Counselling psychology in the workplace: Strategy or sticking plaster?

This paper reviews the rationale for, and describes the development of, an in-house Staff Counselling Psychology Service in two large National Health Service teaching hospital trusts and a college of health. The three elements of service delivery, the challenges in establishing a service and the familiar argument that the role of the Counselling Psychologist in such a setting carries the potential for participating in organizational development will be discussed. User statistics and the results of a consumer satisfaction survey will be presented to support the notion that strategy has a greater utility to an organization than being a 'sticking plaster'. Finally, the paper will argue that Counselling Psychology in the workplace demands of the practitioner additional skills.