School peer counselling for bullying services as a source of social support: a study with secondary school pupils

Individual interviews to solicit secondary school pupils' (N=99) views of the peer counselling for bullying service in their own school, with a focus on the issue of social support for bullying-related problems, were conducted. Three themes were addressed: (1) willingness to use the service relative to other potential sources of support, (2) preferred gender and age of peer counsellor, and (3) disclosure of using the service to friends. Most participants reported a willingness to use the service, but only around one in 20 would 'definitely not' do so. Relative to their willingness to use the service, participants were more willing to solicit help from friends, but less willing to solicit help from their form teacher and siblings. Around a third of participants expressed a preference for seeing a counsellor of a particular gender, and around two thirds expressed a preference for seeing one of a specific relative age. Several significant differences were obtained between girls and boys, and between users and non-users of the service. The results are discussed in terms of the implications for providers of peer counselling for bullying services.