Counselling Service

In 2002 we saw the fledgling development of a Counselling program implemented at Keith Area School. In 2003, the Counselling Program expanded in the time I was able to be available in this role. Teaching and keeping contact with the student body in the classroom has also created opportunities for me to raise the profile of Counselling services available at Keith Area School.

Well established now in the Tinnie, most people know where to access counselling services. It is the perfect location within a school community as it is central to all areas of the school. The beauty of its location is that it is tucked away in an area that doesn't see a lot of traffic and this means that students can enter with a degree of anonymity and privacy. Students have come to understand, appreciate and value the confidential nature of the job and the implications this has for them.

In 2003 we saw the implementation of a Pastoral Care program within the school. Students from reception through to Year 12 have been involved in Program Achieve, Mind Matters, Redi resources, the Heart Masters series and Drug Strategy programs. Program Achieve is a structured, sequenced program of lessons that explicitly teaches the skills of Organisation, Confidence, Persistence and Getting Along. These four skills are known as the Four Foundations, the keys to success. Together, these skill promote academic, social and emotional well-being. Staff have received training to support the implementation of this program and time has been set aside in the secondary area for one lesson a week of Study Skills to teach Program Achieve. Also in Study Skills time, issues such as Harassment and Bullying have been discussed with students.

Other aspects of the job are personal counselling, crises intervention, motivation, a mentoring role, looking at ways of improving attendance for some students and supporting students with anger management issues that often present as a behaviour management situation.

Time is such an important factor in the provision of a successful counselling service. You need time to listen and ask questions, time to chase up information, time to sit on the phone to various agencies, that have a wonderful knack of putting people on hold, and time to follow up issues with individuals. When students courageously take the step to share a problem, seek help, ask for advice, search for answers, they need to believe I have all the time in the world, just for them. This can sometime be the ultimate challenge.

In 2004 the government, in its wisdom, recognised the needs of schools to provide more counselling to young people. Acknowledging that many of the behaviour management issues addressed in schools arise from problems kids bring with them to school as well as difficulties they experience while at school. At the beginning of this year they allocated considerable funding to schools for the implementation of further counselling services, specifically targeting Primary students.

Keith Area School benefited from this extra funding and Kerry Rowe was appointed to provide time one day a week for counselling for the primary area of the school. Having two on board has been beneficial in terms of time allocation and ultimately our students are the winners.

Janine Vickery and Angela Elkin