School Counselling Team

What is counselling?

Counselling offers a safe and supportive environment where children and young people can express themselves without judgement, develop their self-awareness, and understand the world around them through verbal and creative means. The Counsellor facilitates this process by listening and responding to the child or young person’s concerns. In this therapeutic space, all feelings, thoughts, and ideas are welcome and respected. The Counsellor is qualified, registered and experienced in working with children and young people. The School Counsellors’ skillset is varied and they will ensure that sessions will be tailored to meet your child’s needs.

School Counselling:

The school counselling service was established in the summer of 2019. Whilst the counselling base is within Westside School, school counselling is available to all school aged children and young adults enrolled in formal education with Government of Gibraltar - Department of Education. Students might seek counselling for a range of reasons, including:

mental health concerns
self-expression
identity
support with a current/historic life event
stress management
peer relationships
family issues
emotional awareness and regulation
relational issues
concerning behaviour at home or school
personal development

Any issue that becomes a barrier to a student’s ability to access their education can be brought to therapy.

Meet the team:

Amee Freyone: HCPC registered Creative Arts Therapist (Dramatherapist), MA Drama & Movement Therapy (Sesame), RCSSD

Jodie Holman: Registered member of BACP

Jackie Olivero: Registered member of BACP

Elizabeth Rodriguez: Registered Member of BACP and Registered Play Therapist with Play Therapy UK.

School counselling aims to:

help students connect with and explore their feelings

Encourage curiosity to learn and make as much educational progress as possible,

enabling students to access education more effectively

Settle and find their place alongside peers in school

Develop the capacity to manage and understand feelings

Raise self-esteem and confidence

Learn coping skills

Develop a positive relationship with themselves and others

Develop communication skills, self-expression, and self-awareness

Increase creativity and flexibility

Process significant life events

How to access support:

Pupils can be referred to the school counselling service by teachers in consultation with pupils and/or parents. In secondary schools, pupils can also self-refer to the service via online forms available on their google classroom.

You can also access and complete the self-referral and the drop-in request forms online by clicking on the links below. Drop-ins are one-off appointments for a one-off chat. Self-referrals are a request for short to long-term counselling:

Self-referral forms:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1dqs3Xnd7ktR8HTQVc944Gh2juJnwc0G7KsPTr4bnOHM/viewform?edit_requested=true

Drop-in request forms:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1AKLc47MEH2BLFwtw01jOHi0IvSrdqr1gtcU7i1mUAyo/viewform?edit_requested=true

Parents can request for referrals to be made in discussion with Senior Leadership Team (Head, Deputy Head or Year Co-ordinator).

For more information, contact the team on

Email: schoolcounsellors@education.gov.gi