BASSETERRE. St. Kitts – A RECENT Counselling Course initiated and hosted by the Zion Moravian Church, Basseterre, will play an important role in bringing about ‘mental wellness’ in the society and may well be an effective pre-emptive strike in the battle for the minds of our youth.
Though it was regarded as a ‘basic counselling course’, attendees are far better equipped to understand the network of relationships within the society and how they colour the minds and behaviour of those negatively affected; they are also more knowledgeable on how to be effective counsellors.
The group of 44 participants included nurses, teachers and policemen whose daily work put them in the frontline as they attend the public’s needs; and the participants also had among them those who wanted to effectively serve in the healing of our fractured community.
The aim of the Course was “to build and equip a core of persons who have been exposed to basic counselling skills; and who can be of assistance to others as Frontline Counsellors and who will understand when and how they can refer persons who may need more intense, long- term assistance.”
The organisers, the Zion Moravian Church, gave the event the seriousness it deserved and secured the services of Rev. Neilson Waithe of Barbados who holds a Masters in Counselling from Yale University.
In facilitating the Course from June 4-9, Rev. Waithe gave a far-ranging and practical overview of what is involved in Counselling
From 6 pm to 9 pm each evening, the participants were not only given Counselling Techniques but a great deal of the theory that would enable each one to be an effective counsellor.
The agenda included – Goals of Counselling, Characteristics of an effective counsellor, Counselling techniques, Barriers to Effective Counselling, Building and maintaining confidentiality, Crisis counselling, Counselling Interviewing techniques, Counselling youth, Counselling Peers, Cultivating the Listening Skills and How and When in the Referral Process.
In addition, to consolidate the learning process, several scenarios were provided and the would-be counsellors were asked to participate in role-playing and practice counselling.
The scenarios included situations where there was ‘lack of trust’, abuse, suicidal attitudes, lack of motivation, abusive relationships and rape among others.
When asked at the end on the closing session whether they found the Course useful, the students/participants were unanimous in their answers. These were some of the comments:
“Extremely useful”
“Useful and timely; we are enhancing our community policing initiatives...”
“Course catered to a wide range of situations and age groups.. Youth, marital situations, work situations etc “
“We learnt that respect for confidentiality is important and that trust and confidentiality are integral parts of counselling.”
There is no doubt that this was a great initiative on the part of Zion Moravian Church. Many confessed that they wanted to counsel but were unsure on how to approach it.
They are now far more confident in offering their services and look forward to follow-up courses to enable them to deal effectively with more serious mental illnesses which are still taboo and have an aura of stigma and silence around them.
One participant commented, “No longer can we ask what are the Churches doing?” This is indeed a good example of the Church taking its mission into the ‘vineyards’ of the community. Moravians and non-Moravians alike were among the participants.
