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PROPOSAL ON COUNSELLING AND THE IMPORTANCE OF PROVIDING PROFESSIONAL COUNSELLING SERVICES TO ADDRESS PSYCHOLOGICAL ISSUES AND PROBLEMS FACED BY SCHOOL STUDENTS ABSTRACT Guidance and counselling services were first introduced in Malaysian schools in the early 1960s. The initiative began with career and guidance services gradually expanded in scope in line with the needs and problems which arising from the development and changes within the fields of economy, science, and technology.

The guidance and counselling services in Malaysian schools have made specific modifications based on the guidance and counselling model practiced in schools in the United States of America. These changes are considered appropriate in order to meet the cultural characteristics of the local community.

Discipline problems, mental health issues and psychological problems are the arising issues in this new age. The parents must understand that guidance and counselling by school counsellors towards helping and assisting troubled students are vital to students development and for their future careers.

INTRODUCTION The practice of giving and receiving assistance, advice and guidance is a familiar tradition within the Malaysian society. As stated by (Amla Salleh, 2009), advisory and social support among members of the Malay community has existed long before colonial administration. The compassion, warmth and friendliness, along with the roles and responsibilities of village heads, head of mosques or respected elders played major roles in ameliorating social misunderstandings and problems arising from various walks of the community. Guidance and counselling can be used and applied in schools. It is because students nowadays have issues in school and it is school counselors job to help them in dire need of assistance. Bully, smoking and drug misuse in schools and harassments are the issues faced by students which lead them to having mental health issues such as depression and even suicidal thoughts.

Mental health is the condition that influences our mind in our daily activities.

It

determines how we handle stress, how we relate to others and how do we make our choices (mentalhealth.gov,2017). Therefore, if the wellness of the mental is maintained, theoretically one should be living a stress free life. Mental condition transcends throughout one’s lifespan as the brain which is the control centre for all the activities dictates how one acts and reacts to specific situation and condition.

Mental health is influenced by factors such as biological (genes and brain chemistry), life experiences and family history. Going through life experiences, one will definitely be exposed to situations and conditions that force the mind to respond appropriately to the ideal outcome required. If the mental state is not in a healthy condition, this may lead to an

unfavorable outcome as the production of the thinking process. Such situation will lead to unruly behaviors, miscalculation of steps to be taken or a mismatch between the action and reaction. This often results to dire consequences of one’s life, the society or the nation eventually. As the future torch bearers, teenagers need to make the correct and sound decision. This places the importance of checking their mental health even more crucial. Today’s daily crisis and pressures within the community require a more systematic and sophisticated form of support system. As a result, guidance and counselling services were then introduced in schools to assist students especially in the form of career guidance and to overcome social problems arising from the rapid economic changes within the country such as their discipline problems, mental health issues and psychological issues.

From time to time, the services rendered by undergoing guidance and counselling in order to accommodate for not only the academic or career development of students, but more importantly to ensure psychosocial and mental well-being of future students.

DEFINITION OF COUNSELLING American Counseling Association (ACA, 1997) defined counselling as the application of mental health, psychological or human development principles, through cognitive, affective, behavioral or systematic interventions, strategies that address wellness, personal growth, or career development, as well as pathology. In other words, counseling is the means by which one person helps another through purposeful conversation and it is a process in which two people meet to explore personal problems and to identify solutions. So, counseling generally work towards helping individuals live a more satisfying and productive life which that is the counseling main goal. According to Persatuan Kaunseling Malaysia (PERKAMA) which based on Counselor Act 1998, counselling defined as a relational process that assists the systematic foundation of psychological counseling conducted by professional counselors for transforming positive, holistic and personal customer service changes and voluntarily lifelong commitment based on ethical counseling. Based on Counselor Act 1998 from Malaysia Board of Counselors, counseling is a systematic process for facilitating relationships based on the principles of psychology practiced by a registered counselor (with the Malaysian Board of Counselors) in accordance with the code of ethics of counseling in order to achieve change, progress and adaptation fully, voluntarily and voluntarily to clients for change, progress and adjustment it continues throughout the life of the client. In addition, Brammer (1993) stated that counseling is a process in which clients learn how to make decisions and formulate new ways of behaving, feeling, and thinking in which counselors focus on the goals their clients wish to achieve. Clients explore their present levels of

