Research reported in recent years highlights that many children and young people living in Northern Ireland are struggling to cope with a range of complex issues in their daily lives. The lack of accessible and appropriate professional support means that many children and young people carry these issues to school, where their struggle to cope manifests as behaviour problems contributing to poor engagement and academic achievement. In recognition of the need to support these vulnerable children and young people, the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children in 2000 established an independent schools counselling service in Northern Ireland. This paper presents a descriptive profile of client and service use between September 2004 and December 2005. Descriptive analysis indicates that the service provides a pragmatic support response to vulnerable children and young people at school: high levels of referral by children and young people themselves, parents and teachers indicate the service is used across all school sectors and management types. Initial status scores for emotional health and well-being as measured by the self-rated Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire confirms children and young people are presenting to the service with significant difficulties. Implications for the strategic and practice development of an independent schools counselling service in Northern Ireland are discussed. (Contains 1 figure and 6 tables.)