Had bad high school counsellors? You might want to give university counselling a go

Seeking help for mental health issues is a tough decision to make.  

For many people I’ve talked to, their first experiences going to a counsellor and seeking help didn’t go well and it put them off seeking help again, myself included. 

I first tried seeking help in intermediate when I was outed as bisexual to my classmates. Those classmates started harassing me about my sexuality and I started experiencing panic attacks. 

When I went to the counsellor about this issue, I was given a children’s book about anxiety and wasn’t offered any other sessions and the classmates harassing me were not spoken to. 

A couple years later in high school, a friend of mine passed away. My friends and I were told we could ditch class for a week, the counsellor spewed some clichés about grief and then left us to deal with it by ourselves. 

These experiences left me extremely hesitant to try counselling here at Massey. 

Fortunately, when I did decide to give Massey counselling a go, my first five sessions were free and after those they were only $10 a session. 

I was, thankfully, able to get the help I needed at the time and when the help I needed was out of their expertise, they helped me find specialised care. 

It seems that I am not alone in this experience of having awful high school counselling experiences. 

Sarah*, a third-year Massey student, said her high school counselling “didn’t uphold patient confidentiality”. 

“Counselling at Massey has been so much better compared to high school counselling. They’re able to refer you to the proper resources needed and help you through anything. In comparison, high school counsellors often didn’t give good advice.” 

Gabby*, a third-year Massey student, first tried counselling in high school when she was experiencing mood swings and depressive episodes. 

“The counsellor told me it was probably just my hormones and to talk to my GP about birth control options.” 

After trying multiple different kinds of birth controls and mood swings and depressive episodes continuing into university, Gabby started counselling with Massey. 

“Massey counsellors can’t diagnose or anything, but they helped validate my feelings. Because even if it was just hormones, which it wasn’t, I still deserve emotional support.”

I talked to a group of design students on the Wellington campus and all of them were seeing the same counsellor. They had all recommended the same counsellor to each other because they found him so useful. 

Rose*, one of the girls in the group, said, “I normally would ask specifically for a female counsellor, seeing that the male counsellors and doctors I’ve seen in the past haven’t taken my issues seriously, but this counsellor has been so great and understanding.” 

If you’re interested in giving Massey counselling a go, you can walk into your campus health centre and book an appointment there or you can contact one of the numbers or emails below for your campus. 

Auckland 

Studenthealth.auckland@massey.ac.nz 

+64 9 213 6700 

Palmerston North 

Studenthealth.manawatu@massey.ac.nz 

+64 6 350 5533 

Wellington 

Studenthealth.wellington@massey.ac.nz 

+64 4 979 3030 

*All names have been changed for anonymity.