Conference 2004

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Annual Conference & AGM 2004

The ties that bind: student counselling & student retention

22–25 June 2004
University of Leicester

Message from the Chair

Dear Delegate

Once again it is my great pleasure to announce the AUCC Annual Conference. The day-to-day work of dealing with student distress, managing resources, delivering institutional policies, shrugging off the occasional but often high-profile attacks and criticism of the profession, and so on, are familiar to counsellors working in the FE and HE sectors. The work, while stimulating and rewarding, is exhausting in equal measure. Time for reflection is hard to get, and since most of our work is conducted in private in our offices it is difficult sometimes to find a new perspective. It is hard to see the long distance or the horizon.

'Student retention' as an issue has for some time moved steadily from the horizon to the foreground. It is of key importance to our institutions and to us as counsellors. Counsellors recognise the containing aspect of our work individually and systemically. It is no surprise to us therefore that Friday afternoons and the week before vacations are especially problematic for our students.

The year has seen various reports such as the Royal College of Psychiatrists' report into the mental health of students in higher education and more recently the Harris Report on the potential liability of further and higher education institutions in respect of students with mental health problems. Both these reports are very important to us as counsellors and provide opportunities to enhance our thinking on what we contribute as student counsellors to student retention.

I suspect that many of you, even if you have heard of these reports, will not have had time to read, think about and consider what they might mean to you.

There is too little time for reflection for most of us. The AUCC Annual Conference, with its eminent speakers and workshop leaders, provides a welcome opportunity to meet with other professionals who are equally determined to use the conference as a 'container' for our own thinking, reflecting, challenging and having fun.

I hope to see you at the AUCC 2004 Annual Conference.

John Cowley
Chair, AUCC
john.cowley@bacp.co.uk

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