The purpose of the present study was to explore and compare helpful and unhelpful factors reported by young people who received either schoolbased humanistic counselling and the school's usual pastoral care (SBHC + PCAU) or pastoral care alone (PCAU) as part of a randomised controlled trial (RCT) of school-based counselling. Participants (N = 305) were 13–16 years of age and had answered one or more of the three free-text questions in the Experience of Service Questionnaire (ESQ). A thematic analysis was conducted to identify helpful and unhelpful factors, and a quantitative comparative analysis was subsequently used to assess differences between the SBHC+PCAU and PCAU groups. The identified helpful and unhelpful factors were consistent with previous research on school-based counselling, which indicated that having an opportunity to talk and be listened to by a supportive adult, who can offer appropriate guidance, is helpful for young people. Significant differences were found between the SBHC+PCAU and PCAU groups regarding three helpful themes (having a positive experience, having an opportunity to talk, and being offered guidance) and one unhelpful theme (the adult wasn't directive enough). The identified helpful and unhelpful factors were not particularly unique to school-based counselling; rather, they represented a more general statement of what young people believed to be helpful and unhelpful in their interactions with adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]