functioning and the changes that must be made to achieve personal objectives. Thus, counseling involves both choice and change, evolving through distinct stages such as exploration, goal setting, and action. Other than that, Rogers (1961) stated that counseling is a series of direct contacts with the individual which aims to offer him assistance in changing his attitudes and behavior. So, the school counselors’ duty to help and assist students in changing his attitudes and behavior to be better students with good behavior. Furthermore, Krumboltz (1965) mentioned that counseling is performed by a counsellor to help or assist a client to demonstrate a behavior that motivates towards problem solving. Bor et al (2002) defines counselling as an interaction in a therapeutic setting. Furthermore, it is described as a conversation about relationships’ in which clients can be helped to feel understood and better about themselves and their problem. In addition, it is not about finding solutions to the client’s problems but rather new solutions are generated. Lastly, the relationship between the counsellor and the client is a collaborative one rather than that of a superior and subordinate. In overall, counselling is a process between a client and a counselor through discussion and solve the client’s problem.

GUIDANCE AND COUNSELLING GOALS According to Dr Zainal Abidin Ahmad (2011), There are five counselling goals:a) Make behaviour change easier; b) Increase clients ability to start and continue relationships; c) Help clients effectiveness in coping with problems and issues;

d) Encourage the decision making process; and e) Help client’s development and potential achievement.

THE IMPORTANCE OF COUNSELLING Salim (1996) stated that the purpose of having guidance and counselling services in schools is to help students understand themselves and the world around them and it is the process of helping students to exploit their abilities and talents. This is based on the premise that the responsibility of identify their potential lies within the individual themselves are unlikely due to individuals in our schools who are unable to recognize their potentials. So, the guidance and counselling services aim to help and not to direct the individuals or make decisions for them which it is their main goal towards students. Every day, most students make decisions that affect themselves and others in society. Students who fail to make the right decisions and are unable to adapt accordingly are more likely to face problems. For instance, a student who chooses to spend his time playing video games rather than practise solving assigned mathematics problems is more likely to find it difficult to cope with the subject. School counselling services in primary, secondary and tertiary level institutions aim to help individuals make choices and adapt to the environment. The following are the reasons for having a comprehensive counselling programme in schools.

(a)

Holistic Development of Students

Most education systems pursue to develop students universally. The Malaysian education philosophy attempts to build a well-balanced individual with their intellectually, physically, emotional and spiritually. However, in reality excellence in academic performance is given top priority. Overemphasis on examinations has led to the neglect of other areas of the student’s performance such as sports, leadership, social skills, music, creative writing, and performing arts. These areas, if properly developed, will lead to the development of a well-balanced individual. (b)

Making Decisions

Many aspects of a student’s life in school have been predetermined and presented in a moralistic manner. There is little that is left requiring students to make decisions on their own. So, their decision-making skills are seldom developed and when faced with issues relating to behaviour, emotions and thoughts, students are ill-equipped to make the right decision. For example, some students would rather spend their time at the shopping mall during school hours than to be in school. Thus, counselling programmes in schools can play an important role in helping students make good decisions. (c)

Motivating Students

Motivating students to learn and take an interest in school activities is a difficult task. Not all students are motivated to learn or are interested in school activities. The problem of motivating students becomes even more critical when dealing with academically weak students. Low academic performance leads to low motivation and low motivation leads to

low academic performance. So, task to enhancing student motivation may perhaps prevent other types of inappropriate behaviours by the school counsellors. (d)

Career Choice

The original aim of most counselling programmes in schools was to help students with their career choice. Kinds of jobs and careers have become more diverse due to the difficulties at the workplace. Many jobs which are available today did not exist a decade ago. Similarly, students today have to be prepared for jobs that have not been created. Counsellors have to be well-informed as to what is currently available and what will be available in the next decade and to match job types with talents and abilities of students. More difficult career guidance methods have to be developed to provide information that is useful in helping students make their career choices. Students have to be oriented towards believing that there are other equally exciting jobs other than being a doctor, lawyer, engineer or accountant.

