxiety, feeling depressed, low self-esteem, coming-out, grief and loss, trauma, and relationship difficulties whatever your background or sexual orientation.

If you might benefit from specialist interventions or advice, you'll be referred to resources within the NHS or the wider community. This could involve an initial referral to our Mental Health Advisers within the Health and Wellbeing Service.