PERSONAL SOCIAL GUIDANCE AND COUNSELLING

Personal social guidance and counselling is the third major component of any guidance programme in the school but it is the most neglected of the three. Students in different institutions are faced with such problems as interpersonal relationships with members of their peer group, teachers, parents, significant figures and even the transition from one school to another present some problem of adjustment. These problems can present painful and difficult experiences. Which requires personal or social guidance and counselling.

The counsellor should try as much as possible to be current with contemporary social values, attitudes, trends and issues. While it is true that to solve the individual’s social problems the individual has to be helped to modify, change or adjust his/her behavioural pattern in conformity with the societal norms there are times that the circumstance needs to be changed for the individuals to be able to function effectively. It is important to recognise the right of the individual to live as a human being with dignity and self-esteem.

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The Concept of Personal Social Guidance and Counselling

Personal-social counselling is not limited to the school system alone, it encompasses other areas of Guidance and Counselling such as marital counselling, peer counselling and pastoral counselling.

At the school level, the school counsellor is faced with clients with diverse personal problems which may at times have their roots in family background of such clients. Students in the secondary school and tertiary institutions who have fled the security of home environment only to find themselves among strange faces from different homes and with diverse behavioural patterns may develop psychological problems.

Socially, these students may become maladjusted, they may experience interpersonal adjustment problems with their roommates, classmates, school mates and even their teachers or lecturers. They may eventually lose confidence in themselves and their personalities, underrate their personal values, become tensed up, introverted and become emotionally disturbed.

Some students are worried about their family situations (poverty, quarrel between the parents, father/child, siblings/neighbours/misunderstandings, many of them are adolescents with a mirage of developmental problems, sexual problems and loss of friendship). All these are detrimental to good academic performance.
The counsellor can employ any or a combination of counselling theories to deal with the students’ problems whether individual or in group depending on the nature of the problem. Most personal-social problems however, call for individual counselling.

As far as personal social guidance and counselling is concerned, there are two major types of Counselling, namely: individual counselling and group counselling.

Individual Counselling:

This is referred to as one-to- one counselling. It occurs between the professionally trained Counsellor (Therapist) and his/her client (Counsellee).

The goal of this is to help the client to understand him/herself, clarify and direct his/her thought, in order to make a worthwhile decision. Through this, clients’ problems are alleviated. It is mainly to bring about change in the client either by altering maladaptive behaviour, learning the decision making process or preventing problems.

Group Counselling:

This is a counselling session that takes place between the professionally trained counsellor and a group of people. Number of this group should not be more than seven, or at least ten, in order to have a cohesive group and an effective well controlled counselling session. Members of the groups are clients/counselees whose tasks or problems that are meant for resolution are similar.

During group counselling, a free atmosphere is allowed and freedom of speech is encouraged. The counselees are free to express themselves individually as counselling progresses so that encumbrances surrounding the tasks or problems to be resolved would be open for all to consider and benefit from. All counselees are expected to participate and express their feelings.

The responsibility of the counsellor during group counselling is to help remove the marks covering the problem. He/she helps open up the problem with the professional competence and knowledge he/she possesses. The counsellor is not just a member of the group; he/she is to direct the affairs and situations.