Policy and Challenges of Contextualization for School-Based Counselling in Countries in Eastern and Southern Africa

Abstract

Globally, learners in schools are exposed to psychological stressors that often warrant provision of counselling services as preemptive and curative measures to maintain their mental health. Consequently, schools at all levels are required to provide counselling services, which within Africa continent, are popularly provided under the umbrella of guidance and counselling. For effective provision of any guidance and counselling services, there is a need to put some policies in place as operative guidelines. Primarily, these policies are meant to direct as well as orient counselling psychologists towards appropriate provision of counselling services to the school-based learners. In addition, these policies ought to act as legal principles that protect the interest of both the client and the counsellor in case of any mishap. In this context, the present chapter presents an in-depth discussion on the formulation of coherent policies for conducting school-based counselling within the context of Eastern and Southern Africa. Furthermore, it assesses existing policies in relation to their appropriateness and challenges. The chapter pays great attention to contextual issues that might be peculiar to Eastern and Southern African context in order to ensure that policy is tailored to suit the background for which it is designed. Consequently, the chapter makes recommendations for addressing the identified challenges so as to facilitate more egalitarian policies for school-based counselling, which ought to maintain not only mental health among school learners but also attract them to freely opt to access and appreciate the services rendered by school-based counsellors. Accordingly, counselling services provided at the school level would go a long way to achieve its utmost aim of helping students to better understand ‘who they are’, and ‘who they are becoming’, leading them to optimal utilization of their potential.