Holding Out Hope or Holding Back? Student Expectations of Counselling Services in Higher Education in Ireland

ABSTRACT Aims Expectations of counselling play a key role in predicting service engagement and therapeutic outcomes, but the nature and associates of student counselling expectations have been underexplored to date. This study aimed to investigate the nature and associates of student counselling services in Ireland among those who had and had not previously engaged with these services. Methods A mixed methods survey of students in Ireland ( N = 113) collected data on student counselling expectations and engagement, along with measures of well‐being, optimism, social support and attitudes towards psychotherapy. Current and retrospective expectations were compared for those with previous counselling experiences, while hierarchical multiple regression (HRM) analysis explored sociodemographic and psychosocial predictors of expectations. Reflexive thematic analysis examined the nature and change in expectations as captured in open‐text responses. Results Attitudes towards seeking professional help significantly predicted expectations (β = 0.488, p < 0.001), with the HRM model predicting 24.8% of the variance in expectations overall. While current engagement with psychological support was positively associated with expectations, there was no significant difference observed between current and retrospective expectations in the group that had previous experience of student counselling. Themes identified varied instances of both positive and negative expectations, which were influenced by both internal and external sources. Discussion Findings suggest that fostering and maintaining positive, yet realistic, expectations is crucial in providing an effective counselling service while both negative and unrealistic expectations should be managed to ensure beneficial and meaningful therapeutic outcomes for students engaging in an already overprescribed, stretched service.