Counsellors seek better
THE brain drain in the country is not simply limited to white and blue-collar workers, counsellors are also being impacted.
Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre (FWCC) coordinator Shamima Ali said they needed counsellors to deal with the increasing number of people who visited the centre to access services.
“Of course we need more counsellors, it’s not only the increase in numbers, but you know, people keep coming back because if service providers, other ones particularly the government entities are not responding well, then each case is prolonged,” she said.
“So if everything worked well, and the service delivery protocol worked well, then we wouldn’t have to have so many counsellors. But the other issue also is we are losing well trained new staff to this new Australian scheme of study and work so young people come here and you know that they want new opportunities.
“They get that training because our counsellors are very thoroughly trained and they are then assessed before they can attend to someone, so they are very well-trained.
“So as they leave, we have to keep on putting people back in again and we are going to have that problem. The one is the increase in the numbers. And the other one is these overseas schemes that are coming that are attracting people for better opportunities.”
Currently, there are about 35 counsellors in FWCC centres across the country. Ms Ali said one of the ways to retain such staff would be better renumeration.
“We should pay them better. Definitely. We try to make the conditions as best as possible. But unfortunately, because we are donor funded, and ironically, it’s the country that is funding us is taking them away.
“I think we really need to re-look at some of these schemes. I think this is what they call boomerang aid.
It’s what’s happening. So there needs to be some negotiations with the government.
“It’s not only in this field. It’s in every field that people are looking for skills and so on, and our people are looking for opportunities. So the Government has to create those opportunities.
“Employers have to ensure that we have better working conditions for our workers. And for our women, particularly and counsellors. Definitely. I really wish I had that kind of money to pay them what they actually deserve and we are looking at that. We can make the working conditions the best that they can have stress related days off.”
She said being a counsellor was not an easy job as it was very traumatic listening to people’s experiences and about cases involving rape, domestic violence and terrible things being done to women.
“Emotionally, it’s very, very draining, so they get more leave than the rest of us. They are so dedicated, they don’t even want to take that to leave and they want to come back from leave.
“But you know, that is why we are advertising so vigorously for counsellors.”
Generally speaking, crimes against women are not taken seriously by police, by society, by anybody else. A lot of things have improved over the years because of the hard lobbying by organisations like ours, and you know women’s rights movement.