Aalto guidance counsellors group

Services

Aalto guidance counsellors group

The purpose of this page is to describe the guidance counselling services for the Aalto community. Counselling of high quality furthers the academic process and improves the student experience. The brief service description intended for students is available on the Starting Point of Wellbeing website.

Counselling discussion where two persons discus sitting at a table.

Aalto's guidance counsellors promote the smooth and goal-oriented study of degree students. The goal of study guidance is to find solutions to students’ study-related choice situations as well as their challenges during various transition phases. Future-oriented by nature, student guidance supports students in making choices that are aligned with their work-related goals later in life. Our key working methods are individual and group guidance for students, training sessions focused on guidance as well as consulting services for Aalto staff and network-based expert work.

In individual guidance, we help students make academic progress and challenging study-related choices and provide them with tools for finding a study-life balance and identifying their goals. Possible results of successful study guidance include the student learning to adjust their expectations and goals, the student recognising new opportunities, the student being able to move forward after being stuck, and the student having increased study motivation. Students may meet with a counsellor without an appointment at the Starting Point of Wellbeing or they can make an appointment for individual counselling in the (link for students).

From an organisational viewpoint, the guidance counsellors complement the whole formed by the student's success team, student well-being services as well as career services in cases where special knowledge of student counselling is needed. One example of such special knowledge is having practical knowledge of the options available to the students. The counsellors recognise the challenges associated with various transition phases during studies and know the appropriate support services for each case. The Aalto guidance counsellors are qualified professionals in their field with backgrounds either in guidance counselling studies or in other areas that guarantee the right level of expertise for counselling.

In the Aalto community, the goal of the guidance counsellors is to support all Aalto staff members involved in student guidance and counselling to help them find impactful counselling methods and to contribute to the constructive development of counselling. They are a group composed of Student Services and school-level study guidance experts and maintain networks with persons involved in study guidance in other Finnish higher education institutions.

Guidance counselling from the perspectives of the Aalto staff and the students

The table summarises the practical benefits of quality study guidance from the perspectives of the organisation and the student.

The added value of study guidance for the organisation	Study guidance from a student perspective: I get professional support in questions such as...
Furthering seamless academic progress	How to be sure that I am making the right choices? What to do if I stop making progress in my studies for some reason?
Furthering completion of degrees within target time	How can I speed up my studies? What to do if it seems I might fail to graduate in target time? How do I make enough time for studying in my life?
Preventive intervention when studies seem to slow down	Am I studying at the right pace? How should I pace my studies?
Proactive guidance to prevent students dropping out	How can I make my current study path as interesting as possible? Should I consider changing to a different field of study?
Consultation opportunities in challenging counselling situations	What should I do if my ability to study is temporarily or permanently reduced? Who can I contact in questions related to learning challenges or individual arrangements?
Guidance- and student-oriented perspective on programme development	Where can I find motivation for individual courses that seem unnecessary and difficult?
Support for selecting effective counselling methods (e.g. workshops on counselling methods)

How can I contact a guidance counsellor?

Students can meet a guidance counsellor at the Starting Point of Wellbeing without an appointment using their drop-in option, or book an appointment in (link for students).

Staff can contact a guidance counsellor by email.