More than Cardigans and Pamphlets of
Change…
I ask for a
second of your time to partake of some self-directed imagery and visualize your
personal construct of the Guidance Counsellor. Would it be that of the
cardigan-wearing, brief-case toting, bearded gentleman that arrived at your Grade
9 class for the long-awaited, highly-anticipated, life-changing, pamphlet-based
lesson: “So, You Are Becoming a Man…”?; or the reciprocal closed session, “So,
You Are Becoming a Woman…”? Well, as I attempt to forage for other examples I
quickly realize that this is my personal construct so I will gracefully leave
it at that. Though blatantly anti-climactic, the moral of the story is…times
have changed and the Guidance Counsellor role has subsequently expanded; but
has arguably become less-defined.
So the challenge
is to define the entity that is ‘counselling’ as it exists within the context
of a school (The Department of Education has taken on this mission and we
anxiously await its conclusions). One might assume that traditional counselling
practice would be a role so intrinsic to the Guidance ‘Counsellor’, that a clear
definition of such a competency (as it exists within the school environment) would
be easily accessible; but as per the history of humankind, assumptions prove
problematic. Our counsellors find themselves in a unique situation as they
attempt to practice amidst a mosaic of job roles and responsibilities in an
environment that does not easily lend itself to effective and efficient practice.
As it stands,
the current ratio of guidance counsellors to students in Newfoundland and
Labrador is 1: 500. Given this reality, one’s daily schedule quickly becomes saturated
with multiple ‘cold calls’, ‘surprise’
clients (further to those you have ‘penciled in’), and referrals that grow
exponentially as you make your way through the hallways or into the staff room.
Add circumstances such as teaching responsibilities for some counsellors,
duties being spread across four or five rural schools, and expectations to
implement all components of a Comprehensive Guidance Program, the ‘TIP-OVER’
point quickly approaches. These
work-related requirements and self-imposed expectations of an ‘open door’
policy lead to experiences not unlike that of a ‘drive-thru window’ or a ‘call
center’. Assisting students through the ‘daily grind’, responding to
‘in-the-moment’ personal crises, preventative interventions, and staying ‘tuned
in’ to the school climate, significantly contributes to the ‘academic machine’ however
and encourages it to remain in motion.
Now before you
attempt to topple my mini ‘soapbox’, I would be the first to argue that these
same responsibilities and ‘time-takers’, that counsellors face from day to day
in our practice, are essential services within their respective school
communities. We, as counsellors, are guilty of ‘aiding and abetting’ the model
by virtue of our altruistic, care-giving personalities (in line with our classroom
teaching counterparts). It is however, a unique ‘counselling’ environment that
requires exploration outside of the safe confines of policy.
In order to find
the information we seek, let’s have a look at the standard that currently
exists. The Department of Education’s Guidance Policy outlines the roles and responsibilities
(e.g. comprehensive assessment, school-wide guidance initiatives, individual /
group counselling…) that are prescribed for the Guidance Counsellor. As
demonstrated above however, the realities of our role (and the environment in
which we practice) make it extremely difficult to define.
The opportunity
to engage in a traditional counselling model or framework which typically
includes a set number of scheduled sessions, a clear counselling plan,
goal-setting, and effective termination of the counsellor-student relationship,
is more often than not, unattainable within our schools (and is but one
service, amongst a multitude of supports provided to individual students). In
addition, the hectic pace, inaccessibility during down times (e.g. summer
months), and the degree of need within
our schools usually requires that we refer to external agencies for long-term
counselling support as the expertise of these professionals lies within the
areas of addictions, eating disorders, anxiety, etc.
In these recent
times of heightened accountability and diligence, Guidance Counsellors (along
with Educational Psychologist s and Instructional Resource Teachers) currently
find themselves working their way through the intricacies of tracking
assessment referrals in our schools (via the Department of Education’s Referral
Tracking System). Guidance Counsellors are now preparing for the same with
regard to the tracking of counselling services being offered to our students. So
where do we go from here to find some balance and make an attempt at defining
‘counselling’ within the school system?
Here is my humble
take. Instead of attempting to quantify ‘counselling’ time by hours / minutes
formally ‘in session’ and numbers of
students coming through the turnstile, let’s qualitatively track the types and
sorts of interventions (which may very well include traditional counseling
services) and highlight the successes seen through our ISSP / IEP and
inclusionary processes. It is essential to focus on the multitude of variables
that make up the dynamics of our profession and contribute to counselling as a collective
whole. The roles of identification, daily
monitoring, check-in, crisis-response, formal analysis & assessment, life
skills development, file management, consultation, family support, counselling,
behavioral support, a ‘safe zone’, an ally, an ‘ear’, a ‘shoulder’… As a school-based practitioner, we hit the
entire spectrum and it becomes more about engineering a framework of success
for the student, more so than the specific service of counselling.
We are well
aware that for every student who maneuvers through the school system with
minimal support and meets with great success in adulthood, there are those that
require intensive measures to ensure they simply make it through on a daily
basis. All school-based professionals
contribute to this mechanism of support in some capacity. It is the varying
points on a continuum of service that begins at 8:30am and carries through to
2:30pm (and exists as a reliable ‘background’ support when the student is not
in school) that addresses barriers to change and allow the student to avail of
unused opportunities.
We cannot be too
restrictive and prescriptive in our definition of the ‘counselling’ service as
it exists in our schools such that we underestimate its true value and range of
influence (as part of a student’s educational experience).
… and yes, I learned a lot from that
pamphlet in Grade 9!
Trent Langdon
