Counselling in the workplace: How time‐limited counselling can effect change in well‐being
Abstract
Background: Many employers provide counselling support on work and personal issues for their employees, but in times of economic pressure such services can be at risk if their effectiveness is not demonstrated. Aim: To evaluate whether time‐limited counselling in a workplace can effect sustained change in well‐being. Method: The study was carried out by a staff counselling team in a university setting. The Warwick‐Edinburgh Mental Well‐being Scale (WEMWBS) was completed by clients at the beginning and end of counselling, and at three and six months following. A non‐treatment comparison group completed the survey at the same intervals. Results: The results of our investigation show clearly that the effect of time‐limited counselling (average seven sessions) on distressed clients is positive. The evidence of our treatment group suggests that they acquire an increased sense of well‐being as a result of the experience of counselling with a significant statistical difference between pre‐and post‐counselling treatment group scores on the WEMWBS and consistently higher scores found post counselling. The improvement was maintained at the same level for at least six months following the end of counselling. Conclusions: The provision of time‐limited counselling by employers is an effective support for personal difficulties affecting work.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Counselling is an effective intervention to address the mental health challenges of employees.
“Counselling is an effective intervention to address the mental health challenges of employees (Collins et al., 2012; McLeod, 2010).”
From Developing a brief acceptance and commitment therapy model for industrial psychologists (2022) · cites this paper as Collins et al., 2012
Cites
Jacobson, N. S., Follette, W. C., & Revenstorf, D. (1984) · Behavior Therapy · doi:10.1016/s0005-7894(84)80002-7 · Cited by 1,294 · cited 1× · see citing works
“Pre-counselling/post-counselling change was assessed using the Reliable Change Index (Christensen & Mendoza, 1986 ; Jacobson, Follette, & Revenstorf, 1984 ).”
The effectiveness of workplace counselling: A systematic review
McLeod, J. (2010) · Counselling and Psychotherapy Research · doi:10.1080/14733145.2010.485688 · Cited by 73 · cited 1× · see citing works
“What emerges from these and other previous studies is that therapy delivered in the workplace ‘is generally effective in alleviating symptoms of anxiety, stress and depression in the majority of workplace clients' (McLeod, 2010 , p.”
MethodBarkham, M., & Shapiro, D. A. (1990) · Counselling Psychology Quarterly · doi:10.1080/09515079008254242 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Ammar, A., Trabelsi, K., Brach, M., Chtourou, H., Boukhris, O. F., Masmoudi, L., Bouaziz, B., Bentlage, E., How, D., Ahmed, M. G. A. E., et al. (2020) · Biology of Sport · doi:10.5114/biolsport.2020.96857 · Cited by 425 · see citing works
Psychological consequences of COVID-19 home confinement: The ECLB-COVID19 multicenter study
Ammar, A., Mueller, P., Trabelsi, K., Chtourou, H., Boukhris, O. F., Masmoudi, L., Bouaziz, B., Brach, M., Schmicker, M., Bentlage, E., et al. (2020) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0240204 · Cited by 295 · see citing works
“The SWEMWBS uses seven of the WEMWBS’s 14 statements about thoughts and feelings, which relate more to functioning than feelings suggesting an ability to detect clinically meaningful change [24, 25].”
MethodThe Psychological Well-Being of Content Moderators
Steiger, M., Bharucha, T. J., Venkatagiri, S., Riedl, M. J., & Lease, M. (2021) · Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/3411764.3445092 · Cited by 168 · see citing works
Shah, N., Cader, M., Andrews, B., McCabe, R., & Stewart-Brown, S. (2021) · Health and Quality of Life Outcomes · doi:10.1186/s12955-021-01882-x · Cited by 121 · see citing works
“Studies in different settings suggest these measures are valid in psychiatric populations [13, 27, 28] and primary care [29], but comparative performance in relation to commonly used clinical measures at multiple time points during a course of treatment has not been investigated.”
BackgroundAmmar, A., Trabelsi, K., Brach, M., Chtourou, H., Boukhris, O., Masmoudi, L., Bouaziz, B., Bentlage, E., How, D., Ahmed, M., et al. (2020) · medRxiv · doi:10.1101/2020.05.04.20091017 · Cited by 61 · see citing works
Blodgett, J. M., Birch, J. M., Musella, M., Harkness, F., & Kaushal, A. (2022) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph192315845 · Cited by 43 · see citing works
“Five sub-themes emerged under the psychological theme: (1) 18 interventions on resilience, self-management and wellness [21–38]; (2) 16 mindfulness intervention studies [39–54]; (3) 9 psychoeducation intervention studies [55–63]; (4) 18 cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) studies [64–81]; and (5) 19 studies of other t…”
BackgroundPlanning an organizational wellness initiative at a multi-state social service agency.
Miller, J. J., Grise-Owens, E., Addison, D., Marshall, M., Trabue, D., & Escobar-Ratliff, L. E. (2016) · Evaluation and Program Planning · doi:10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2016.02.001 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
Johnson, R., Jenkinson, D., Stinton, C., Taylor-Phillips, S., Madan, J., Stewart-Brown, S., & Clarke, A. (2016) · Health and Quality of Life Outcomes · doi:10.1186/s12955-016-0532-5 · Cited by 31 · see citing works
Bowman, A. W., & Turner, M. J. (2022) · Psychology of Sport and Exercise · doi:10.1016/j.psychsport.2022.102167 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
Emotional consequences of COVID-19 home confinement: The ECLB-COVID19 multicenter study
Ammar, A., Mueller, P., Trabelsi, K., Chtourou, H., Boukhris, O., Masmoudi, L., Bouaziz, B., Brach, M., Schmicker, M., Bentlage, E., et al. (2020) · medRxiv · doi:10.1101/2020.05.05.20091058 · Cited by 25
“The SWEMWBS uses seven of the WEMWBS’s 14 statements about thoughts and feelings, which relate more to functioning than feelings suggesting an ability to detect clinically meaningful change.(13,14) The seven statements are positively worded with five response .”