APPROACHES IN SCHOOL COUNSELLING Counsellors are also needed in schools. The tasks of school counsellors are they need to deal with complex problems or situations that may involve mental disorder. School counsellors are needed for the following approaches. They are academic counselling, career counselling and personal counselling. (a)

Counselling for Academic Success

One of the major roles of school counsellors is to help students achieve academic success. There are two major interventions that school counsellors can use to help students succeed academically. Firstly, school counsellors can intervene to help students create a school climate which promotes academic success such as conducting award programmes and recognizing student’s achievements. This is a popular practice in many Malaysian school. So, by develop the climate by school counsellors such as conducting award programmes and achievements by students will lead them to be motivated to succeed. Next, direct counselling interventions can be used with individual students or groups of students whose academic success remains a challenge which school counsellor’s initial intervention should be to determine the sources of the academic problems, helping students to establish their goals and selecting appropriate intervention strategies. (b)

Counselling for Career Development

The school counsellor’s role in the student’s career development is one of the foundations of the school counsellor’s job. In the past, counselling for career development focused solely on helping students discover what suitable jobs or careers that they wished to pursue and helping them decide which paths they may take to achieve their goals. Students explore for themselves as to how their interests relate to different jobs or careers. It is also important for students to be aware of what is available in the job market. This can be done through career talks by professionals from various occupations or taking field trips to a variety of workplaces.

To help students prepare for their careers, counsellors could maintain portfolios at the beginning of early secondary school. A portfolio is a collection of activities which students have completed during their time in secondary school such as grades and test scores, courses attended, hobbies, future plans and others. (c) Counselling for Personal and Social Development In an ideal world, we would be able to protect children from life events that cause them stress and pain. The reality is that students’ lives are affected by significant events that are usually expected. School counsellors may identify extreme changes in student behaviours or attitudes as a result of significant events or changes in their lives. Students frequently seek out school counsellors because of upsetting or stressful life events. School counsellors must help students address the thoughts, feelings and behaviours that result from the stressful events in their lives. With the increasing number of divorces, many students are experiencing changes in family situations. School counsellors may need to provide services for students who are facing the issue of a parent moving out, going to court, living in two places, parents remarrying or having step-parents or step-siblings. Most children hope that their parents will get back together. Emotions range from depression to anger to confusion because of the divorce. Sometimes, children feel responsible and express their emotions through destructive behaviours such as violence or fighting. Students sometimes believe that if their behaviours are extreme enough, their parents will focus on them rather than the divorce. Other significant experiences of griefs or loss that children and adolescents may encounter such as the death of a relative or a friend, moving to a new school, friends moving away or parental change as a result of job loss. Most students will experience some form of loss events and school counsellors should be prepared to help them work through the related issues. Other personal and social issues which the school counsellor may have to deal with are anger, jealousy, lack of motivation, friendship issues, gang involvement, relationship issues, self-concept, drug use and abuse and peer pressure, to name a few.

ISSUES FACED BY SCHOOL CHILDREN As society becomes more complicated, the same goes for schools have which have become more complex with large student numbers. Student populations in many secondary schools range between 1,500 and 2,000 students. Imagine the different personalities and socioemotional backgrounds of students who are attending school each day. With the large student numbers, it is unlikely that the individual needs of each and every student are being attended to. The likelihood of students being alienated and ignored is very high. Other than that, the cases and issues that involve among students causing a worrisome among parents and teachers as well as school counsellors in Malaysia. The issues that are facing by school children are: -

(a)

Smoking and Drug Abuse Issues These include problems and concerns relating to personality, physical and emotional

development, interpersonal relationships and other related issues. This issue must be solved by not just the school counsellor, but also teachers and parents. Most students have this issue that related to their personal life. Smoking become a common in school cases. They do it due to peer pressure, eager to try and sometimes follow their parents’ attitude on smoking (Pek Lian, 2005). Continuous smoking can lead students to try something new, which it is drugs. The basic reason of the drug abuse that we have interpreted from the above survey is the easy access and availability of drug among the community. Lack of information about the drugs and over use of drug is a common factor to abuse drug among student. Gelder (2001) stated that peer pressure is the prime factor among the student as compares to non-student that increases the abuse of drug. Academic stress was identified as a very important factor in drug misuse which burnouts and struggle or stress to do homework is the turning point of them turning to chemical abuser. For instance, most urban schools in Malaysia especially Selangor and Kuala Lumpur have drugs cases

in schools stated by Ministry of Education (NST, 2017). Thus, the misuse of drugs among students can lead them to having mental illness such as depression.

