ISN’T SCHOOL COUNSELLING EFFECTIVE ANY LONGER?

Lack of confidentiality occurs when a poorly trained counsellor or someone who has no idea about the field is appointed.

- HANS BILLIMORIA, ACTIVIST AND DIRECTOR - GRASSROOTED TRUST

School is considered as the second home of a student as they spend more time there apart from home. Therefore school plays a pivotal role in taking care of the psychological needs of the students which is why a counsellor is appointed to conduct solid guidance sessions

If counsellors are to gossip about the student and his/her issue, what’s the whole point of counselling? Students can just walk up to anybody and speak about their problems, can’t they? The most important thing a counsellor should maintain is privacy.

- A COUNSELLOR ON CONDITION OF ANONYMITY

As students come from different family backgrounds and face different types issues, a counsellor should be open to listening and speaking about any type of circumstances

Sri Lankan schools are currently in need of professional counsellors in order to decrease the number of adversary situations students face. The counsellors, school management and parents have a key role in contributing to successful counselling sessions in schools

Counselling is considered to be one of the most prevalent and effective forms of psychological therapies for school students. As it is done for students of different age groups a qualified counsellor or a mental health expert is appointed to conduct professional counselling.

In Sri Lankan schools, counselling / guidance is often included in its daily schedule as it’s a compulsory activity. However the importance of the mental health of students has been neglected in schools due to unavailability of professional counselling activities in school. Few main reasons for this are, unavailability of counsellors / lack of well trained counsellors, rise of fake therapists, no access to counsellors for schools island wide, difficulties in creating a suitable environment for counselling etc. According to researchers it is reported that in Sri Lankan schools the quality of counselling has drastically decreased which in turn affects the students’ schooling lifestyle. As the students of the current generation are more exposed to highrisk situations, they should be led with good guidance in order to protect themselves from adversary circumstances.

The main types of counselling that takes place in a school are,

„ Academic support counselling: This type of counselling is mainly done to make the learning process easier for students so that they can clearly choose the right career path. It also focuses on reducing the pressure that rises in students due to school education.

„ Parental counselling: Parents being counselled by the school counsellor is important as it gives them an understanding on how to treat the child’s sociopsychological issues at home. This is to make the parents teach their child how to make appropriate decisions, by providing the right parenting tips and advice to parents.

„ Individual counselling: Each student needs to be counselled even if he or she isn’t going through a tough time. This form of counselling is only to focus on how a student should learn to build his or her personality. It also helps in students who facing mental pressure to stay calm and find solutions with the help of the counsellor.

There are other types of counselling apart from these. All these are categorized based on the types of psychological issues faced by students. Yet, in recent times it is apparent that counsellors are failing to handle such cases properly due to numerous reasons.

INSUFFICIENCY OF SCHOOL COUNSELLORS

The reason for insufficiency of counsellors in the recent past are:

1. Considering counselling as an underrated job (not promoting counselling)

2. Unavailability of efficient training for counselling

3. No proper monitoring of the system 4. Non profitable

It is mainly because most of those who enroll for counselling or mental health related training end up becoming full time mental health therapists. Not many look forward to taking up a school counselling job.

“The procedure in counselling training isn’t governed properly unlike in the earlier years. Unavailability of good training for good counsellors has been a major reason for schools’ inability to find good counsellors,” said one school counsellor who spoke to the Daily Mirror on the condition of anonymity. She further elaborated that counselling in school is no longer done professionally but treated just like another subject. If a well trained counsellor is appointed he/she will know the exact way of how to carry on sessions in an orderly manner. But finding counsellors these days is hard as not many want to take up the job. This is another major reason that impacted the downfall of counselling in schools.

LACK OF PROFESSIONAL COUNSELLORS

School is considered as the second home of a student as they spend more time there apart from home. Therefore school plays a pivotal role in taking care of the psychological needs of the students which is why a counsellor is appointed to conduct solid guidance sessions.

Unlike the other subjects, guidance / counselling should be given more importance as it has a lot to contribute to a student’s personal life.

A professional counsellor must be:

„ A motherly person „ Trustworthy „ Able to handle any conflict

„ Able to help students combat psychological as well as social issues.

„ Providing relevant guidance

„ Identifying how a student’s environment affects his or her well-being and development.

