CURRICULUM VITAE
Colin Lago

I retired from the position of Director of the University of Sheffield Counselling Service during the summer, after 15 years service there.

Previously, I had worked for ten years as a counsellor in Higher Education at Leicester Polytechnic, (now De Montfort University). 

Leaving school at sixteen, somewhat under qualified, (a sure sign of a misspent youth!), I ended up taking a full engineering apprenticeship before discovering full time youth work in my early twenties. Following an excellent but short training in Leicester I obtained a youth work post in the London Borough of Havering where I stayed for five years. Working with young people proved an absolute joy, though wasn’t without its moments of strain, exhaustion and elation. 

A two-year stint in Jamaica then followed where I had been appointed (in addition to some classroom teaching) to develop an outdoor activities programme. Most afternoons were thus spent with groups in canoes, sailing boats, caves, walking and climbing in the hills and occasional evenings spent struggling to learn astro- navigation and painting! 

My interest in counselling, which had been stimulated by the many experiences I had in youth work, was further developed in Jamaica through my association with the school counsellor whom I began to assist Fortunately, my applications to the UK to train in counselling were successful and I successfully completed the Diploma course at Keele University in 1977. 

I was immensely lucky and privileged to be appointed to the student counsellor’s post at De Montfort University, where the head of service, Jean Clark, proved to be an excellent mentor and role model. 

During those early years, Jean and I became very involved in multiracial issues in counselling and developed, with others, different training programmes and videos, providing contributions to national conferences and becoming founder members of what was then the RACE sub committee of BAC. 

My interest and passion in this field of concern has continued to this day and I have been fortunate to have various writings published in this and other spheres of interest.