The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Counsellors

  • Person ‘first’, disability ‘second’, counsellors told

    Breaking all Barriers (BAB), an advocacy club for people with learning disabilities and special needs, is urging counsellors in schools to accord priority to individuals’ personality, before considering whether he or she has a disability.

    The club exposed the counsellors to training on sexual reproductive health rights of special needs people at Ritas Event & Suites, New Oko-Oba, Abule Egba Lagos.

    BAB is an offshoot of Festus Fajemilo Foundation (FFF), a not-for-profit body dedicated to holistic development, empowerment, awareness of sexual reproductive rights, challenges, as well as the well-being of children with disabilities in Nigeria.

    Mrs. Seyi Sanjo-Bankole, project officer of BAB, lectured the Guidance Counsellors on various ways to help persons with disabilities gain life skills training. He underscored the importance of teaching them good self-image, how to love themselves, understanding temperaments, character development and sexuality education.

    She said: “These skills ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development through education for sustainable lifestyles. It will make them make informed decisions, communicate effectively and develop the coping and self-management skills needed for a healthy and productive life.”

    Speaking of sex education Mrs. Olawuyi-Olawale, a member of the team, encouraged Guidance Counsellors to inform children with or without disabilities about their sexuality as soon as they start asking questions.

    “There’s no right or wrong time to give this information out when we come in contact with them. I always tell parents to start sex education when a child starts asking questions and learn to simplify your answers. Don’t let them get to adolescence before you teach them sex education because by that time they would have gotten wrong information from their peers. No child with or without disabilities should start his/her first period or wet dream without being informed  ways of approaching sex education; self-care, physical changes in the body for both sexes. With all these information you see them negotiating without being abused,” she said.

    In the course of the training, two facilitators, also physically-challenged, Miss Olufunke Ogunrombi and Mr. Daniel Onwe shared their experiences as persons with disabilities. They urged people to change their perception that disable individuals are helpless or a liability to the society.

    “We see them in a kind of sympathetic way. We tend to see it as punishment to a person; we make people with disability to feel uncomfortable,” said Miss Ogunrombi.

    “‘God doesn’t specifically endow some and refuse some with endowment, God has a way of compensating people and even overcompensating for whatever disadvantage the disabilities have. It is to the advantage of the society but ignorantly they shut them out because they are disabled. As far as I am concern my disability has brought me so many benefits. Disability does not stop anybody from achieving what he/she wants to achieve,”‘ said Onwe.

    Going down memory lane, Mr Afolabi Fajemilo, BAB’s project leader and FFF founder, said the NGO, established in 2006, focuses on two neurological conditions-spina bifida and hydrocephalus.

    Spina bifida is a birth defect in which a developing baby’s spinal cord fails to develop properly, while hydrocephalus is a buildup of fluid in the cavities deep within the brain.

    Fajemilo said FFF envisions a Nigeria where individuals with either of the two medical disorders can access quality health care and support.

    Fajemilo said foundation desires to train 210 senior secondary schools in Agege Local Government Area of Lagos through the Guidance Counselors.

    The representative of The Lagos State Office for Disability Affairs (LASODA), Mr Alejo Adegboyega Adeoye encouraged other guidance counselors who want to be in the project to register themselves and other children with special needs.

  • Senator Tinubu makes case for counsellors

    Senator Tinubu makes case for counsellors

    Representative of the Lagos Central Senatorial District, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, has pushed for strict adherence to the implementation of the national policy on education.

    The policy recommends that “counsellors shall be attached to all post primary institutions in Nigeria”.

    She spoke while delivering the keynote address on the theme: ‘Counselling, women’s health, education/empowerment and sustainable development,’ during the opening of the 41st international conference of the Counselling Association of Nigeria (CASSON), at the Multi-purpose Hall, University of Lagos (UNILAG), Akoka, yesterday.

    Senator Tinubu said lack of counsellors was the cause for increased criminality, misdirection and other factors that have left Nigeria in its underdeveloped state.

    She said: “In order to address problems ranging from cultism, academic failure, examination malpractices, vocational choices, sexuality issues to health challenges in schools, the role of the guidance and counselling services is indeed essential… Government should enforce the implementation of the aspect of the national policy on education, which says that “counsellors shall be attached to all post primary institutions in Nigeria.” Highly populated schools should have enough counsellors to meet challenges of the youth.”

    Sen Tinubu also proposed that professional counsellors should be attached to all women development centres, primary health centres and local government councils to foster good governance.

