Pastoral care and counselling – vocabulary

mitigating circumstances – circumstances surrounding an action (often a crime) that, by explaining it, seem to reduce the responsibility or guilt of the perpetrator
dismissive – adj – attitude that suggests that treats sth . so as unimportant and not worth considering
a trigger point – a circumstance or situation which causes sth bad to happen
eg I noticed that excessive fatigue was one of the trigger points for her poor performance in exams
to trigger – to cause to happen
a welfare officer – a person responsible for dealing with problems concerned with people’s physical and mental health and happiness, and general well-being
to get an extension for an assignment – to be given extra time in which to finish an assignment, eg an essay, so you don’t have to finish it by the deadline set, but later