Counselling Service

Many people begin to experience mental health difficulties in their teens and early twenties. When it happens, it can feel very worrying and you might think you are the only one. However, there are people to talk to and the University Counselling Service, in conjunction with the Disabilities and Dyslexia Service (DDS), can help you. For additional information please consult the Mental Health Policy 2019 .

In the ‘Mental health, in our own words’ video, produced by the mental health charity, MIND, thirteen people aged 18-25 speak about their experience of mental health challenges. Their message to you: "You're not alone. Things will get better. Ask for help." 

The Counselling Service is committed to supporting survivors of sexual violence and harassment within the university community. If you or a student you know has experienced sexual violence or harassment, please refer to the following guidelines for support.

What is sexual assault?

Sexual assault is an act in which a person intentionally sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their will.

Are you safe?

If you or others feel at risk or consider the situation to be an emergency, please call the police or an ambulance on 999.

Deciding what to do next

Deciding whether or not to report the incident to the police can be a difficult decision to make, especially if you are in a state of shock. You do not have to make that decision right away. However, please consider getting medical help as soon as possible, even if you do not have any physical injuries.

If you do want forensic evidence to be collected, try to go to the nearest Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) or the police as soon as you can, and within 72 hours if possible.

If you do decide to have forensic evidence collected, please try not to drink, eat, wash, smoke, brush your teeth, or change your clothes, if possible. Please also try to keep any condoms, bedding or clothing in separate, clean plastic bags. This will all help to preserve any forensic evidence. Contacting your nearest SARC does not mean that you will need to report the assault to the police, as you can make that decision at a later time.

Getting Support

If you have just experienced sexual violence, you might be having many different reactions. Common reactions include feeling numb, shocked, scared, confused, stressed and angry. There is no wrong way to feel and at times emotional reactions to a distressing experience emerge at a later time.

Support from the Counselling Service is available to students at London Metropolitan University and appointments can be made directly through our booking website. The Counselling Service also offers consultation appointments to members of staff and alumni to assist with referrals to external support services. If you have recently experienced sexual assault and would like to speak with a counsellor, please contact counselling.studentservices@londonmet.ac.uk for a priority appointment. Please bear in mind that our availability can be dictated at times by our opening times and limited resources. For immediate and/or out-of-hours support please call 999 or your closest Rape Crisis branch (see below). 

External Support Services

NHS - Help After Sexual Assault 

Detailed guidelines for people who have experienced rape or sexual assault. Includes a list of what to do and ways to seek support.

The Havens

Specialist centres in London for people who have been raped or sexually assaulted in the past 12 months. Forensic evidence can be collected at The Havens and they offer medical examinations, medical tests, and treatments if needed.

Open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

For urgent advice/appointments, call 020 3299 6900

Rape Crisis

Rape Crisis Centres provide frontline specialist, independent and confidential services for women and girls of all ages who've experienced any form of sexual violence, at any time in their lives.

North London Rape Crisis

o   Helpline: 0808 801 0305

• Monday and Friday 10am to 2pm, Tuesday 10am to 1pm and 6pm to 8pm and Wednesday and Thursday 1pm to 5pm

o   Website: www.solacewomensaid.org

East London Rape Crisis Service

o   Helpline: 0800 160 1036

• Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday 10am to 12pm. Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday 2.30pm to 4:30pm. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 6pm to 8pm

o   Website: www.niaendingviolence.org.uk

West London Rape Crisis Centre

o   Helpline: 0808 801 0770

• Monday and Friday 10am to 12pm and 2.30pm to 4:30pm and Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 10am to 1pm and 6.30pm to 9pm

o   Website: www.wgn.org.uk/

South London Rape Crisis

o   Helpline: 0808 802 9999

• National Helpline open every day of the year: 12pm to 2.30pm and 7pm to 9.30pm (including weekends and bank holidays), and Monday to Friday, 3pm to 5.30pm

o   Website: www.rasasc.org.uk

Survivors UK 

Survivors UK supports and provides resources for men who have experienced any form of sexual violence: Survivors UK is based in Central London and provides information, support and counselling. They also offer an online helpline that can be accessed here.

Suzy Lamplugh Trust 

Organisation providing advice, information, and support to victims of stalking and harassment.

Metropolitan Police 

Website by the Metropolitan Police explaining the process of reporting sexual assault.

London Survivors Gateway is the hub for Sexual Violence Support in London

This is a gateway to specialist services in London that provide information, support and help to anyone who has been affected by rape, sexual assault, sexual abuse or any form of sexual violence at any time in their lives.

