Professor suggests standard approach to counselling in local schools

A standardised approach to counselling is needed in the island’s public and private schools to meet the needs of students.

That view was expressed on Tuesday by Professor of Education and Professor in Charge, Counselor Education at Pennsylvania State University, Dr Julia Green Bryan, who said the COVID-19 pandemic underscored the need for such a model.

Dr Bryan, a Barbadian and former school counsellor here, said a uniformed approach to counselling is required, given the current stresses on the educational system.

“The American School Counsellor Association has developed a national model of school counselling. That is something I dream of for counsellors in Barbados – that eventually there will be a model that guidance and school counsellors can really use, so that they are all working together in unison to address the needs.

“I think the role is so important, and I am hoping that more resources will be put into counsellors in Barbados, because the mental health needs, the academic needs, the college and career needs of students, are just growing,” Dr Bryan said on Tuesday during a Barbados Association of Guidance Counsellors (BAGC) workshop entitled, Building School Family Community Partnerships: Maximising your School Counselling Services and Impact.

She added that inadequacies exposed during the COVID 19 pandemic have pointed to the need for holistic and collaborative approaches to counselling within schools, not just for academic and career needs, but to support the mental health of teachers and students.

“What I know about the pandemic both here and overseas, is that it showed us just how many challenges kids and families have, and even more so how important mental health in the schools is. Not just academic counselling which can help kids do better academically, not just college and career readiness, which is also very important, but also addressing the mental health needs of children,” Dr Bryan said.

“I think more and more we are realising that we have to figure out a way that there can be enough counsellors so that they can effectively meet all of these different needs. One counsellor alone or two counsellors alone can’t do it all, which is why as a counsellor in the schools here in Barbados, I use partnerships.”

BAGC vice-president Karen Haynes, who gave brief remarks during the opening ceremony of the two-day workshop for counsellors, stressed that strengthening relations among all stakeholders within the education sector is imperative as students continue to face many challenges.

“The naked truth is that COVID-19 has dealt us all quite a blow, and many of our major stakeholders are still reeling from isolation from their peers, feeling overwhelmed by the successive changes and losses and screen fatigue that has been plaguing parents, teachers and students alike.

“It is therefore imperative that we put our heads and our hearts together to identify the things that are yet needed and the potential improvements which may be steadily achieved over time. COVID-19 has definitely taught us some valuable lessons – simply put, we need each other, and that positive relationships must be purposefully engendered in order to create environments where students may achieve academic success.”(SB)