My DS was also referred by his teacher when he was 7.
He had been struggling with his temper at home and had started being difficult in the classroom. The teacher recognised that his behaviour was out of character and decided that he needed some help.
He is adopted and struggles with change. He had just moved from y1 to y2 and the children had all been shuffled around into different classes after having been in the same class since starting in reception. He really didn't cope very well with this.
He had a 30 min session once a week with her for around 8 weeks before she called us in and told us that she didn't need to see him anymore.This all happened in school time.
She met him for three sessions without having any detailed background info from us or the teacher.
She then telephoned me and explained that the sessions would be confidential and that she would only tell me what he had agreed that she could tell us. We filled her in on his adoption background and the problems we had been having at home with his temper tantrums.
She told me what she thought was worrying him and possibly causing him to act out. ( we kind of knew that anyway!)
She said she would continue to see him for a few more weeks and give him some tools to help him cope with his feelings.
We then met the counsellor face to face towards the end of the course of sessions and she gave us some strategies to help him.
It was all very positive. He quite liked the sessions and his behaviour went back to normal very quickly. We were able to take a step back and make a few slight changes to the way we talk to him and manage his behaviour.
He is doing really well now and we are keeping our fingers crossed that he will cope with the transition to y3 a bit better!
I've tried to keep this as brief as possible but hopefully you get the idea.