Pastoral Counselling Framework

  1. BAC pritoritises the need to provide holistic care for students. Pastoral care is centred around the physical, mental, emotional and social aspects of the student.
  2. Pastoral Support provided by BAC includes:
    1. Providing emotional support for students to help them cope with mental stress relating to a new environment or course demands.
    2. Implementing programmes (i.e. icebreaking activities, community engagement activities, sports and recreational activities, amongst others as referred to in POM4.5.1) to create a culture and climate of care, trust and friendliness that encourage student comradeship, attendance and involvement.
    3. In addition, the student is also provided mental health awareness programmes through the BAC Education ecosystem.
  3. A student may approach any BAC academic staff or Management for pastoral support or a relevant BAC staff may notice that a student may require pastoral support. In such case, the student:
    1. Shall be assessed by the respective staff (i.e. lecturer) to ascertain the seriousness of the student’s situation and refer the person to the appointed Pastoral Counsellor within the BAC Education ecosystem to provide the necessary assistance and support as best as possible. BAC’s Pastoral Counsellor shall be in close touch with the parent/legal guardian of a student below the age of 18.
    2. Where the situation remains unresolved, the student shall be referred to an external Professional Counsellor. The referral to an external Professional Counsellor will be made within the same day so that a suitable appointment can be fixed, subject to the consent of the student/parent/legal guardian.
    3. For students below the age of 18, parents or the legal guardian will be notified by BAC’s Pastoral Counsellor of the necessity for an external Professional Counsellor to be engaged. This signifies close collaboration with the parent/legal guardian of a student below the age of 18.
    4. Where required, notes made in the Counselling Form FRM036 shall be considered as information for use by the external Professional Counsellor in counselling (subject to confidentiality clauses). This Form shall be filed in the Pastoral Counselling File and kept by BAC’s Pastoral Counsellor.
    5. BAC shall closely follow up with the student and/or parents/guardians and where applicable, the Professional Counsellor on the recovery/development with the student.
  4. BAC ensures that Pastoral Counsellors attending to the student within BAC have appropriate experience for initial counselling and that external Professional Counsellors are trained and suitably qualified to counsel a student.