Whatever your circumstances they can help. Working with anyone aged 13 or above who lives, works or studies in London and who has survived any form of sexual violence, regardless of their gender, sexuality, disability, language, ethnicity or immigration status.

If you would like to find out more about support options, you can call on - 0808 801 0860. Telephone opening hours are:

Monday 9am to 5pm
Tuesday 9am to 7pm
Wednesday 9.30am to 3.30pm
Thursday 9am to 7pm
Friday 9am to 3pm

Visit the London Survivors Gateway website for more information. 

A counsellor may be able to help you with what is called 'mitigating circumstances' and/or with an 'appeals' process. However, such support is usually, though not always, in the context of 'regular and on-going' meetings.

If you are experiencing difficulties which impact upon your studies, then you are advised to discuss these with your counsellor at an early stage, so that arrangements can be made before the mitigation and appeals deadlines. If you have not attended counselling regularly or you have missed appointments, then the Service may refuse to support your application. The Service will consider supporting mitigation and appeal applications in relation to emotional and mental health problems only. We cannot support applications which are based on the following: medical issues, legal issues, transport problems, computer problems or problems which we cannot verify.

For more information, please consult the university's rules and regulations webpage and our mitigating circumstances and appeals guideline .

Once you have made contact with the Counselling Service we need to collect and process certain data about you. We require this information to be able to provide you with counselling or other support and to collaborate with other university services when appropriate. This notice explains how we collect your personal data, how it is stored and processed, who gets access to it, and what your rights are under the 2018 General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR).

Consistent with the GDPR, personal information collected and used by the Counselling Service must be:

• Processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner.
• Collected and used only to facilitate counselling and other support of students using the Counselling Service.
• Adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary.
• Accurate and kept up-to-date.
• Stored for a limited time period (no longer than 7 years after students last contact with the Counselling Service).
• Processed and stored in a secure manner in two Counselling Service locations (Learning Centre, Holloway Campus and Calcutta House Campus, Aldgate) and password protected and encrypted online when necessary.

What information we hold about you

When you make contact with the Counselling Service prior to your first appointment we access your personal data from the University student record system. At your first appointment we then need to collect additional information about you, such as:

• Your name
• Your contact details
• Your date of birth
• Your academic department and course information
• Details of your emergency contacts
• Your GP name and contact information
• Any disabilities which you have disclosed to us
• Factual information on your mental health and wellbeing, personal circumstances, and background, as disclosed by you during counselling appointments.

How we use your personal information

Only Counselling Services staff who need access to relevant parts of your data will be authorised to do so. Information about you in electronic form will be password protected and encrypted when necessary, while paper files are stored in a secure manner.

Information about you will be processed using London Metropolitan University software systems. The University has contracts with the providers for their cloud services to safeguard your data.

Sharing your personal data

Further GDPR requirements, the Counselling Service abides by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) Ethical Framework for the Counselling Professions (2018). The information you provide to the Counselling Service is confidential and we will only share information about you with your consent. This means that we will not share information about you with other University services, academic departments, relatives, health professionals, or external agencies without your expressed permission.

Staff within the Counselling Service may discuss aspects of your circumstances with their immediate colleagues, or in a few cases where relevant, with the Head of Student Services and/or the Student Services Multi-Agency team. If such discussions take place it will usually be for the sole purpose of seeking information, confirming the best course of action, or helping the member of staff to reflect on their work with you. Whenever possible, any such discussion between staff in Student Services will take place without identification of you personally.

However, there are certain circumstances where a disclosure without your consent is required or permitted by law:

• When a counsellor has significant concerns that a student presents a risk of harm to themselves or others.
• When a counsellor has serious concerns about the wellbeing of a student under the age of 18 (The Children Act 2004).
• When a counsellor is made aware of a child who is being abused or is at risk of abuse (The Children Act 2004).
• When a counsellor is informed of terrorist activities (The Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005).
• When we are asked by external agencies to disclose information and there is a legal requirement to do so (e.g. The proceeds of Crime Act 2002, Children Act 1989, Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005, Social Security  Fraud  Act  2001,  Immigration  Act  2016, Special Needs and Disabilities Act 2001).
• When we  may  be  required  to  do  so  by  a  University  regulation,  The  Higher Education Statistical Agency  (HESA) or the UK Research Councils (although this  would  not  automatically  apply  in  the  case  of  any  information  held  by  the Counselling and Wellbeing Service).

If it becomes necessary to share your personal information without your consent, we will do our best to discuss this with you before that happens. Information to third parties is only provided on a need to know basis and all such conversations will be respectful.

