‘They need somebody to talk to’: Parents' and carers' perceptions of school‐based humanistic counselling

Abstract

Parents and carers are likely to take on a significant responsibility for managing an adolescent's mental health and well‐being. Accordingly, their perceptions provide insight into the value of an intervention. This study explored parents' and carers' perceptions and expectations of school‐based humanistic counselling, as received by a socially diverse group of young people (13–16 years old) in secondary schools in Greater London, UK. Semi‐structured interviews from 17 parents and carers were analysed thematically. Two superordinate themes were identified: (a) the context of counselling, and (b) the content of counselling, the latter referring to stages of the therapeutic process and its outcomes. Schools were perceived as an ideal environment for the provision of professional mental health support, as it reaches young people in a natural, convenient setting and therefore promotes and/or widens access to universal support, as well as targeted interventions. Parents and carers further emphasised the importance of overall well‐being, academic performance and social relationships.

School‐ and community‐based counselling services for children and young people aged 7–18 in the UK: A rapid review of effectiveness, implementation and acceptability

“…Dance Movement Psychotherapy group was delivered to learners with special educational needs and those experiencing social and emotional difficulties (Parsons & Dubrow‐Marshall, 2018, 2019). Learners reported positive emotions due to the therapy, which included enjoyment, self‐confidence and feeling empowered (Longhurst et al, 2022). Young people reported that interpersonal counselling helped them recognise their own depressive symptoms and understand what steps they could take to help themselves (Government W, 2011a, 2011b).…”

How do we know whether treatment has failed? Paradoxical outcomes in counseling with young people

“…Counseling in schools represents a potentially valuable strategy for addressing such problems at an early stage. The qualitative evidence generated by the ETHOS trial, in the form of interviews with young people and their parents/carers, arrived at two main conclusions: (a) counseling was widely appreciated and perceived as helpful, and (b) interviewees identified readily achievable ways of making it more helpful ( Longhurst et al, 2022 ; Cooper et al, 2024 ). By contrast, the quantitative evidence suggested that counseling was only marginally more effective than the emotional support systems that already existed in the schools that took part in the study, and came at additional cost ( Cooper et al, 2021 ).…”

“…This secondary analysis was not pre-registered. Further information on the primary study is available in published reports on the overall findings (Cooper, 2021;Cooper et al, 2021), qualitative analysis of experiences of clients receiving counseling (Raynham et al, 2023;, interviews with parents and carers (Longhurst et al, 2022), and single case analyses of poor outcome cases (Ralph and Cooper, 2022;Pattison and Cooper, 2024). The overall picture that emerged from these analyses was that counseling was generally viewed as valuable by clients and their families.…”

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“…Counseling in schools represents a potentially valuable strategy for addressing such problems at an early stage. The qualitative evidence generated by the ETHOS trial, in the form of interviews with young people and their parents/carers, arrived at two main conclusions: (a) counseling was widely appreciated and perceived as helpful, and (b) interviewees identified readily achievable ways of making it more helpful (Longhurst et al, 2022;. By contrast, the quantitative evidence suggested that counseling was only marginally more effective than the emotional support systems that already existed in the schools that took part in the study, and came at additional cost (Cooper et al, 2021).…”