(b)

Bullying Issues

Bullying is a common issue in school and difficult to be eliminated it. Bullying can be described as a way of treating people roughly with the intent of showing one’s strength. Indirectly, it makes the victim feel weak and respect the bullies. In other words, bullying is aggressive behavior, which can be either physical or psychological, performed repeatedly with a victim and aims to make them feel uncomfortable, insecure, and isolated from those around them. Overall, Khalim and Norshidah (2007), stated that bullying makes other people into victims and may cause illness and discomfort to others. Khalim (2014), categorized bullying into two types; direct and indirect. Direct bullying involves physical contact such as hitting, punching, kicking, threatening, slapping, pulling, pushing, or pinching to cause injuries to the victim. This is also known as physical bullying. The most violent forms of this bullying may cause death. For instance, a form two student suffered a brain haemorrhage after he was assaulted by three senior students at Sungai Petani, Kedah (Astro Awani, 2016). Meanwhile, indirect bullying with insults and teasing effects the victim in psychological and emotional ways. It is also known as a mental bully. For example, if the student’s name or the name of their father is quite unusual, then other students might tease them for it. While this type of bullying receives less attention from mass media, it is quite serious when fat shaming bully is become an attention in social media especially cyberbullying. Both categories of bullying are very dangerous because they can affect the emotional and social development of a student. The reasons that the bully done that kind of act because they too have personal problems such as being abused by his or her parents, parents’ quarreling, and getting beaten by them which in return they did this kind of act towards physically weaker students.

(c) Sexual crime Issues Sexual crime among students are one of the most serious issues in Malaysia among students. This crime happened due to the eagerness to try doing sexual intercourse among their peers as well as being influenced after watching pornography. In addition, Baumgartner (2009) stated that lack of parental control as well as alcohol used can be considered as reason of students did this act. Other than that, some students have been sexually abuse by peers or parents which lead them to deep depression. For instance, there was a case at Kuala Lumpur where a discipline teacher discovered a condom on a girl student’s bag at school in Taman Melawati. The worst of all, she was 13 years old at that time (Pek Lian, 2018). Overall, these issues lead to student who become victim or perpetrator become mentally-ill person and has psychological problems in their life. Mental health issues and psychological problems among students nowadays has become a norm and common cases in Malaysian schools.

TYPES OF COUNSELLING PERSON – CENTRED COUNSELLING The Person-Centred Approach developed from the work of the psychologist Dr. Carl Rogers (1902 – 1987). He advanced an approach to psychotherapy and counselling that, at the time (1940s – 1960s), was considered extremely radical if not revolutionary. (Dr Zainal Abidin Ahmad., 2011)

Originally described as non-directive, this therapy moved away from the idea that the therapist was the expert and towards a theory that trusted the innate tendency (known as the actualising tendency) of human beings to find fulfilment of their personal potentials. An important part of this theory is that in a particular psychological environment, the fulfilment of personal potentials includes sociability, the need to be with other human beings and a desire to know and be known by other people.

Although initially developed as an approach to psychotherapy (eventually becoming known as client/person-centred therapy/counselling), Rogers and his colleagues came to believe that their ideas could be transferred to other areas where people were in relationships. For example, teaching, management, childcare, patient care, conflict resolution.

Today there are many people who, although not working as psychotherapists and counsellors, use the work of Rogers as guiding principles in their day-to-day work and relationships. At one level, Rogers' theory and work is very simple to describe. As many people would attest,

both those using the approach and those working as person-therapists/counsellors, it can be very difficult to put into practice because the approach does not use techniques but relies on the personal qualities of the therapist/person to build a non-judgemental and empathic relationship.

