Study title

The ETHOS study (Effectiveness and Cost-effectiveness Trial of Humanistic Counselling in Schools) was a 'fully powered', two arm, parallel-group RCT which compared the clinical and cost-effectiveness of school-based humanistic counselling in addition to pastoral care as usual (SBHC) against pastoral care as usual alone (PCAU). Quantitative datasets are: (a) participants' demographic details, number of sessions (SBHC only), use of pastoral care, and adverse events; (b) outcomes at assessment, 6 weeks, 12 weeks, and 24 weeks (Young Person's CORE, Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, Warwick and Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale, Client Service Receipt Inventory, Goal-based Outcomes (and goal texts), and the Experience of Service Questionnaire); (c) process measures at six weeks: Barrett-Lennard Relationship Inventory, Working Alliance Inventory (SBHC only), and session-by-session Outcome Rating Scale; (d) educational outcomes (attendance, exclusion, predicted grades), (e) adherence ratings for counsellors and supervisors. Basic descriptive data are also available for schools, counsellors, and counsellors' supervisors. Qualitative datasets are semi-structured interviews with participants, parents/carers, and pastoral care staff regarding their experiences of, and views on, the school-based counselling.There is a current crisis in mental health care for young people, and the UK government is trying to find ways of addressing it. Currently, approximately one in ten young people in the UK experience significant problems with their emotions or their behaviour. Schools may be a particularly good place to tackle this problem because they are somewhere that nearly all young people go to. Indeed, evidence suggests that young people are as much as ten times more likely to attend a school-based service than a non-school-based one. Certain psychological treatments, such as cognitive behavioural...