    She said: “The Bill recognising the Counselling Association of Nigeria as a professional body should be passed and approved without any delay.”

    Also speaking, wife of Ogun State governor, and a grand patron of CASSON, Mrs Olufunso Amosun, urged women not to settle for less, as they can achieve as much as the men.

    She noted that: “Women face numerous challenges, such as poverty, illiteracy, violence against women, human rights issues, marginalisation, political apathy, facing consequences from traditional practices, such as female genital mutilation, early marriages, widowhood, sexual violence, emotional and psychological violence, physical violence, to mention a few. These impact negatively on women’s development.”

    CASSON’s National President Prof Alfred Adegoke stressed the need for women to be strengthened emotionally and psychologically to achieve sustainable development.

    “We thought it important for us to bring women issues to the fore once more, because we found out that women are marginalised all over the world.,” he said.

    Meanwhile, the lead papers  were presented by Director, Fredrickson Centre for School Counselling Outcome Research, University of Massachusettes, United States of America, Prof John Carey; and Emeritus Professor of Education, University of Ibadan, Pai Obanya.

    Senator Tinubu, Mrs Amosun, Prof Obanya, among others, were presented awards for their contributions to humanity and the association.

  • Re-train HIV counsellors, Lagos tells partners

    The Lagos State Government has urged its partners to retrain HIV counselling and testing (HCT) service providers in the state.

    This,  the state AIDS Control Agency (LSACA), said, can be achieved by organising refresher training for them.

    LSACA made the call during the monitoring of the National Youth Network on HIV/AIDS (NYNETHA) MTV Shuga’s HIV Counselling and Testing outreach at the University of Lagos.

    The agency said there were gaps in the quality of HCT, stressing that it was determined to work in line with the National HCT policy guidelines to monitor the quality of service delivery to ascertain the level of competence.

    Besides, HCT was one of the primary entry points into prevention of the virus.

    It was an important part of a continuum of HIV prevention and treatment services, it added.

    “It was one of the many times when a comprehensive individual assessment would be taken and should he/she be positive, made it the best opportunity for accurate referrals to more intensive services,” it said.

    LSACA  said ‘quality assurance’ was not negotiable as it ensured high quality HCT and adherence to standard operating procedures, such as the use of test kits that had not expired and ensuring client’s satisfaction and reliable results.

    The agency said out of the 20 Counsellor Testers seen, 80 per cent of them were knowledgeable in HCT procedures while the remaining 20 percent were un-informed.

    “About 60 per cent of the adherence counsellors lack capacity. The referral directory for tracking and follow-up actions for the HIV positive clients were not available at the various sites where HCT were conducted within the campus,” it said.

  • Counsellors seek role in tackling insecurity

    Chairman, Ogun State chapter of the Counselling Association of Nigeria (CASSON) Prof Olufunmilayo Sotonade has advocated that counselling psychology be adopted in tackling insecurity.

    Prof Sotonade spoke at the Fourth conference of the body with the theme: Counselling for security, at Babcock University High School, Ilisan Remo in Ogun State.

    She said: “The role of a counsellor goes beyond the walls of educational institutions. A counsellor’s role is that of a guide to the society. The insecurity sweeping through our nation at this moment calls for counselling. It is very obvious that the state of insecurity in Nigeria has assumed a frightening dimension.”

    Also speaking, wife of the Ogun State governor, Mrs Olufunsho Amosun, said counselling can help the society to reach various heights.

    She said: “All security lies in the hands of God, but there are ways we can counsel to achieve security. To encourage the students not to be careless and know who they speak to. Don’t take certain things for granted,” she added.

    Ogun Staste Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Segun Odubela, lauded the body, saying it is taking counselling services in schools to a greater height.

    He said the services of these professionals are highly commended and desirable.

    “Now, we are all more concerned about vices that are hindering education standard across board and preventing the sanity of the society like examination malpractice, armed robbery, cultism, drug abuse, bullying, truancy, rape, provocative dressing among others. They can be traced to upbringing, media, peer group pressure, improved technology and much more.

    “We all need to be security conscious in our environment, school, or community and avoid complacency in whatever we do. We should remember that Boko Haram in the Northern part of Nigeria has claimed many lives and that there is increasing incidents of violence in schools.”

    He said the purpose of the conference is to provide adequate information to adolescents to prevent them from engaging in terrorism, suicide bombings, among others.

    He said he hoped the forum also provided antidotes to employment and job security, as well as security consciousness especially on the use of computer, and Internet.