A school counsellor is someone who has to be qualified and experienced in the field of counselling. The key role of a school counsellor is to guide, advise, assist and consult students who come to them with mental conditions or seeking support in finding solutions to their issues.these counsellors should be well trained over the years as it is not as easy as just listening and giving out random solutions. However in recent times it is reported that the ones who have been appointed as counsellors to schools are not properly qualified for the position as they either have not been under training, lacking experience, or are unaware of basic counselling ethics.

A professional counsellor should be able to build the rapport between them and students, let the students be expressive, maintain confidentiality and be non judgmental. Unavailability of professional counsellors in schools has created a lot of chaotic situations between students, teachers and parents. This happens when non professional counselling methods are practised. Issues that rise here are mostly due to ‘lack of confidentiality’.

When choosing a counsellor, the school management must surely take note of the qualifications and experiences of the counsellor and also examine him or her. “Anybody can become a graduate in Psychology but it takes so long to learn deep about the process and carefully treat one’s emotions.” the school counsellor said. Some schools appoint a subject teacher or an outsider as a counsellor as they don’t want to remove the period from the schedule. Many students have complained that counsellors with no background or no qualifications have affected them so much. She also added that, “When a counsellor is appointed the students try to depend on them thinking that they can reach out for help any time. But if the counsellor is not a professional the students are either misled or pushed into hard times.”

LACK OF CONFIDENTIALITY

“Confidentiality is a must factor applicable to any sort of mental therapy. Yet it has not been found in school counselling due to lack of professionals.” stated another school counsellor.

“Counselling is a process that occurs between the student and counsellor only. Nowadays whatever that’s been discussed between them is mostly brought out of the doors and spreads among the whole school as if it’s an interesting gossip.’’

“I used to go with my friends to the washroom. It is because our class teacher would let the students use the washroom only during a particular time. Yet some teachers, noticing this, started to question us why we went as a group and also cooked up stories saying that our purpose of using the washroom was for something bad. This really caused us problems in school and I developed anxiety as a result. However I thought I should consult the counsellor and attended two sessions only to see things growing worse. The counsellor had kept talking about my issues with other students and teachers. And that is how we got to know that the one whom we consulted us was not a counsellor, but an undergraduate who was working at our school as part timer,” a grade eight student from a school in Colombo shared.

Incidents like these are a good example to illustrate how simple issues can turn into chaotic situations due to lack of professionals in counselling. Doubts over confidentiality in counselling have been one of the main reasons for students to not rely on attending any consultation, fearing their personal details would be leaked.

“Lack of confidentiality occurs when a poorly trained counsellor or someone who

has no idea about the field is appointed.” stated Hans Billimoria, Activist and and Director of the Grassrooted Trust. He opined that there should be more work done to reduce stigma around mental health as well as counselling. He added that when counselors are employed by schools, it is imperative that the counsellor’s ability to handle students be thoroughly evaluated.

“If counsellors are to gossip about the student and his/her issue, what’s the whole point of counselling? Students can just walk up to anybody and speak about their problems, can’t they? The most important thing a counsellor should maintain is privacy” quoted a counsellor.

DISCRIMINATING MENTAL HEALTH

Till date not all of us give importance to mental health unlike we take care of our physical state especially when it comes to students, they are expected to be problem free and happy enough to just take care of their physical health. In the current generation, children are exposed to various kinds of mental conditions due the pressure that is created according to their lifestyle. This is something so important to which parents, elders fail to pay attention to.

“Parents don’t like to address their child as someone who needs mental care. If a child asks their parents about attending counselling or therapy, the parents would reply as “Well you don’t need those. Counselling is only for the crazies.” stated a school counsellor.

This has given the students a neutral impression of counselling and made them fight their battle by themself and sometimes end up in risky situations.

Mental health should no longer be considered a taboo but promoted in schools. This will help students in learning the importance of it and taking necessary methods to be treated.

“It will be really good if we can add “psychology” as a subject from grade 1 to 13 as that would make the child grow aware of how to react to the changes of the society,” opined one school teacher.

Sri Lankan schools are currently in need of professional counsellors in order to decrease the number of adversary situations students face. The counsellors, school management and parents have a key role in contributing to successful counselling sessions in schools.