Association calls for professional counselling

EAST New Britain (ENB) administration has been encouraged to see counselling as a profession.
The call was made recently following a 10-day basic counselling training facilitated by the PNG Counsellors’ Association (PNGCA) in Kokopo.
Main facilitator Onie Teio said PNGCA was established in 2016 with the intention of making counselling a profession.
She further advised that they are currently working towards getting recognised by the Department of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology.
“Counsellors can deal with trauma and family and sexual violence victims.
“We provide community-based training which is short term, as well as national certified training, and the more advanced diploma and degree courses in counselling, which are Tafe Queensland curriculum but has been contextualised to PNG,” she said.
On behalf of the 21 participants, who are mainly public servants from the community development division, Education and Health sectors, and non-governmental organisations, Christian Mangvue from the Catholic Church in ENB urged the provincial administration to take the call-up through a policy.
“May I suggest to the relevant division of community development and the ENB administration to come up with a policy paper that will enable the setup of a counsellors association in ENB,” said Mangvue.
He further urged his fellow participants to follow the life of Jesus Christ, a model of a great counsellor.
ENB deputy administrator for socio-economic services, Peter Peniat, said that in the past, they looked for people with church background, when recruiting counsellors.
“I thank the PNGCA for making East New Britain a pilot province and I believe that this workshop has equipped participants to better serve people who need counselling services,” he said.
He also encouraged the PNGCA to progress training for the participants in the province to the next level.
When acknowledging the facilitators from the PNGCA and the Canada Fund for financing this training programme, acting adviser for the division of community development, Peter Tutuai, assured that the provincial administration will do its part to ensure counselling becomes a profession, offering a better service to the most favourable people.