A tale of two capitals: a Bourdieusian perspective on counselling in higher education.

Tuition fees and increasing mental health needs in students are changing the nature of Higher Education (HE) and creating tensions between HE and embedded counselling services. These are illustrated and explained using Bourdieu's concepts of field and capital. It is recommended that the field of counselling should expand to meet evolving student need by employing Mental Health "agents", or Mental Health Advisors, qualified in other professions such as occupational therapy or social work. These professionals can import capital into counselling services that is acknowledged and respected within the wider field of HE. This acquired capital may be deployed to generate positive relationships between counselling services and their HE institutions and could strengthen the long-term position of university counselling services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]