How long we keep your information

We will only store your personal data for as long as is necessary. For the purposes described here, we will store your data for a period of seven years following your last appointment with the Counselling Service.

Your rights

Consistent with the GDPR, you have the right:

• To find out if we use your personal information and how we process it;
• To view your personal information with your counsellor and receive copies of your personal record;
• To request that we correct and update inaccurate or incomplete information on you;
• In certain circumstances, to have your details deleted, or anonymised, from systems that we use to process your personal data subject to University Legal Responsibilities and Liabilities;
• To object to certain processing of your information;
• To withdraw your consent to the processing of your personal data at any time, if we have already obtained your consent to do so;

Under GDPR you are entitled to request a copy of the personal data we hold on you. This involves completing our subject access request form and sending it to the Information Compliance Officer with proof of ID.

If you wish to make a subject access request for your personal data, please refer to our Subject Access page.

Further information

If you require further information on how London Metropolitan University handles student data, please contact the Data Protection Officer at the following address;

Data Protection Officer

University Secretary's Office

London Metropolitan University

166-220 Holloway Road

London, N7 8DB

Email: dsar@londonmet.ac.uk

Working remotely

• It is not permissible to record or publicise the content of our exchanges or share them with a third party
• We cannot guarantee the absolute confidentiality of online communications. Please be aware of the laws in your country, if based abroad when you talk to one of our counsellors.
• We do not guarantee the confidentiality of extent where we are required to disclose by: laws or order of any court, regulator or similar body. Service is provided in England and in accordance with English law. Complaints can be raised through the university complaint procedure.
• If you are based in a country where counselling is restricted by local legislation and/or our counsellors are not confident that they can legally provide a service, the Counselling Service reserves the right to refuse provision of counselling support and undertake ‘wellbeing checks’ instead. 

The University Counselling Service respects and welcomes difference and diversity. The Service recognises that many individuals and communities experience discrimination and oppression on the grounds of their gender (including transgender and transsexual people), relationship or marital status, race or ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation (because they are lesbian, gay, bisexual or heterosexual), age, health status, appearance, language, background, class, faith or religious belief, physical appearance and political opinions. We believe that equality for all is a basic human right and actively oppose all forms of unlawful and unfair discrimination. We celebrate the diversity of society and are striving to promote and reflect the diversity within the Service.

Counsellors in the Service follow an approach to counselling which embraces a positive view of identities and relationships. The Service is mindful of its obligations under the Equality Act (2010) and the Ethical Framework (2018), published by the British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy (BACP).​ Counsellors in the Service are committed to the following principles and practices: 

1. Respect and Dignity - Counsellors will treat all clients with respect and dignity regardless of: age, disability/ability, gender/gender reassignment, relationship status, race, religion/belief and sexuality.
2. Equality of Opportunity - Counsellors are committed to the provision of a fair and impartial service to all clients, to equality of opportunity and avoiding discrimination against people or groups contrary to their legitimate personal or social characteristics. 
3. Uniqueness - Counsellors acknowledge and value that each person has a unique story related to his/her personal discovery and identity. Counsellors will therefore work with clients in a way which avoids generalisations and stereotypes.
4. Self-awareness - Counsellors will work to be aware of (and where necessary, change) their own attitudes, values and beliefs and the influence which these may have on their work with clients. Counsellors will endeavour to monitor the influence of their own value system on their professional work.
5. Reflection - Counsellors will reflect; alone and with colleagues; on their work with clients and will discuss any impediments they may experience in working with diversity. Counsellors strive to create an open attitude and a safe environment, where the giving and receiving of feedback from colleagues and clients is welcomed.
6. Knowledge - Counsellors will endeavour to keep themselves informed and open about the experiences of diverse groups, their attitudes, beliefs, values and lifestyles. The Counselling Service will also provide training related to diversity issues.
7. Non-judgmental - Counsellors will strive to bring a non-judgmental attitude to their work with clients and will endeavour to create an affirmative setting, i.e. using affirming language, providing information which acknowledges and is respectful of difference, challenging assumptions and norms which are mono-cultural or indicative of prejudice.
8. Education - Prejudice and discrimination often arise from a lack of knowledge, experience, understanding and awareness, rather than deliberate intent. The Counselling Service acknowledges the ongoing nature of learning to work with difference and will continually seek to inform itself and others across the University about issues of diversity.

In the counselling service, we abide by the belief that asking questions is a significant step towards receiving the right support for you. In order to make this effort more accessible and user-friendly, we have composed a list of commonly asked questions. For more information please visit our FAQs webpage.