Making Every Child Matter: A Model for Good Practice in Counselling Children and Young People with Learning Disabilities

Abstract

This paper is set against the backdrop of new policies and legislation regarding the health, welfare and education of children and young people in England. In response to these policies, the Department for Education and Skills has developed an increasing number of strategies to support the psychological health and well-being of children and young people and thereby signalled greater recognition of the value of improving mental health in relation to children's learning, achievement, attendance and behaviour. Counselling is increasingly seen as an effective strategy for addressing the psychological needs of children and young people with social, emotional, behavioural and academic problems. The aim of this paper is to explore the inclusion of children and young people with learning disabilities (13–19 years) in mainstream counselling services. The nature of learning disabilities is examined in relation to accessing counselling services and a model for inclusive counselling practice is developed from the research findings. Findings are based on data collected from a quantitative survey (n=396) of 3000 counsellors and analysed using SPSS, along with qualitative data from the survey, which was analysed using a thematic approach.