Ask Sam letter

Hi there

It can be really scary facing a new decision. It's important that it's your choice whether you go to counselling or not, but it can help to talk it through with other people.

Counselling can be organised by an adult who supports you. And it's an opportunity to explore your feelings in detail with someone who's trained to help you. Some people can find that it can be worrying to open up to someone about these feelings, so it can be a good idea to talk to the counsellor first about what you may be able to expect from the sessions and about their confidentiality policy. It can also help to write this down so that if you freeze up you have it with you. It can be helpful to know what they may need to pass on and who they may tell if they did. Knowing this could help you feel sure about what you feel comfortable saying.

Childline offer a counselling service where you can talk to a counsellor either on a phone call, a live chat or on an email. Any young person aged under 19 or under can talk to Childline about anything at all that’s on their mind. Talking to Childline may help you to see how you feel about opening up about your feelings to help you decide if you’d like to go ahead with counselling.

Here at Childline we will normally ask you a few questions to help open up the conversation, your counsellor should be trained to help you do this too. It would be ok to let the counsellor know that you are not sure what to say, this could help them to explore this with you. Building your confidence could help you to feel more able to know that the way you feel is valid and important.

No matter what support you are getting, you will still always be able to talk to Childline. The counsellors will be there for you if you decide to talk to them.

Take care,

Sam