Monday, 29 September 2025
Description
Attend and earn 1 PLD hour
* This interactive online recording includes questions and quizzes requiring critical thinking about the topics, so you have no annual limits to the number of points/hours you can claim with this format of learning. Please verify with your CPD rules
Chair
Dr Alison Burke, Head of Counselling, Westlake Girls High School
Key Workplace Health and Safety Issues for School Guidance Counsellors
How safe are you at work? How safe are your students? School guidance counsellors, like any other professionals working in educational settings, face various health and safety issues. While your primary focus is on supporting students' academic, social, and emotional development and wellbeing, it's essential you ensure your own safety and wellbeing as well.
- Understand your obligations under key workplace health and safety legislation, and how you can work with your school to ensure an environment where psychosocial risks are minimised, and where you feel supported, valued and best able to fulfill your role in supporting students.
- Understand health and safety lessons from the landmark Employment Court case for school guidance counsellors: Cronin-Lampe v The Board of Trustees of Melville High School
Presented by William Fussey, Associate, Anderson Lloyd
*Original Content was created in June 2024
Learning Objectives:
- Identify key health and safety risks for school guidance counsellors, including psychosocial hazards
- Understand legal obligations under NZ workplace safety laws and lessons from relevant case law
Presenters
William Fussey, Associate, Anderson LloydWilliam advises on the full suite of employment law issues, including employment agreements and policies, personal grievances, disciplinary and performance improvement matters, restructures and redundancies, medical incapacity, bullying and harassment, and negotiated exits. William also specialises in privacy law, health and safety, and the nuances of the Holidays Act 2003. William has represented both employers and employees at the Employment Relations Authority and Employment Court and regularly attends mediations. He takes a strong but pragmatic approach to resolving employment relationship problems. He is also a regular presenter on a range of employment law matters. William is a member of the Law Association Employment Law Committee.
Dr Alison Burke, Head of Counselling, Westlake Girls High School
Alison completed her training at Auckland University, graduating with a Master’s in Education (Counselling specialisation) with First class Honours. She then went on to complete a PhD at Auckland University, researching the lived experiences of male victims of intimate partner violence in heterosexual relationships. Alison has had articles published in academic peer reviewed journals both in New Zealand and overseas. Alison has worked with young people firstly as a secondary school teacher and then as a counsellor and facilitator both in Auckland and the Bay of Plenty. She is currently Head of Counselling with a counselling role at a large secondary school on Auckland’s North Shore. Alison was involved in a research project with two other counsellors and counsellor educators from Waikato University that focused on counselling as a site of learning with particular reference to key competency use and development within the counselling space. Conference joint keynote presentation, workshops and published journal articles resulted from this research. Alison has also had personal articles published and been a reviewer for articles submitted for publication in peer reviewed academic journals both within New Zealand and overseas. Alison has been a fully accredited member of the New Zealand Association of Counsellors (NZAC) since 2007. She adheres to the principles of the NZAC Code of Ethics and is committed to on-going professional development, reading and supervision to ensure best practice.
