Personal guidance for schoolchildren School counselling is just beginning in this country. Reading and Keele universities began courses in educational guidance in October, 1965, and other universities and colleges are following suit. Mayfield Comprehensive School for girls at Putney is one of several schools which have started counselling systems of their own and in this article counsellor Anne Jones describes the Mayfield scheme, now in its second year.

In the United States school counselling is well estab- lished. The American counsellor deals with subject choice, vocational guidance, and personal problems, using psychological tests and making referrals to

other specialists where necessary. The Keele and

Reading courses follow a rather similar pattern. The

scheme at Mayfield School, a girls' comprehensive, differs mainly in that we have not as yet included vocational guidance as part of the counsellor's work. We spent a year discussing a frame of reference before beginning our experiment in 1965. We now have two part-time counsellors, each working one

4 routine individual counselling interview in progress at Mayfield Comprehensive School, Putney. Confidentiality provides a basis of trust between the counsellor and girls Photo: John Brooke

?4 routine individual counselling interview in progress at Mayfeld Comprehensive School, Putney. Confidentiality provides a basis of trust between the counsellor and girls Photo: John Brooke

Teenage tensions

full school day. Our aim is to promote positive mental health, to help individuals through temporary crises, to note signs of emotional disturbance in the earliest stages, and make referrals to specialists: in

short, not remedial but preventive work. We decided that it is not a good idea for the coun- sellor to teach as well, as this makes for conflicts of role and relationship. On the other hand, it is im-

portant for the counsellor to see pupils functioning normally within their own social group; it is also

important for the individuals to know and like the counsellor if they are ever to come for help spon- taneously. We therefore began counselling by seeing the third- year girls (who are aged 13-14), in small groups of about a dozen. The group meets the counsellor at

least four times and discusses human relationships: within the family, with the opposite sex, at school, and in society. There are many questions about sex: the girls have been taught the facts, but they want to know about feelings. Here is a chance to dispel many an old midwives' tale and to provoke discussion and thought. In the third session, the girls write an unstructured, autobiographical note which helps the counsellor to know and remember them. In the fourth session, each

girl is seen privately. This gives those who are shy of admitting any problem (and this includes the very quiet and the very noisy) a chance to express them- selves. Where necessary an appointment is then made for a longer counselling interview. The relationship established with the counsellor

through these group discussions is of vital impor- tance. Already girls seen in groups a year ago are coming spontaneously now a real problem has

developed. We shall also see the girls again for

another series of discussions in their school-leaving term, to help the transition from school to work. Girls who come for individual counselling do so in lesson time and with an official appointment. Girls are never asked by their form tutor why they want to come, but we make it clear that girls can make a direct appointment by finding the counsellor in her room: the lunch hour is kept free for this type of interview.

Self-referrals are obviously the most rewarding since the girl has placed her trust and confidence in the counsellor. Staff referrals include girls who are in

trouble with the authorities and sometimes it takes

time to make it clear that the counsellor is not a

kind of punishment, nor will she repeat what she is told in confidence.

Confidentiality is very important. To reveal what is confidential would not only be unethical but would

completely undermine the girls' trust in the coun-

sellor. The staff understand and accept this. Some feedback to the form tutors is essential, but this can be done in general terms, in a positive way and without breaking confidence. If the counsellor thinks it would help the child for the school to be aware of her situation, then she dis-

cusses this with the girl and says nothing without the

girl's agreement. In an extreme case, if the counsellor thought a girl was in moral or physical danger, yet could not be persuaded to seek official help, the

counsellor would take action, but she would tell the

girl first what she was going to do and why. It is

essential in cases of this kind not to act in haste: so

far no such case has arisen.

