Almost 4,000 secondary school pupils across Northern Ireland, have come forward for counselling services in school during the 2010-2011 academic year.

The Independent Counselling Service for Schools, which is funded by the Department of Education and delivered in part by North Belfast based counselling organisation New Life Counselling, has seen a steady increase in the number of referrals with 3,852 children taking part in a total of 22,416 recorded counselling sessions.

Expert counsellors from New Life Counselling provided counselling services in 181 post-primary schools supporting pupils on a range of issues including anxiety, anger, family conflict, bereavement and academic stress. The figures suggest a growing trend amongst young people prepared to come forward for counselling. A positive intervention that the charity believes needs to be resourced for more pupils.

Karen Collins-Neill, Chief Executive, New Life Counselling said: "Demand for counselling has increased and our counsellors are providing a consistent and reactive service. It is encouraging that more pupils are taking a positive approach to improving and maintaining their mental health and well-being, which underpins their academic achievement and overall emotional health.

"Our one-to-one confidential counselling service supports the emotional health and well-being of pupils. It gives them a safe place to discuss the issues that bother them as well as the opportunity to develop positive mechanisms to cope with sometimes difficult and complex feelings.

"Our extensive experience of working in the school environment enables our counsellors to understand the dynamics within a school and provide a service which really makes a difference to pupils in need of support. Feedback from pupils and schools demonstrates that our service is responsive and highly valued, with 84% of schools describing the service as 'excellent' and 95% of pupils describing the services as 'positive'."

The in-school counselling service is in high demand, and overall attendance rates are high with 90% of pupils attending their sessions. Figures reveal that this year 41% of males and 59% of females accessed the service. Demand for the service is highest among pupils in Year 10, Year 11 and Year 12.