A Bridge for Empowerment, Growth and Resilience: Inside the Counselling and Wellbeing Team at Shrewsbury Riverside

The Wellbeing and Counselling Team at Shrewsbury Riverside is an integral part of our school, providing students with invaluable support to help manage their academic and personal lives, and providing parents with tools to foster a healthy environment for their children’s holistic development.

Monika Birimac, Lead Counsellor, has been a school counsellor for 13 years, with a wealth of experience working in international schools worldwide. She works directly with students and parents to support, teach and empower them in all aspects of their lives, whether inside the classroom or at home.

“The Counselling and Wellbeing programme at the school is what I feel is a bridge, and we work with everyone,” Monika said. “What we focus on is not only how we help students with their academics, but also the social and emotional side, the holistic side of students, which I think is a big focus of Wellbeing at Shrewsbury Riverside.”

The programme provides a wide range of services, including individual sessions, group sessions, parent workshops and various events for students during the school year. The Wellbeing and Counselling Team hosts topic-specific workshops twice a month, where parents can learn more about common issues their children may face and gain valuable skills for working on them at home. Past topics covered have included sleep, sibling rivalry, transitions, communication, resilience and more. The workshops facilitate conversation and community building, where parents are encouraged to ask questions, participate in activities and work alongside one another to make a positive difference. 

“If we are able to support parents then that helps our students, and they’re coming to school ready to learn,” Monika said. “I have feedback from parents who say that it has really changed the dynamics in their family, and it’s made some more positive conversations happen. For me, that’s the best feedback I can receive.” 

With counselling for students, the team does both individual and small group work, giving students the opportunity to receive support one-on-one, or with peers who may be experiencing similar struggles. The team also facilitates topic-focused Learning for Life lessons in classes, as well as assemblies that provide support for exam-year students. 

Social skills groups are orchestrated frequently, with the team doing lunchtimes, friendship clubs and helping on the playground. They assist in the school community wherever they can, even attending residentials and day trips. The main focuses of student activities are growth and empowerment, so that over time students may develop the skills to resolve whatever struggles they may be faced with and feel confident in doing so. Asking for help and receiving support is the first step - and an important one at that.

“It really is looking at their strengths and helping them through those strengths to solve what is going on in their lives. And it really comes from a positive side of focusing on the child and empowering them to find the solutions,” Monika said.

Whether encouraging resilience for upcoming exams, facilitating interactive sessions for parents to participate in, helping parents encourage growth and resilience in their children from a young age, conducting individual sessions with students or being a familiar presence at school excursions, the Wellbeing and Counselling Team is always available to provide holistic support to the Shrewsbury community. 

“I always ask them, ‘Do you know who has the answers?’” Monika said. “And I’ll say, ‘It’s you. You have the answers, but together we’ll figure out what they are.’ And to me, that’s what counselling in a school setting is about.”