Counselling Programme

Counselling Programme

Counselling at Zhenghua Primary School  (HeartSpace@ ZHPS)

The counselling team is made up of counsellors and our Student Welfare Officer where we work in providing a safe environment for students to share their challenges and work through their social, emotional, behaviourial and mental health issues with us.

A School Counsellor supports students by helping them learn and use strategies to manage and cope with their emotions or situation and enables them to make choices for positive change and development.

Counseling services are the heartbeat of ZhengHua Primary School . Counselors take a proactive, child-centered, and developmental approach in working with students, parents, and teachers. ZHPS counselors teach character education lessons, provide individual and help refer out for family counseling, facilitate small group workshops for students, have parent coffee sessions, do transitional programs, and coordinate student services in the school.

An Overview of How we Work
The counselling services in school are organised in a tiered system, beginning with first level intervention by teachers.

Second tier support are those cases requiring more specialised attention, referral is made by teachers to the Teacher Counsellors, Allied Educator (Counselling), Part Time School Counsellors, or external counsellors employed by the school.

Third Tier would be when students and families are supported with more intense intervention are referred to MOE Guidance Specialists or professional agencies, such REACH, NUH, NAMS , TOUCH, FSCs, MSF and many more

How can School Counselling help?

The counselling team helps to build Self Awareness, Social Awareness, Relationship Skills, Self Management and Responsible Decision Making

School counselling sessions can:

• Provide someone who will listen to your concerns with care, respect and confidentiality as when you need someone to talk to or to listen to you.

• Give students opportunities to explore your feelings and thoughts, examine options, weigh alternatives and gain new perspectives of yourself, the situation and your environment for the situation you are facing.

• Help students work on their self-acceptance, self-worth and confidence.

• Help students manage the challenges they face more effectively by enabling them to make choices for themselves

The Role of the Student Welfare Officer

Student Welfare Support refers to the work with students with attendance issues. These students may not attend school regularly due to their family or home situations, lack of motivation for learning or poor peer influence.

A Student Welfare Officer assesses the needs of students with poor school attendance and works with community partners, parents and teachers to address their needs and help them return to school.

Referral to specialists or community agencies
Students who require more intensive intervention will be referred to our Lead School Counsellors, Lead Student Welfare Officers or mental health professionals from our school network. These would include FSCs, MSF, REACH, NAMS, TOUCH.

REMEMBER Our school counsellors are available for you and want to make your school experience the best as enriching as it can be. You may be feeling uncomfortable with certain issues or are not doing as well in school as according to your expectations— and that's OK. The counsellors will try to help you figure out what's going on. It's also a good idea to know about counselling and what they school counsellors do even if you don't need any help right now.

Please feel free to call us and talk to us if you have any concerns. The counselling team is here to support you.