Canggu Community School
The mission of CCS is to have all students develop as confident, socially
engaged and globally responsible citizens who achieve their full potential
as life-long learners.
Counselling Policy
I. Counselling Service Purpose 2
II. The Role of a Whole-School Counsellor 2
III. Student Referral Procedure 3
IV. Confidentiality Protocol 4
V. Specific Issues 5
Student Self Harm Cases 5
Responding to students at risk of suicide 5
Students at Significant Risk: 6
Behaviour-related Issues: 6
Student Suspension 6
Death, Grief, and/or Family Issues 6
VI. ANTI-BULLYING PROCEDURES 7
Appendix: Counsellor Duties and Responsibilities 7
Date adopted: November 2019
Next date for review: September 2020
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I. Counselling Service Purpose
The overall role of counselling at CCS is to support student development of balance,
well-being, and self-awareness in a respectful community. This includes:
● To help students gain understanding and insight into any difficulties they
may be experiencing, through short-term brief interventions.
● To help students develop emotional resilience and put into effect real change,
supporting them to fulfill their academic and personal potential.
● To support a school culture of well-being and positive relationships through
proactive and systematic programmes.
● To identify issues that surpass the scope of school counselling and refer to an
outside provider.
II. The Role of a Whole-School Counsellor
The whole-school counselor is primarily responsible for ensuring the emotional
welfare of the community through a combination of proactive learning experiences
and offering counseling for those members of the school community that require
such help.
The whole-school counsellor provides services to students in the following areas:
● Individual Student Planning: coordinating ongoing activities designed to
help students establish personal goals and develop future plans.
● Responsive Services: preventative and/or interventionist activities meeting
students’ immediate and future needs, employing the following methods:
- Individual or group counselling
- Consultation with parents, teachers and other educators
- Referrals to other school-based support services or community resources
- Peer helping
- Information giving
- Mediator for student-student, student-teacher and student-family conflicts
in or outside of school
- Facilitate group discussions around issues that have arisen in or outside of
school
● Development and support of long-term programmes, including:
- Well-being programme and regular student surveys
- Anti-bullying programme
- Transition programmes – Primary to Secondary, School to University
- Drug and substance abuse awareness
- New student transitions
- Support of Personal, Social, Health Education (PSHE) and Digital
Citizenship programmes
● Communication and monitoring: regular meetings with Student Support
Team in Primary and Secondary
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III. Student Referral Procedure
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IV. Confidentiality Protocol
Confidentiality between student and counsellor is acknowledged as fundamental to
a counsellor’s ability to provide effective service and support.
In most instances, other than to register the student’s name (if necessary) with the
PC teachers, Coordinators, or Principals, the counsellor has no obligation to divulge
specific details of the case. The counsellor may disclose more, as needed, when the
student has given prior consent. The counsellor will inform students of the
confidentiality agreement under which they may receive counselling at or before the
time when the counselling relationship is entered. Disclosure notice includes
explaining the limits of confidentiality such as:
1. Threat of harm to self or actual harm to self (suicidal thoughts or extreme
self-destruction)
2. Threats of harming others or actual harm to others (homicidal thoughts,
extremes level of anger or suggestions of revenge)
3. Others harming them (see child protection agreement)
4. Knowledge of someone else being harmed
5. Illegality of action
Any attempt to remove the principle of confidentiality in counselling will rapidly
undermine the overall ethos of the school as a caring, educational community.
However, if a pupil is seeing a counsellor and teachers would like to disclose this to
a parent, because it would support the situation, they MUST see the counsellor first
to ensure that it will not be harmful to the child. It is important that this is done
with the child’s knowledge and consent, so that they remain confident about the
level of confidentiality in the counselling sessions.
