Dear LAMB Facilitator,
In my school, guidance and counselling are practiced in the following ways .
1. It is sometimes done by the guidance counsellors who provide individual or group counselling services to students.
2. It can also be done inside the classroom where the guidance counsellors often conduct classroom guidance sessions.
3. Students are sometimes call to a safe place where they sit with a counselee and try to find solution to their problems.
When it comes to guidance and counselling here are some of the challenges I face in implementing it effectively in my school.
1. My school does not have train teachers on it.
2. Sometimes during the counselling getting correct information from the student becomes a problem because of stigma.
3. Cultural beliefs and norms is also a challenge in implementing it in the school.
4. Limited time and resources allocated to these in implementing it in my school is so challenging.
The following are some of the leadership strategies that can help integrate counselling into daily school life, especially in schools with limited training personnel.
1. Empowering teachers to take on a counselling roles, such as mentoring students or leading support groups.
2. We can also try to involve students in leadership roles such as peer mentoring or student counselling clubs in schools.
3. We can also encourage teachers to collaborate with each other, sharing expertise and resources to support student well-being.
4. We can also promote awareness about the importance of counselling and mental health through schools events, assemblies, and campaigns.
5. We can also create a safe spaces for students to talk and seek support, such as counselling rooms or quiet areas.
These are some of the ways in which I used in supporting my teachers and staff to identify and respond to learners' emotional and behavioural needs.
1. I organised workshops and training for my teachers and staff.
2. I share resources and information on supporting learners' emotional and behavioural needs, such as articles, videos, and online course.
3. I created a partnerships with the community.
4. I create a school policy that diverse to the needs of learners.
5. I also recognize and reward my teacher for their efforts in supporting learners emotional and behavioural needs.
The situation I recalled was where a guidance counsellor made a significant difference in the a learner's life.
I remember one of my former student by name Ebrima Saidy. He was the biggest and the oldest student in grade four. because of his age and size in class, he became very shy and does not participate in the class. So this makes him not to do well in the class.
one day, the guidance counsellor by the name Mr Lamin Jatta notice the struggles of Ebrima and invited him to meet with him. During their conversation, Mr Jatta listened attentively as he share his concerns about his situation in the class and what he plan to do.
It takes time for Mr Jatta to understand Ebrima situation and plan. then from there he started to encourage him with good words like , education has no age and in fact he had better changes of doing better than the junior once's in the class. He even went up to the level of making him has the class captain .
As time goes on, Ebrima be came open up and he became very active in the class and he started doing well and to the level of being a member of press club in the school.
My regards to all.