Paul was 16 years old and was about to take his GCSE exams. He was feeling very depressed. His parents were going through a crisis in their marriage, and spent a lot of the time arguing. It felt to Paul as if they were not there for him at all. He felt sad and confused.
He was once able to talk to his sister about how he felt when he saw his parents arguing. But she had gone to university now - and he missed her a lot.
Paul had told his parents several times how he felt when he saw them argue so much. Things would get better for a few days, but sooner or later the arguments between his mother and father would start again and Paul was left feeling very isolated once again.
Then Paul told some of his friends that he was feeling down. They offered him drugs, telling him they would make him feel better. But he didn't want to do drugs. He had seen people acting really stupidly after they had taken drugs - and he didn't want to be like that.
By now Paul was finding it difficult to sleep. He felt desperate. He had to talk to someone. Bottling up his emotions was making him feel even more miserable. Then he remembered the school counsellor and decided to talk to her.
Once he started to talk to the school counsellor about how he was feeling, things started to get better for Paul. It didn't stop his parents marriage problems, but he found it helpful to talk seriously to someone about the painful feelings he was experiencing. It felt good to have someone there who was willing to listen to what he wanted to say. After a while Paul began to feel less depressed and more positive in himself.