What We do

Clinical Psychological Assessments

Clinical psychological support and assessment is available for students. The support ties directly to students who have undergone clinical assessments through the BRIGHT programme / other services /Mater CAHMS and who have difficulty accessing services through the HSE due to waiting list times or other reasons.
The Clinician provides clinical assessments within this remit for students who cannot access assessments through HSE services.
They provide the necessary information to school and parents based on the clinical assessments that enables the best supports and appropriate recommendations to be put into practice.
A further resource is available through the BRIGHT programme for clinical psychological support for students. This support would tie directly to students who have undergone clinical assessments either privately or through Mater CAMHS and who have difficulty accessing services through the HSE due to waiting list times or other reasons. The clinical psychologist provides a service to these students specifically within school hours. The follow on support provided links specifically to the diagnosis and recommendations of the assessment.
For in-house clinical assessments, BRIGHT takes referrals from the resource department. The in-depth and comprehensive assessment is carried out and the clinician provides the necessary documentation so that the appropriate resource hours can be accessed from the Department of Education for the student.
Having this in-house resource allows the students in Ballymun direct access to the assessment process to secure the supports they need when they need them. This is invaluable in ensuring that the students with special needs get the necessary supports without having to go on a lengthy waiting-list.

Student Counselling

The BRIGHT Programme has two fully accredited psychotherapists who provide one:one counselling to students in the school.  The process of counselling has a flexible approach with integrative modalities to ensure each student receives the most appropriate psychological support for their individual situation. The duration of psychological intervention ranges from short term to ongoing support depending on the presenting needs.

Individual Staff Psychological Support

Staff are offered individual support to process the impact of the work and to avail of a space to reflect and think about the psychological processes that may block or facilitate the work.

Group-work with identified students

Groups are hosted by dedicated staff members to deal with specific Themes. The participants (usually max. of 6 students per group) are identified by the care teams and the therapists and meet for a specific number of sessions (usually between 6-10). The themes identified thus far are:

• Anger Management
• Emotional Management
• Communication/Language Skills
• Conflict resolution
• Grief and Loss
• Confidence building
• Teamwork and co-operation
• Friendships/Relationships

Anti-Bullying Program
We link with the Anti-Bullying team in the school to take referrals (when appropriate) of those who are bullied and those who carry out the bullying. We actively engage in the anti-bullying program and input into best-practice for the anti-bullying policy.

Family Support
BRIGHT values the role and importance of the family in the life of the student. We support this relationship in the following ways:
1: where appropriate, involvement in student counselling process.
2: Individual support for parents/ carers.
3: psycho-educational group support for parents, including parenting plus programme, information talks etc.