Counselling in schools - vital to overcome youth problems
by N. Rifca Anzar
Counselling is the skills of helping people cope with personal
difficulties through interviews and other procedures, with the aim of
allowing them to reach solutions to those difficulties themselves.
Talking things over with someone, listening to their problems,
helping to find solutions and supporting them through the bad times, is
what counselling is all about. Families and friends often take on
counselling roles for each other. But sometimes the problems are within
the family and it is hard to get the help that one may need.
Over the past 10 years, the term 'counselling' has been increasingly
associated with the process of guidance. Counselling, as it applies in
schools, should not be confused with therapeutic counselling which is
properly the preserve of, for example, psychologists, psychotherapists
and psychiatrists. However, when individual guidance is at its most
effective, it is similar in many respects to the counselling process. It
is concerned with good interpersonal relationships which are based on
showing respect, listening, empathising and reflecting.

Counselling children is different to counselling adults |
Counselling is non-directive in that it is concerned with helping
pupils to reflect on their own attributes and circumstances and
encouraging them to take responsibility for their decisions. Guidance is
about valuing the uniqueness of the individual and encouraging each to
consider how his or her behaviour affects others.
The guidance and counselling process can often involve discussion
with and support for the individual who cannot meet agreed standards of
behaviour and the formation of attainable goals.
It involves noting and commending progress and achievements. It may
demand unequivocal expressions of concern about unacceptable behaviour
or lack of progress, but it should always offer strategies for dealing
with these problems.
Why use a counsellor?
At any particular time, many children might need extra emotional
support beyond the normal care offered by their teachers.
Life is so full-on that sometimes there isn't any time to sort out
the little problems, and before you know it, they've grown into giant
problems.
For children, these could be:
· problems at school, e.g. not coping with work or being bullied
· problems with friendships
· problems with parents' relationships, e.g. Divorce
· problems caused by alcohol or drugs
· problems caused by money
· problems about body image or self-esteem
· feeling depressed.
Counselling children is very different to counselling adults. What we
do and how we do it depends on a child's age, their development, whether
they have any specific difficulties.
Many people may think that counselling is about talking to clients
about their problem. Actually it is more about listening but children
are unlikely to talk for 50 minutes about their problems. We therefore
have to use many methods for children to be able to tell us about their
difficulty and find many ways to explain to them what might make things
better for them.
Bereavement and Loss: Many children are sometimes young when somebody
close to them dies. Sometimes when parents split up, or a favourite
teacher or friend moves away, the loss that children feel is sometimes
as strong as if the person has died. Of course, these things will upset
any child but children are remarkably resilient and usually recover in
the natural course of time with the support of their friends, family and
school. Counselling only becomes necessary when children find it
particularly difficult to recover from these upsets and it stops them
from returning to anything like their normal life.
Trauma: Some children may have experienced more traumatic
circumstances of death, violence, abuse, or neglect. It is when these
events seem to affect the child in school that teachers make referrals
to Counselling in Schools.
Children may be struggling with having to care for sick or disabled
parents or brothers and sisters. They may be the youngest in a large
family and have to fight for any attention in their home. They may feel
they don't really fit in at school, or are being bullied. They may be
bullying somebody else but don't know how to stop. Some children may
feel angry and feel that the whole world is having a go at them and they
need to fight back. They may feel that nobody is listening to them and
have no real sense of their place in the world. Their self-esteem may be
very low and they may become very withdrawn or begin to dabble with
behaviour that harm themselves.
These are only some of the reasons why some children need the help of
counsellors.
Life events involving bereavement, ill health, etc. can cause serious
questioning of life's purpose. Persistent losses overwhelm a child's
ability to cope; this inability can cause difficulties at school and in
relationships.
If help is not available from a supportive network (friends family or
school), this may lead to physical illness, anxiety, depression, or
chronic maladaptive behaviour, such as addiction to alcohol, drugs,
gambling or sex.
Therefore, schools should find ways and means to help those children
at an early stage to prevent things from becoming worse.
Teachers have a responsibility for the welfare and well-being of
young people as well as for their formal academic education. There has
always been help and support available for pupils, and often for their
parents too, when educational decisions require to be taken, when a
crisis situation arises, at school or in the home, and when important
decisions have to be taken about obtaining employment or entering
further or higher education. The following are some of the objectives
for schools to consider providing guidance on the personal, social and
academic development of each individual:
· to ensure that each pupil knows and is known personally and in some
depth by at least one member of staff;
· to consider the pupils' personal, social and intellectual
development;
· to help the pupil to be aware of his development and to accept
responsibility for it;
· to identify and respond quickly and appropriately to the specific
needs of the individual;
· to foster the development of good relations between teachers and
pupils;
· to work well with the home in all aspects of pupils' development;
· to liaise with support and welfare agencies; and
· to systematise and make effective the recording and communication
of information relevant to the welfare of individual pupils.
The success will depend on many factors, including the effectiveness
of:
· support from the senior management team of the school;
· the structures within which arrangements are made for the
co-ordination and deployment of staff involved in the provision of
guidance;
· the approaches adopted by staff engaged in the guidance and
counselling process; and
· the links established with parents and support agencies.
Counsellors provide a confidential atmosphere in which students can
explore any topic or situation and discuss any concerns they may have.
Students are helped to work through their problems, to develop self
awareness, and to overcome problems by using new strategies. |