V. Specific Issues
Student Self Harm Cases
If a teacher or other community member believes that a student has a self-harm
issue, the following procedure is followed:
1. A referral directly to the Counsellor either in person or via email. Unless the
teacher has a very good relationship with a student, the teacher should not
mention the visible self-harm to the student. It is never appropriate, even if
a teacher has a good relationship with a student, to mention the self-harm
when others are around. This will only serve to increase a student’s levels of
shame, self-consciousness, and anxiety.
2. The counsellor will:
● Meet with the student
● Identify whether the self-harm is non-suicidal or suicidal, how often
the self-harm occurs, what rituals are involved, what tools are used,
who knows of the behavior, what support the student has for it,
whether the student wants to stop or not, and what type of
relationship the student has with their parents and what their response
would be if they were notified.
● Identify possible root causes for the self-harm
● Based on the root cause, identify strategies to help prevent or
minimize acting-out.
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● Establish whether parent contact is necessary and would be
supportive. Whenever possible, work with the student to inform
parents.
● If self-harm has a suicidal intent or could lead to accidental death,
then confidentiality has to be broken and parents/guardians must be
informed.
● If it is established that self-harm is superficial and cannot cause
serious injury or death, e.g. scratches, confidentiality can be
maintained (see Cornell program for Self-Injury for more information)
● If the self-harm consistently increases in either frequency or intensity,
an outside referral for psychiatric assessment should be made.
● If the self-harm is occurring on school premises, counsellors should
include a non-self harm agreement which is meant as an agreement
not to self harm on school grounds.
Responding to students at risk of suicide
If a counsellor believes that a student is at risk of suicide, the following procedure is
followed:
Students will be assessed for lethality by an external professional such as a
Psychiatrist or Clinical Psychologist. Students will be informed up front that
confidentiality cannot be maintained when a student is at risk of suicide.
Parents or guardians will be informed if the counsellor determines that the student
is indeed at risk. When possible, the student should be part of the conversation.
Parents should be given information and options of what they can do to help their
child. This may include:
● Family physician for referral
● Local hospitals with psychiatric services
● Local public mental health agencies
● If parents refuse to take action, refusal will be documented and the
student may be removed from school until support is provided and the
student is deemed safe.
If parents/guardians cannot be contacted and the child is seriously at risk…
● Consider treating the situation as a medical emergency
● Refer to student nurse or ask Principal to call for ambulance
● Transport to a hospital where psychiatric services are available
Students at Significant Risk:
If a student is considered at significant risk (suicidal, behavioral, addiction,
psychosis, etc.), CCS may require a letter from a Psychiatrist stating that it is safe
for them to continue to be at school. In order to maintain attendance at CCS the
student may be required to follow the Psychiatrist’s recommendations. This may
include outside support from a licensed Psychiatrist or other specialist in order to
ensure the student’s safety and well-being. If a family refuses or fails to provide
the specified support, the student may be dismissed from CCS until required
support and communication with recommended professionals is established.
Behaviour-related Issues:
The role of the counsellor is to support students and ensuring emotional welfare. At
times the counsellor may be involved in issues related to student discipline,
especially when issues involve student relationships. In these cases, the counsellor
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acts as a listener, coach, or advocate. The role of the counsellor does not include
administering discipline or consequences.
Student Suspension
In the case of student suspension, the suspended student is required to see the
counsellor for a follow-up session following the suspension period. The standard
procedure is as follows:
1. A counsellor is appointed to the student or the student may choose his/ her
counsellor for a meeting once he/ she is back at school.
2. The student will attend the meetings as frequently as the counsellor sees fit.
3. The counsellor will make recommendations on the student’s progress and
whether regular sessions to see him/her are required.
These sessions are to ensure emotional well-being and adjustment in the school
system. These sessions will also explore any underlying issues the student may
have leading up to the suspension or maladaptive behaviour.
Death, Grief, and/or Family Issues
The student will be encouraged to see a counsellor for support and coping
strategies. This can be an informal encounter with the counsellor assessing the
student’s well-being, with the counsellor and student both determining the
frequency and duration of sessions.
