3 minute read
Providing the right guidance
GUIDANCE COUNSELLORS play an important role in many schools across New Zealand.
On a daily basis they deal with issues such as pregnancy, suicide, drug and alcohol use, family violence, learning disabilities and physical health concerns, right through to relationship issues with friends.
“If anyone has a problem, we make sure we’re available to help them solve that problem, no matter how big or small,” explains Paul Ferner, director of guidance at Mt Albert Grammar School. “If a student is unhappy, either at school or at home, it will be affecting their learning. Guidance counsellors work to remove or improve those impediments to learning.”
School counsellors also take on advocacy roles on behalf of students and can act as a support person if a student needs to be interviewed by the police or the principal. But it’s not just students they assist, staff and families of students also approach counsellors for advice on parenting issues and other more general matters.
While students often self-refer to the guidance counsellor, others are referred by parents, teachers, deans and even their friends. And even with those that self-refer, it can take time for the counsellor to build a relationship and get the student to open up.
“There are no magic bullets when it comes to working with kids,” says Ferner. “Building a relationship can take time but you develop little strategies for engaging kids in conversation and building their trust.”
Many counsellors take on a wider role within the school to help build those relationships with students, including coaching sports teams, working with prefects, or helping with school productions.
It’s something that the New Zealand Association of Counselling (NZAC) the professional association for the counselling industry, would like to encourage.
Chris Hooker, school guidance counselling portfolio manager at NZAC, believes guidance counselling should be embedded in the school system and counsellors should have a public face around the school.
“It is often much easier for counsellors to break down barriers and build relationships with students if they have a prominent role in the school.”
However, an issue for some school guidance counsellors is feeling a lack of recognition from colleagues on the teaching staff.
“There is a bit of a perception in the community that school guidance counsellors are well intentioned, nice teachers with no particular qualifications,” explains Hooker. “But as a group they are particularly well qualified.”
Figures from NZAC show this. More than 70 per cent of NZAC member school counsellors are qualified to post graduate level in counselling, and nearly half are qualified to Masters level.
In fact, many school guidance counsellors are former teachers who have decided to take their career in a new direction.
Ferner says once teachers realise a guidance counsellor comes from a teaching background and has an understanding of their world, the working relationship becomes much easier.
“Neither teachers nor counsellors can work in isolation,” he says. “Pastoral care is not just down to the guidance counsellors, the whole teaching body has to contribute to the wellbeing of the students.”
Professionalism and confidentiality are key when providing counselling services and the NZAC has a number of checks in place to ensure quality and safety for clients and schools. School guidance counsellors, who are members of NZAC, require an annual practicing certificate, must complete professional development annually and undertake supervision.
Supervision is conducted with an experienced counsellor who provides a sounding board to ensure guidance counsellors are acting in the best interests of the students.
“Sometimes we can get stuck either because we’re affected by what we deal with or we’re not sure how to proceed,” says Ferner. “It also helps to keep counsellors safe and unaffected, and ensures they’re working in a safe and ethical way.”
It is this safe, protective approach to dealing with student issues that encourages many students to seek an appointment with the school guidance counsellor and will encourage others to do so in the future.
