Guidance Counsellors

The role of Guidance Counsellors is to provide counselling, student support, classroom support and assessment services to assist students in our Catholic schools.

Students may be referred for brief intervention either individually or via small groups, to assist with a range of challenges such as social skills, emotional regulation strategies and grief and loss.

Students may also be referred for psycho-educational assessment. Access to assessment and classroom support requires teacher and classroom planning, intervention and monitoring before proceeding. 

Students in our primary school can be referred by their classroom teacher or member of the Leadership Team via the completion of the SWB & PS referral form.

Students in the secondary school can self-refer, or be referred via their pastoral leader, member of their Leadership Team or parents or via the on-line referral link. 

Support provided by Guidance Counsellors is not a replacement for psychological therapies and students requiring intensive support should be referred to a private psychologist or alternatively to one of the publicly available services.

Conversations with Guidance Counsellors are typically confidential, however there are circumstances in which matters cannot be kept confidential (e.g. student safety/self-harm/child abuse or neglect) and in those cases information may need to be provided to a Parent/School Principal/Child Safety.  Guidance Counsellors will discuss with parents and students the limits to confidentiality during the consent process prior to commencing counselling.

Please see here for access to the Guidance Counsellors in Primary Schools brochure and the Guidance Counsellor in Secondary Schools brochure.

Ryan Catholic College Guidance Counsellors are dedicated to providing counselling, student support, classroom support and assessment services.

They provide a safe and confidential space for students to share their emotions and concerns, offering empathy, understanding, and guidance to help them cope with difficult experiences. 

Through their collaboration with Catholic Education Office, school leadership personnel, teachers, parents and students, the following services may be available:

• Developing behaviour support strategies for students in collaboration with school staff and parents.
• Liaising with staff from the Inclusive Education team to promote a multidisciplinary approach to support positive outcomes for our students. 
• Facilitating counselling to students with personal, social and emotional needs.
• Liaising with health professionals to meet student needs which may include referral to external agencies for additional support and mental health assessment.
• Facilitating and administering appropriate assessments.