The role of the regular teacher in a whole school approach to guidance counselling in Ireland

A whole school approach to guidance counselling has been promulgated by Irish policy-makers as a model of good practice in the delivery of guidance counselling in the post-primary sector since the 1998 Education Act (DES, 2005a, 2009, 2012). This approach to guidance counselling provision is viewed as a whole school responsibility where schools are expected to collaboratively develop a school guidance plan to support the needs of their students. The role of the regular teacher in a whole school approach to guidance counselling has received very little attention either in the Irish education system or in empirical research. This article will address this deficit through its discussion of a case study carried out in one school in 2012. It will position the findings from the study in the context of the re-allocation of post-primary guidance counselling provision in the national Budget 2012 that has witnessed the substantive erosion of the guidance counselling service in the last two years.     

A naturalistic study of the effectiveness of time-limited counselling with low-income clients

The role of counselling and psychotherapy services in relation to the needs of economically disadvantaged individuals has been largely neglected in the recent research literature. Although a small number of theoretical papers and case analyses have been published, there is an absence of studies that examine the effectiveness of counselling with this client group. The present paper reports on a naturalistic outcome study of the effectiveness of time-limited counselling (seven sessions) with low-income clients. Analysis of pre-counselling, postcounselling and follow-up measures of mental health and problem ratings indicated levels of change equivalent to those achieved in controlled studies of counselling and psychotherapy with other client groups. Factors influencing the effectiveness of counselling included gender and employment status. Qualitative client reports suggested that the main benefits experienced by clients were in the areas of self-understanding and self-belief. For illustrative purposes, data from low-income clients are compared with results from employee counselling clients receiving a similar service. The implications of these findings for further research are discussed.     

Business dimensions to organizational counselling

Organizations are increasingly introducing counselling for troubled employees. For some organizations, with a long history of employee care or paternalism, the role of Welfare or Personnel has grown to cover emotional as well as other needs. Other organizations, impressed by Employee Assistance Programmes and their claims of increasing employee effectiveness and reducing sickness absence, have opted for commercial counselling providers. This paper looks at the background to Organizational Counselling, alternative approaches to meeting organizational needs, and presents the current Post Office approach to employee care and counselling.     

Mental health and education: Counselling as prophylaxis

Though school counselling is concerned primarily with prevention rather than cure, in practice the urgent needs of the wayward and the sick leave little time for genuinely preventive work. Furthermore, effective prophylaxis in the strong sense of laying foundations of robust mental health, competence and well-being in all children must involve the whole school to some degree, and particularly a team of willing and able teachers working along with the school counsellor on curriculum development in personal and social education. Though the needs of the few can be met by one-to-one counselling, the needs of the many will be answered only through group work. Trained counsellors must take the initiative in such work. They will retard the mental health movement if they permit their colleagues to feel complacently that the appointment of a school counsellor is an ample school contribution to the objectives of preventive psychiatry. Mental health is every teacher's business.     

Social Change and Marital Problems: Implications for Marriage Counselling

There are many reasons why people experience marital dissatisfaction. This paper is concerned with those who experience dissatisfaction not as a result of individual personality problems but as a result of the impact of social change on contemporary marriage. On the whole, these people are emotionally mature even if they present, initially, with 'clinical' symptoms. The paper identifies the effect of social change on such couples and suggests an approach to marriage counselling designed specifically to meet their needs. Background material is provided by a study of 40 couples seen for marriage counselling in a psychiatric clinic.     

Career development and counselling needs of LGBTQ high school students

There is a dearth of research concerning the career development and counselling issues that are relevant for high school students who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ). As such, little is known to understand LGBTQ students when it comes to their career-related struggles and needs. This article attempts to examine the career development needs of LGBTQ high school students, addressing and analysing career problems from the unique circumstances of this student population. To do so, it provides an overview of the various career-related issues afflicting LGBTQ high school students. It then proposes a series of career guidance and counselling intervention considerations that are tailored to address the specific career needs and challenges of the LGBTQ high school students.     

