The School Counselling Service plays a crucial role, in supporting children and young people to thrive and succeed at school, making a real difference in the lives of children and young people.
School counsellors (dual qualifications in teaching and psychology) and school psychologists (qualifications in psychology) support NSW public schools through:
- providing psychological counselling to students individually and in groups
- assessing students with specific wellbeing and learning needs
- collaborating with education and external practitioners, families, and other agencies to provide multidisciplinary student mental health support
- contributing to the social, emotional, and academic development of students in consultation with families and school staff.
Information about the School Counselling Service is available in over 35 languages.
Sany Mehta-Tran, School Psychologist at Smithfield Public School, Smithfield:
I've always been interested in behaviour and learning, and I thought, what better way to work with behaviour and learning than to be at a school?
Sven Andrlon, School Psychologist at Beverly Hills Intensive English Centre, Beverly Hills:
While I was studying, I was starting to think about where I'd like to work, or where I'd like to start my career, and I got into contact with several School Counsellors and School Psychologists and really started to think about how beneficial and how valuable the work would be.
Emma Mancer, School Counsellor at Albury West Public School, Albury:
It's a really dynamic job, so no day is the same.
Daisy Collins, School Counsellor at Greenwich Public School, Greenwich:
The great part of school counselling is that you do draw on lots of different areas of psychology, so you draw on the clinical side and counselling side of psychology, but you also look at the developmental side of psychology as well, and the neuropsychology.
Sven Andrlon, School Psychologist at Beverly Hills Intensive English Centre, Beverly Hills:
I've found working in this space has been really beneficial for developing my skills as an early career psychologist.
Sany Mehta-Tran, School Psychologist at Smithfield Public School, Smithfield:
I'm quite lucky to be part of a team that allows me to play an active role in promoting growth in these students and helping them build independence.
Jackie Hodges, School Counsellor in training at The Henry Lawson High School, Grenfell:
The thing I like about being a School Counsellor is getting to work with students from pre-school right through to high school.
Jarrah Seager, School Psychologist at Willyama High School, Broken Hill:
Being present in the building and being present in their lives for a long time, that continuity, you get to see those differences.
Astrid Linke, School Psychologist at Nyngan High School, Nyngan:
One thing that I've noticed since working in the school, coming from private practice, is you get to be a part of the students whole journey.
You're not just seeing them once a fortnight, and you get to be a part of their whole journey and see them thrive in a number of areas, not just the academic side of things, which I really enjoy.
Jarrah Seager, School Psychologist at Willyama High School, Broken Hill:
And going home at night, you can go, "Yeah, I helped those children today, and I'm going to do the same tomorrow." And that's why I get up every day.
Ryan Saunderson, School Counsellor at Erina High School, Erina:
It's a job that every day you feel like you're connecting and making a difference, which is fantastic.
Astrid Linke, School Psychologist at Nyngan High School, Nyngan:
What I would say to someone who's thinking about giving school psychology a go is go for it.
It's such a rewarding career, and I think if you've got that passion there and you're willing to give back to the communities and help the future generations, it's, yeah, such a rewarding career, and I haven't looked back.
Jarrah Seager, School Psychologist at Willyama High School, Broken Hill:
If you want a work-life balance, if you want to make a difference in children's lives, if you want to see the difference and you want to get into the early intervention space, I would say do it.