About the RNIB Emotional Support Service
The Emotional Support service is for children and young people - age 11 to 18 - who have sight loss. If a child or young person you know needs to speak with a professional, you can let them know about this telephone based service.
What might a young person experience?
Any young person experiencing sight loss may be finding the additional issues hard to cope with. A number of things may come up for them:
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Why me?
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How will I cope in school?
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How will I cope in the future?
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Why don't others understand my needs?
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Am I so different?
These on-going questions are additional to the other issues that many teenagers face (and can make it all the harder):
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Low self esteem
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Feeling different but desperate to fit in
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Seeking individuality
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Learning to deal with feelings and emotions
Speaking with a professional about these issues - someone who also understands sight loss and the added issues that can arise - can help support them through this process.
The effects of sight loss
The effects of sight loss can arise at any time, so for example a young person who has been visually impaired since birth could still be impacted by their sight loss later, perhaps when others of their age group are becoming more independent, learning to drive, travelling around more independently, going on dates! These situations may highlight differences that they hadn't come across before.
It may be that you've noticed a child who has become more withdrawn from their friends, or a child that appears angry at the world. They may be asking questions about their sight loss and about coping in the future.
How to refer a child or young person to RNIB Emotional Support Service
A child or young person (or you with their permission) can call our service and arrange a call back from one of our counsellors, who will explain the service and agree a number of sessions with them.
This is done by calling our Helpline on 0303 123 9999 and asking to be referred to ESS. You will be put through to the Advice team who will take details and pass them to us. We can also be contacted by email: ess@rnib.org.uk,
If you wish to find out more about the service, or to decide if a referral is appropriate, you can use the same contact methods and one of our counsellors will call you to offer some information or consultancy. Please remember to provide us with a daytime telephone number.
Referring a child or young person to the service
You can refer a child or young person to our service, our referral form can be downloaded below:
A young person may also wish to self refer, we have created a leaflet for young people, explaining the service and how it can support them. This can be downloaded below:
Finding a safe space
The whole service is conducted over the telephone, so you may need to help the young person find a safe place where they won't be disturbed. This may be in an office at school, or in a room at home so long as it is safe, private and they have access to a telephone.
Like adults, children and young people sometimes need a confidential space to explore issues without necessarily involving parents or carers - as with adults this may be done initially to safeguard their loved ones from worry. The law recognises the rights of young people to seek help for themselves in this way and our counsellors follow clear and widely accepted procedures when working with young clients in this way (See 'Fraser guidelines' section below). We therefore do not require parental consent to provide a service, but will always discuss this with the young person in an appropriate way, and support them to share if they want to and can. We also adhere to RNIB safeguarding procedures for vulnerable children and adults in all cases.
Support on a one off basis
Children and young people with sight loss, who would like to speak with a counsellor on a one off basis, can be referred to us.
Weekly sessions may not be necessary, but occasionally when a situation feels unmanageable they may wish to talk it through with someone who understands the added issues of sight loss.
Fraser Guidelines
These are the legally accepted guidelines for assessing young people's competence to agree by themselves to receiving a "treatment" (which includes counselling). For more information on these guidelines visit the NSPCC website.
RNIB's Emotional Support Service adhere to these guidelines and assess each client under 16 on a case by case basis as to whether they are meaningfully able to consent to taking part in counselling. As explained in our 'Finding a safe place' section above, this is done in order to give young people confidentiality. Consideration is always given to whether it is appropriate to involve a parent/carer and the guidelines cover this. When working with young people we always explain the necessary limits of confidentiality (to prevent harm and keep them safe) just as we do with adult clients.
For further information and advice, please email ess@rnib.org.uk