Counselling Requirements in a Voluntary Advice Agency

Voluntary advice agencies are frequently used by people during times of their lives when they are under emotional pressure: for example, following marital disruption, bereavement or redundancy. In order to assess the nature of personal problems and the psychological effects of such life-events, one such advice agency was observed. From a detailed analysis of a sample of client contacts, it was concluded that there was a well-defined need for counselling to be available in addition to the provision of practical and legal information. Using an action-research strategy, the training of existing volunteer staff was extended, and recommendations were outlined for the recruitment of counsel ling-trained staff.