In certain cases it is most helpful for the girl if she

is referred to specialists. With staff-referrals it is

relatively simple to recommend, for example, a visit

to the child guidance clinic. With self-referrals it is a

more delicate and difficult matter to bring in the right kind of help and involves the co-operation of the

parents. This is particularly difficult when the parents themselves are at the source of the problem. There is considerable liaison between the counsellors and

the other local agencies, statutory and voluntary in

the area; it is certainly most helpful for the coun- sellor to be able to check, in general terms, a point of law or the implications of a particular course of action.

What kinds of problem does the counsellor come

across? In the main the normal problems of ado- lescence: worries about menstruation and moodiness, conflicts with parents over going out and having boy- friends, anxieties over appearance, or about the way to behave in a new situation. Some girls feel isolated among their contemporaries, some are not interested in boys yet, but feel somehow this makes them odd. Some have nowhere to go in the evenings and no friends in their neighbourhood. It is often a great relief for the girls to realise just how common these problems are, to understand that people develop at

different rates and in different ways, to gain some sense of their own individual worth and values.

Parents sometimes are a problem: too rigid parental control, or none, or inconsistency; sometimes the

parents are unhappily married, sometimes they us?

violence, sometimes there are financial worries, over

crowding or aged grandparents adding to the strait- of family relationships. The child's perception of th< situation may be distorted or based on fantasy. Ar< things really as bad as she thinks or is this just th<

way she perceives them? How much could be altered by changes in her own attitudes? Has she ever talke< to her parents about her feelings? Lack of com

munication is an important factor. If a child cai

come to understand a difficult situation in her famil) she can often learn to tolerate it.

Sibling rivalry also causes many hard feel:ngs. I

spoilt younger child, unfair distribution of famil chores, fighting, a handicapped brother or sister, twin, a large family spread over twenty years in whic' no one seems to have any time for the youngei member, too much responsibility for the first-borf these situations sometimes make for strain. School problems include worries about school wofl strong feelings about unjust punishment or scho<

regulations, perhaps a group problem such as how 1

handle a troublemaker within the form. The counse

i

Teenage tensions

lor has to take care not to undermine the authority of the teacher (or parents for that matter) by support- ing criticisms; most girls are extremely reasonable when asked how they would handle a situation. Some girls have unrealistic vocational aims, some do not have any aims at all. The counsellor can help them to think. A girl may feel that no one loves and respects her, yet it may simply be her own distorted perception which gives her this low opinion of herself. Here the counsellor has an important function as an accept- ing adult who neither condones nor criticises, but who listens sympathetically and helps the child to

understand herself, and come to terms with herself and her environment, to develop a positive attitude towards herself and those around her.

Traditionally in England the form teacher has under- taken the pastoral care of her pupils, and the coun- sellor is in no way meant to take over this function but rather to supplement it. However good a relation- ship a form teacher has with her pupils, her role is

necessarily limited by her position of authority. The counsellor does not have to enforce discipline and because of this special relationship hears much which

a child would never tell even the most sympathetic teacher.

Vocational guidance can most certainly be included as part of the counsellor's work, but, of course, there is already provision for this type of guidance within the youth employment and careers advisory services. The most urgent need in schools is for help with per- sonal and emotional problems. Information and

straightforward guidance about careers can be given by the careers mistress; subject choice is often better helped by the form tutor who knows the child's work over a period of time. The counsellor can help when the vocational problem is really a personal one. In the States, counsellors spend a lot of time adminis- tering tests and keeping records. There is some feel- ing, even in America, that the real function of the counsellor, which lies in his relationship with the

pupil, can be lost in a welter of paper work. This is not to decry the use of tests, but merely to state that it is personal guidance which is really missing from our educational system, and which is so much needed in this era when the simple needs of the individual can be so easily overlooked.

School counsellor Mrs. Anne Jones discusses a problem with a group of third- year girls. Girls seen in groups a year ago now seek help spontaneously when they are troubled Photo: John Brooke

School counsellor Mrs. Aline Jones discusses a problem with a group of third- year girls. Girls seen in groups a year ago now seek help spontaneously when they are troubled Photo: John Brooke