MethodHooper, P., Kleeman, A., Edwards, N., Bolleter, J., & Foster, S. (2023) · The Lancet Regional Health - Western Pacific · doi:10.1016/j.lanwpc.2023.100807 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
Psychological implications and rehabilitation programmes due to football‐related injuries
Borg, A. F., Falzon, R., & Muscat, A. (2021) · Counselling and Psychotherapy Research · doi:10.1002/capr.12444 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
Straaten, A. D. J.-V., Jorgensen, L. I., Hill, C., & Nel, J. A. (2016) · SA Journal of Industrial Psychology · doi:10.4102/sajip.v42i1.1283 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
“A study conducted by Collins et al. (2012) found that the provision of counselling services in the workplace for distressed employees has a positive effect on employees’ well-being.”
BackgroundNevay, S., Robertson, L., Lim, C., & Moncur, W. (2019) · The Design Journal · doi:10.1080/14606925.2019.1595434 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
“The WEMWBS scale has been used to assess the effect of interventions on wellbeing such as counselling (Collins et al., 2012) and the use of cognitive behavioural techniques within the workplace (Bhutani, 2015), as well as parenting skills programmes upon parents’ wellbeing (Simkiss et al., 2013).”
MethodLee, D., Seo, S., Park, C., Kim, S., Chang, B., & Song, J. Y. (2024) · Conference on Designing Interactive Systems · doi:10.1145/3643834.3660708 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Markkanen, P., Anttila, M., & Valimaki, M. A. (2019) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph16193646 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
“It enables reflective and confidential discussions with a professional counselor [52].”
BackgroundDeveloping a brief acceptance and commitment therapy model for industrial psychologists
Van Lill, X., & Van Lill, R. (2022) · SA Journal of Industrial Psychology · doi:10.4102/sajip.v48i0.1897 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
“Counselling is an effective intervention to address the mental health challenges of employees (Collins et al., 2012; McLeod, 2010).”
BackgroundRuiz, A. M. I., Gijselaers, W., Beausaert, S. A. J., & Gast, I. (2025) · Review of Educational Research · doi:10.3102/00346543251380975 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
An Evaluation of U.S. Military Non-Medical Counseling Programs.
Trail, T. E., Martin, L. T., Burgette, L. F., May, L. W., Mahmud, A., Nanda, N., & Chandra, A. (2017) · Rand health quarterly · doi:10.7249/rr1861 · Cited by 5
Bhutani, G. (2015) · Cognitive Behaviour Therapy · doi:10.1017/s1754470x15000227 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
“2013) and also as a measure of change in mental health interventions (Collins et al. 2012; Maheswaran et al. 2012).”
BackgroundWorkplace counselling and the contemporary world of work.
Elder, R. L., Agee, M., & Adamson, C. (2018) · New Zealand journal of counselling · doi:10.24135/nzjc.v38i1.223 · Cited by 2
“…other studies in the UK on the effectiveness of time-limited counselling at work have found that it was generally effective in reducing the symptoms of stress, anxiety and depression, distress, dysfunction, and underperformance (Collins et al., 2012; Mellor-Clark, Twigg, Farrell, & Kinder, 2013).”
BackgroundGrigoriadou, M., & Kleftaras, G. (2017) · The European Journal of Counselling Psychology · doi:10.5964/ejcop.v6i1.126 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
“The counseling process has proven to be a valuable tool in helping not only employees to have better control over personal difficulties affecting their work, but also organizations to increase their productivity (Collins et al., 2012; Mcleod, 2008; Sharma, 2012).”
Henrickson, L., Jennings, G., & Bewick, B. (2024) · Cogent Education · doi:10.1080/2331186x.2024.2373181 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
“WEMWBS can be used to evaluate change across time (e.g. Collins et al., 2012; Maheswaran et al., 2012).”
Factors associated with well-being among treatment-seeking UK Veterans: A cross-sectional study.
Biscoe, N., & Murphy, D. (2024) · Journal of Military Veteran and Family Health · doi:10.3138/jmvfh-2023-0023 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Obukhova, N., Ahmed, N., & Huang, E. M. (2026) · Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction · doi:10.1145/3829807.3829890
Enhancing Coaching Effectiveness: Counseling Skills and Coaching Practice in Aotearoa New Zealand
Elder, R. L. (2020) · Asia Pacific Career Development Journal, Vol 3, No 1 · doi:10.68047/apcdj.v2n2.19998
“Research into the effectiveness of counseling and coaching has identified the importance of the quality of the relationship between client and counselor (see, e.g., Collins et al., 2012; Fillery-Travis & Passmore, 2011, McLeod, 2010; Tannen et al., 2017).”
- Authors
- Collins, J., Gibson, A., Parkin, S., Parkinson, R., Shave, D., & Dyer, C.
- Affiliations
- University of Cambridge (GB)
- Independent Research Consultant Nuneaton UK
- Corresponding author
- Collins, Jill
- Venue
- Counselling and Psychotherapy Research
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2012-05-28
- Volume
- 12
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 84-92
- ISSN
- 1473-3145 (ISSN-L)
- 1746-1405
- OpenAlex
- W2099368922
- Cited by
- 26
- References
- 27
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 1 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 1 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 2.84
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Counselling and Psychotherapy Research (publishedVersion)
- UEA Digital Repository (University of East Anglia) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Workplace Health and Well-being
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Counseling Practices and Supervision
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications
- Keywords
- workplace counseling, employee well-being, Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale, sustained change, economic pressure
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
