What is a Wellbeing Practitioner?

At Wellspring we have a team of four qualified Wellbeing Practitioners. They have completed a year of training at the University of Exeter in order to be able to work with children and young people struggling with difficult thoughts and feelings.

They are trained in low-intensity Cognitive Behavioural Therapy interventions. This means they work to help you explore your thoughts, behaviours and emotions – and the link between them. Low intensity means that the support is suitable for mild difficulties and is not suitable for those experiencing more severe forms of distress, or those with high levels of risk to their safety.

A bit more about us: [include photos]

Hattie

Krissie

Beth

Roisin

How can we help?

We are trained to deliver guided self-help. This means we support you in learning and practising techniques and tools to help you with what you’re experiencing, empowering you to be able to continue to use these tools on your own after our sessions come to an end.

With that in mind, we offer short-term support for around eight sessions, each session lasting between 45 – 60 minutes. Throughout this support, you will be assigned the same Wellbeing Practitioner who you will typically see once a week.

With your Wellbeing Practitioner you will decide a clear goal which you would like to focus on which we will support you to achieve through various activities and worksheets.

What problems can we help with?

We are trained to work with a variety of difficulties, including:

• Low mood
• Worry
• Panic
• Sleep problems
• Stress
• Social anxiety
• Self-esteem
• Some phobias
• Anger
• Behavioural and emotional difficulties
• Difficulties self-organising

Other things we may be able to help with:

• Early signs of OCD
• Health anxiety
• Compulsive behaviours
• Self-harm (if not considered high-risk)
• Assertiveness/interpersonal challenging (e.g. bullying response)

Please note, our Wellbeing Practitioners are unable to work with those experiencing severe forms of distress or those with high levels of risk to their safety.

How to access this service:

Our Wellbeing Practitioners currently offer support at four secondary schools across North Somerset: Clevedon School, Backwell School, Nailsea School and St Katherine’s School in Pill.

We are looking to develop our community work and offer the service more widespread across North Somerset. During the summer holidays we have various options for community support. Please check Instagram (@wellspring_counselling), and Facebook (Wellspring Counselling) for updates.

OUR CURRENT SUPPORT DURING COVID-19:

During the pandemic we continue to work closely with the schools that we’re based in, receiving referrals to work remotely (via telephone and email) with children and young people.

We also have a wellbeing offer open to anyone aged 11 – 18 living or going to school in North Somerset. These sessions will be carried out over the phone or online and involve working through a self-care plan around the following areas:
– Things I can do to relaxActivities I enjoy
– My support network
– Things I’m good at
– Other places I can go for help and apps that can help me
– Things I can do to make me feel better

In order to start working together, we firstly need a signed contract. This can be signed by you if you are over 13 years old, or a parent/caregiver if you are under 13 years old. Please email Krissie to receive more information about this support krissie@wellspringcounselling.org.uk.

Do I have to pay for sessions with a Wellbeing Practitioner?

Currently we are able to offer sessions with our Wellbeing Practitioners at no cost, thanks to the generosity of Trusts, donations, and fundraising events.

We understand that your family/carers may not be able to afford to donate anything for your sessions, but if you can, all funds donated will help us to continue to provide sessions for other young people locally who need our support.

Other ways you can support Wellspring Counselling include:
– Organising a fundraising event
– Volunteering your time and/or skills
– Following us on social media to stay up to date with our wellbeing tips, upcoming events, and ways to get involved
– Joining our feedback group where you can share your ideas on how we could improve the service
– Spreading the word and telling others about our support

For more information on how to support Wellspring, please email or call our admin team using the details on the contact page.

If you are interested in joining our feedback group, please email Krissie on krissie@wellspringcounselling.org.uk.

Will the things I talk about stay private between me and the Wellbeing Practitioner?

What is shared between you and your Wellbeing Practitioner is confidential. Nothing about you is told to anyone outside Wellspring Counselling without discussing this with you first. We would only break confidentiality if you or someone else connected with you may be at risk of harm from themselves or other people. Your privacy will be respected as fully as possible.

If you are seeing your Wellbeing Practitioner in one of Wellspring’s partner secondary schools, any concerns about a risk of harm to you or others will need to be shared with the School’s Safeguarding team, ideally after discussing this with you.

Additionally, the Wellbeing Practitioners are required to speak to their Supervisor once a week about the children and young people they are working with. Supervisors are all experienced practitioners and make sure that our service meets your needs the best it can.

What we expect from you:

We expect you to:
Let us know as far in advance as possible if you are going to miss your arranged session. If you miss an appointment without telling us, we will contact you to find out more. If we don’t hear from you within 2 weeks of a missed appointment, we will assume that you do not wish to continue. If you miss more than 2 sessions, we might be unable to continue working with you, due to our limited capacity. This would depend on the circumstances of your missed appointments. However, you are free to re-access the service in the future if you wish to do so.
Come to your sessions free of mind-changing drugs or alcohol.
Treat anyone who you meet at Wellspring Counselling respectfully. We do not condone sexism or racism. Violent or sexual behaviour is not acceptable in a therapy relationship.