MAIN CONCEPT There are several main concepts proposed by Rogers a) Phenomenology According to Rogers, “An individual perceives this world according to his unique view and these perceptions become his/her background of the phenomenology. An individual reacts to the environment as how he or she sees it, and this environment might not be similar with the definition of environment as used by other researchers.”

b) Concept of Knowing There are three ways of knowing: 

Subjective;



Objective; and



Interpersonal.

c) Structure of Personality There are two main important construct that we must know in order to comprehend the Rogers personality theory. They are: Organism and Self.

d) Process of Personality Growth Rogers focuses on the view towards personality which emphasises from perfection to changes. Human is forward moving, thus he or she has the perfection pattern. Unlike Freud, who assumes that the personality is constant, the energy can be channelled. There is no drive in human but it is more to the tendency towards the self-perfection.

e) Subception Process An individual could experience a stimulus by not bringing it to the awareness. For example, a person could recognise certain experiences as threatening, conflicting with the self-concept, and does not imagine the experience so that it will be aware.

f) Personality Growth Rogers did not study the individual growth from infant to adult _ specifically. He believes in the general personality development for all individuals. Children‟s growth depends on the support from the parents and environment.

g) Psychological Disorder A healthy person is able to accept a variety of experiences which forms an entire (gestalt). There will be congruence here between the experience and self, where the individual will be open to experiences and will not be defensive.

GROUP COUNSELLING

WHAT IS GROUP COUNSELLING? A groups is defined as two or more people interacting together to achieve a goal for their mutual or common benefit. Everyone typically spends some time in group activities each day. For example, students interact with each other in the classroom and outside the classroom; teachers interact with other teachers in the staff room. Given this situation, it is only natural for counsellors to make use of group counselling. Groups are an economical and effective means of helping individuals who share similar problems and concerns. Counsellors, who limit their counselling activities to individual counselling, limit their options for helping people. (Dr Zainal Abidin Ahmad., 2011)

TYPES OF GROUP Groups come in many forms. There seems to be a group for anyone who seeks counselling, personal growth and support. There are many ways of categorising the many different groups. The Association of Specialist Group Work (1992) developed the following classification (see Figure 2).

Guidance/Psychoeducational Groups

Interpersonal Problem - Solving Groups

Self- Help or Support Gorups

TYPES OF GROUP

Persobality Reconstruction Groups

T-Groups Task/Work Groups

Figure 2

STAGES IN GROUP COUNSELLING There is debate as to how many stages there are in group counselling. Tuckman (1965) was one of the first theorists to design a stage process for group counselling. He suggested that there are four stages of group development which he termed as: forming, storming, norming and performing. Later additions to the process by Waldo (1985) and modifications by Gladdings (2000) proposed the following four stages of the group counselling process: forming, norming, performing and termination. (Dr Zainal Abidin Ahmad., 2011)

FORMING

NORMING

PERFORMING

Figure 3

TERMINATION

THE ROLE OF SCHOOL COUNSELLORS School counsellors’ main role is to make a fulfilling career from easing students with through the often rowdy school years and by the help of the school counsellors, the students can pass through their problems with ease and confidence. Academic, personal, parental and social pressures are the problems that the students have to deal with it and they need guidance and support. According to Kabir (2017), he stated the counsellors act as advocates for students’ wellbeing, and as valuable resources for their educational advancement. As a school counselor, you’ll first and foremost listen to students’ concerns. Because everyone’s home and social life is different, you could be the only person who fulfills that need for them at a given time. They may help students with issues such as bullying, disabilities, low self-esteem, poor academic performance and relationship troubles. Students can refer them to a psychologist or mental health counselor for further treatment if necessary. In addition, Gladding (2004) stated that counsellors also will evaluate students’ abilities, interests and personalities to help them develop realistic academic and career goals.

According to Mc-Leod (2013), school counselors’ roles are :

Listen to students’ concerns about academic, emotional or social problems



Help students process their problems and plan goals and action



Mediate conflict between students and teachers



Improve parent/teacher relationships



Assist with college applications, jobs and scholarships



Facilitate drug and alcohol prevention programs



Organize peer counseling programs



Refer students to psychologists and other mental health resources



Work on academic boards to improve learning conditions

CONCLUSION

In Malaysia, guidance and counselling services are recognized as an integral part of the total educational program and as effective way to maximize student success and student behaviour. The continuous improvement and revision of school guidance and counselling services are needed to ensure the quality professional services are maintained. School counselling services in Malaysian schools have gone through many stages and milestones, but there are still many challenges to be faced. School counsellors must be accepted as essential partners in the challenge to improve educational opportunities of students in their future careers. Continued support and collaboration from all parties particularly by the Malaysian government is crucial to improve the status and implementation of guidance and counselling services in school across Malaysia.

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