Monday, 29 September 2025
Chair
Victoria Marsden, Head of Student Services and Counsellor, Hobsonville Point Secondary School
Learning Objectives:
- Understand how the Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers’ Rights applies to school counselling
- Navigate informed consent requirements across different age groups and scenarios involving parents/guardians
*Original Content was created in June 2024
To What Extent Does Counselling Fall Under the Code of Rights?
For those aspects that are covered by the Code:
- What are the key elements of informed consent:
- What information is required to make it “informed”?
- How is age considered in assessing consent in different circumstances?
- How does age affect considerations of consent where the student is between 12 and 14? What about those under 12 years?
- What is the role of parents/guardians with these age groups?
- When is a “blanket” or generic consent adequate?
- Evaluating oral versus written and ‘implied’ consent
- Addressing challenges with consent:
- What are your obligations to the student where the parent does not consent to counselling, but you believe the student needs it and the student consents to counselling?
- What are your options where only one parent consents, but the other objects to counselling
- Exploring circumstances where it can be claimed consent was obtained because of undue pressure or duress
- Obtaining specific consent regarding mental health and other assessments of the student
- Best practice in documenting consent and template consent forms
Presented by Dr Cordelia Thomas, Associate Commissioner, Office of the Health and Disability Commissioner Te Toihai Hauroa, Hauātanga
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
Presenters
Dr Cordelia Thomas, Associate Commissioner, Office of the Health and Disability CommissionerDr Cordelia Thomas is the Associate Commissioner for the Health and Disability Commissioner. She has previously been the HDC Associate Commissioner- Investigations, Acting Chief Legal Advisor and Specialist Senior Legal Advisor. Previously, she was the senior legal advisor for Toi te taio: the Bioethics Council. Her projects included “Who Gets Born: Pre-birth testing” and “Human Embryos for Research.” For several years, she was a senior lecturer in law at Massey University and continues to teach Public Health Law. Her research interests include medical law and bioethics and her PhD thesis in law proposed a legal framework for the collection, retention and use of human body parts. She has published widely and is the author of several textbooks.
Victoria Marsden, Head of Student Services and Counsellor, Hobsonville Point Secondary School
Victoria has completed both a Masters in Counselling (2008) and a Postgraduate Certificate in Supervision (Counselling) at Waikato University (2017). Victoria is the Head of Te Ara Manaaki Student Services at Hobsonville Point Secondary School, with a counselling role. She leads a team of counsellors and the school nursing staff. Victoria is a fully accredited member of the New Zealand Association of Counsellors (NZAC) and adheres to the principles of the NZAC Code of Ethics. Victoria works within a restorative, narrative and social constructionist framework and has published and been a reviewer for articles submitted for publication in peer reviewed academic journals both within New Zealand and overseas. Victoria has presented at conferences and delivered numerous workshops on both disordered eating and creating safe environments for our Rainbow rangatahi in schools.