Towards networking in counselling: a follow-up study of Finnish school counselling

A follow-up study (1990-1997) and in-depth interviews on school counselling practices and problems in Finland showed that in the last 10 years the work of the school counsellor has extended and become more diversified. This article analyses this change in school counselling in terms of the problems and core tasks of counselling and the new challenges faced by Finnish counsellors, such as dismantling the traditional gender divisions in working life and counselling for immigrants. In addition, the article examines how school counsellors have attempted to solve the problems related to their work, for example, by establishing counselling networks inside and outside the school.     

Career needs of Eastern Cape pupils in South Africa

School guidance and counselling services ought to be designed and implemented to meet the needs of the pupils. The high school guidance programme should operate in a preventive way and attempt to equip pupils with information, skills and attitudes so that they can successfully negotiate the challenges of adolescence. If school group guidance lessons are to meet the pupils' needs and are to be experienced by the pupils as being relevant to their lives, then they must address the expressed needs of the pupils (apart from other issues considered important by appropriate authorities). A methodological approach to defining such needs is presented. It emphasises the importance of the pupils themselves describing their needs, and seeks to avoid the pupils having to respond in the form of ticks and checklists to the ideas of others. The pupil protocols were analysed in a qualitative manner and a number of categories and themes emerged. The needs relating to careers are outlined. Discussion centres on these results, on the differences between schools, and on the implications of these findings for a future single, non-racial education department in South Africa with a common curriculum for all.     

Cultural values and attitudes towards guidance and counselling services in one secondary school in Malaysia: the role of a school cultural system

This narrative ethnographic study aims to explore students' attitudes towards guidance and counselling services in one secondary school in Malaysia. Semi-structured individual interviews, group interviews and observations were conducted with school students of different racial backgrounds. They were identified as referred clients, self-referred clients, and those not deemed to be involved in counselling. The data were analysed using the constant comparative analysis grounded theory approach. The findings indicate that there were different attitudes among the three groups of participants concerning counselling services. The study highlights the role of a school system in elucidating attitudes towards guidance and counselling services. It poses implications for understanding counselling services within the school system.     

An analysis of the effectiveness of university counselling services

It is important to demonstrate replicable evidence of the effectiveness of counselling procedures. The study aimed to contribute to the currently limited evidence base examining the effectiveness of university student counselling in the UK. Information on therapeutic outcome [based on Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation-Outcome Measure (CORE-OM) scores] for 305 individuals attending a large UK university counselling service was analysed. Following counselling intervention: there was a statistically significant improvement in CORE-OM scores with 63% of individuals showing a reliable improvement and only 2% showing a reliable deterioration. Of those who began with a score in the clinical range, 49% showed a clinically significant change. These results provide additional evidence for the effectiveness of university counselling interventions. Future research should aim to build on this preliminary research using randomised controlled trial designs.     

Collaborative Consultation and Program Evaluation

The article describes how consultants, working with school personnel, can use an action research approach to implement a program of value‐driven needs assessment. The presentation is focused on a collaborative consultation model of program evaluation. A case example illustrates the collaborative development of instruments for assessing the effectiveness of a school guidance and counseling program.     

Counselling children and young people: A review of the evidence for its effectiveness

This paper summarises and presents the results of a BACP commissioned systematic scoping review on the research evidence on counselling children and young people. The methodology was based on a structured, hierarchical, systematic approach to searching and reviewing the research literature. Inclusion criteria defined the scope of the review in relation to a range of issues in counselling children and young people: behavioural problems and conduct disorders; emotional problems including anxiety, depression and post‐traumatic stress; medical illness; school‐related issues; self‐harming practices and sexual abuse. Four groups of counselling approaches were examined: cognitive‐behavioural; psychoanalytic; humanistic; and creative therapies. The findings indicate that the four therapeutic approaches are effective to a greater or lesser degree in relation to the range of issues. Although the findings show that there is little or no evidence for the effectiveness of some therapies for particular issues, this may not reflect the lived experience of children and young people engaged in counselling in a range of community and institutional settings. Instead, the absence of evidence is likely to reflect a lack of published studies that fit the inclusion criteria for this review.     

