Three new support counsellors have been recruited by Forth Valley College to provide an invaluable service to students - and it comes at an ideal time to help students who have been affected by the current lockdown.
Lorna Gallacher, Ryan Bittinger and Caroline Russell are a welcome addition to the staffing at the College and will work closely with all other colleagues to directly support students during their time of study.
The Scottish Government released funding to the Scottish Funding Council recently - before the lockdown - to support this initiative in light of the increase in poor mental health across the country. An allocation was awarded to each college and university to be used directly to fund counselling.
This has allowed FVC to increase the availability of its service to five days a week and to operate across all three campuses as well as providing a service in the Raploch Community Campus. It is the College’s aim to provide, not only one to one sessions, but also drop-ins, assessments and potentially group sessions.
However, at the moment the service is telephone support only and the new counsellors are currently working through the waiting list and reaching out to all students who are in need of this support at this time.
Kim Reid, Student Advice Coordinator, said: “This provision is a very welcomed addition to the services provided by Student Services and the wider Equalities, Inclusion and Learning Services team. The counselling provision has always been very heavily requested and, at times, we have had to close the service due to it being oversubscribed. This initiative has allowed us to expand the service and, create one that is flexible to our students’ needs.”
Kenny MacInnes, Vice Principal Learning and Student Experience, said: “I am delighted to welcome the new counselling team to the College. They bring with them fantastic experience and the support they will be able to offer, will benefit our students enormously during these stressful times.”
Any member of staff working with any students who might need additional support, can contact the student counsellors on scs@forthvalley.ac.uk. The Learner Advisers are also available to support students on learneradvisers@forthvalley.ac.uk as is the well-being service on wellbeing@forthvalley.ac.uk. Students can also register with the Big White Wall using their college email address. This resource has lots of support and guidance on a wide range of issues, including mental health, trouble with sleeping and dealing with anxiety.