Students in need of significant, long-term, or regular support will be referred to
professional services outside of CCS.
Students are regularly affected by issues occurring within the home. The role of
the Counsellor is to provide support for the student which includes strategies
related to issues at home. However, issues occuring at home such as parent or
relationship counselling will be referred to professional support or mediation outside
of CCS.
VI. ANTI-BULLYING PROCEDURES
The definition of bullying is when an individual or a group of people with more
power, repeatedly and intentionally cause hurt or harm to another person or group
of people who feel helpless to respond. Bullying can continue over time, is often
hidden from adults, and will probably continue if no action is taken.
Counselling support given:
1. The school Counsellor helps develop an awareness in school of what bullying is
and why it hurts students of all age levels. This includes supporting proactive
instruction on bullying, being an “upstander,” and other related issues.
2. The counsellors introduce and train staff members to be able to conduct a
‘shared problem solving approach’ and to foster an environment where
students feel comfortable telling others when they have been bullied.
3. The counsellor provides a safe environment to encourage the student(s) to
speak of his/ her bullying experiences (physical/ verbal/ non-verbal) and to
gently persuade the student to inform who the bully/ bullies are. If the student
does not want to reveal who the bully/ bullies are, the counsellor will work on
self esteem and confidence building to enable him/her to handle the bullying
situations (role play/empowerment for the victim).
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4. Surveys on bullying will be conducted, facilitating the opportunity for students
to speak of their bullying experiences and for counsellors to gather data.
Inclusion of pupil name(s) to be voluntary.
5. Anti-bullying presentations to be given to parents.
Procedure for named students
Bullied students:
1. Having completed the initial interview, the counsellor meets all bullied students
for follow-up.
2. The counsellor obtains a written statement from the victim to be used in a
shared problem solving circle.
3. Bullied students who require further support/ counselling will be offered a
support session with other bullied students.
Students identified as bullying:
1. Coordinators and Principals are to be informed of who the named bullies are.
They will be disciplined by the Deputy Principals.
2. When a student is referred for bullying behaviour, the counsellor will work with
them to make a solution-focused goal and then check in with them weekly to
see how they are doing with their goal. The counsellor will help them build
their skills so they don’t rely on bullying to get what they need.
Appendix: Counsellor Duties and Responsibilities
The whole-school counselor provides services including but not limited to:
Student Support:
● Consultation with students, faculty, parents, administration, and
community members
● Consultation and collaboration with parents/guardians, teachers,
administrators, and other educational/community resources regarding
students with identified concerns and needs
● Collaboration with learning support team and programme coordinators
to support student needs
● Provide individual and group counselling to students with identified
concerns and needs
● Assists new students in settling-in to the school
Programme Development:
● Collaboration with homeroom and Pastoral Care (PC) teachers in the
design and implementation of a pastoral care programme and PSHE
● Develop activities and resources to increase positive levels of wellbeing
within the school. This will include presenting workshops to
students/parents/teachers
Child Protection and Safeguarding:
● Serves as a Designated Child Protection Officer and reporting suspected
or confirmed concerns to direct supervisor in a timely manner
● Acts as a liaison between any and all groups affecting the students,
while fulfilling a child advocacy role
Parents and Community Collaboration:
● Makes recommendations regarding outside counseling
● Counsels parents as to how to effectively deal with their children’s
specific behavioral and emotional needs.
● Exchanges confidential information with professionals within the
community in order to more effectively meet the needs of students
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The whole-school counsellor must:
● Demonstrate strict standards of confidentiality
● Report to the school administration about cases while respecting
confidentiality
● Work as a member of a team and collaborate with all stakeholders
● Present a positive image and contribute positively to school morale
● Respect the cultural diversity of students and colleagues
● Maintain appropriate student/staff relationships
● Maintain an awareness of student/staff safety
● Remain current with best practices in school counselling
● Adhere to ethical standards of the counseling profession, and abide by
the laws, policies, and procedures that govern the school
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