How are counselling and therapeutic services experienced by orthodox Jewish primary schools in North-West London? What are the cultural sensitivities,attitudes and beliefs of senior staff members in these schools?

This study investigates how Jewish senior staff at orthodox Jewish primary schools in North-West London experience therapeutic services such as counselling for their students and community. A qualitative approach using semi-structured interviews with seven female orthodox Jewish participants was employed. Thematic analysis was used to analyse data. Results highlighted six broad themes covering the school’s view of counselling and other therapeutic services. Uptake of counselling was often low. Negative parental attitudes, stigma, fear of local authorities and lack of culturally appropriate signposting were some of the factors determining whether counselling services were accessed or not, and why. The importance of the therapist’s own religion and the language used to describe therapy was also significant. Further research into increasing awareness of mental health needs for orthodox Jewish schools and to increase uptake of therapeutic services should be undertaken and has implications cross culturally.     

Stress-management interventions in the workplace: Stress counselling and stress audits

Within the field of stress-management intervention, there have been substantial disagreements on the 'right' approach. Some argue for counselling and stress-management training, while other argue for more substantive organisational change through stress audits. It is argued that both are important in meeting the needs of individuals and organisations.     

Developmental Advocacy: Twenty‐First Century School Counseling

Characteristics of current and emerging school counseling program models are reviewed, and their limitations and challenges in serving students' needs in the 21st century are enumerated. The authors discuss the implications for these models of recent advances in developmental theory and research and in positive psychology, along with the integration of nontraditional counseling functions. Developmental Advocacy is described and offered as a way to enhance the effectiveness of the contemporary school counselor.     

Exploration of counsellors' perceptions of the redesigned service pathways: a qualitative study of a UK university student counselling service

To address the mental health needs of students, UK universities offer bespoke student counselling services. Economic pressures have led services to find innovative ways of redesigning their service pathway. Few studies have investigated staff perceptions of these changes. The aim of this study was to investigate perceptions of staff employed as counsellors at a student counselling service at a UK university that underwent service delivery changes. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with counsellors (n = 5). Framework analysis was used to identify themes and meta-themes. Five meta-themes were identified: the overarching service ethos and service working style; change in the university context; impact of change on working practice; recording and perceived impact on confidentiality; acceptability and effectiveness. Changes to the service resulted in a more efficient service that is perceived to be more acceptable to students. Staff perceptions differed regarding how changes have affected their counselling practice. Despite these differences, the increase in workload was consistently expressed. Tensions remain as staff strive to maintain high standards of service in this changing context. Future research should investigate the process of developing and implementing change as student counselling services strive to evolve sustainable ways of working.     

Pupil perceptions of counselling: A case study

Using a case-study school with a highly-developed counselling service employing three trained school counsellors, pupil perceptions of counsellors are examined in terms of their duties within the school and their potential helpfulness. Despite the fact that many of the features of the school were ideally adapted to the effective development of counselling, the counsellors were broadly perceived as senior teachers with a great deal of administrative responsibility. Few of the pupils indicated a willingness to approach any of the counsellors voluntarily with a personal problem.     

Factors affecting the involvement of teachers in guidance and counselling as a whole-school approach

This study explores factors affecting the involvement of regular secondary school teachers in the whole-school approach to guidance and counselling by interviewing 12 secondary school teachers in Hong Kong. Emerging themes include teachers' ownership of their role in student guidance and counselling, the alignment of their disposition with education policies, school missions and culture, and their philosophy in education. Findings of what these teachers are actually doing in guidance and counselling are presented. Implications for policy-makers, administrators and leaders for comprehensive guidance and counselling programmes are drawn from constraints that limit interviewees' full potential in assisting students.