CiAT COUNSELOR ON CALL PROGRAM
The Need for Counseling Services to Children and Adolescents
The World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes an individual to be completely healthy if he or she is physically, psychologically and socially sound and well. However, the psychological element of human health has been neglected in most African societies. Many people fail to understand that most of physical (medical) and social maladies they experience are due to unmet or unattended psychological needs/problems. Thus, individuals at different age groups need counselling and psychological services as much as need medical services to be completely healthy.
As they grow into adulthood, children and adolescents need a lot of care, guidance, attention, and emotional support for them to become successful as well as psychologically and morally mature adults. However, it is a pity that a good number of children and adolescents do not or inadequately receive these important ingredients, as they grow, from their parents/caregivers due to either parents’/caregivers’ ignorance or lack of time. This situation result to a number of physical, psychological and social problems, in the lives of these members of the society, such deviant behaviours, loneliness, low self-esteem, low self-confidence, low resilience, depression, trauma, and poor academic performance.
Since most of children and adolescents spend a great time in schools (some of them in orphanage centres) whereby the curriculum provide little or no time and necessary resources for teachers/caregivers to attend to the above mentioned needs and problems facing the younger generation; the services of the counsellors/psychologists are urgently needed.
About Counsellors on Call Program
Counsellors on Call is a program designed to respond to the psychological and academic needs of children and adolescents in schools and orphanage centres which have limited resources to hire fulltime service of a counsellor/psychologist.
Program Focus/Target Group
The program focuses on children and teenagers in general. However, the First Phase of Our program will focus on teenagers (10-18years)
Program Objectives
The objectives of the program are to;
| 1. | Improve client’s academic performance |
| 2. | Improve client’s problem solving skills |
| 3. | Build client’s self-confidence, self-esteem, discipline and resilience |
| 4. | Improve client’s intra and interpersonal skills |
| 5. | Attend client’s psychological needs and problems |
| 6. | Provide education on reproductive health |
Strategies/Activities
Activities shall include:
| 1. | Psychological Assessments |
| 2. | Competitions |
| 3. | Group and Individual Counselling |
| 4. | Support Groups |
Methods /Tools
Methods and tools shall include:
| 1. | Games |
| 2. | Role Plays |
| 3. | Aptitude Tests |
| 4. | IQ and EIQ Tests |
| 5. | Personality Tests |
| 6. | Self-Esteem and Self-Confidence Tests |
"Within the child, lies the fate of the future.”-Maria Montessori
