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Dr. Catherine Gachutha, Director at Kenya Institute of Business & Counselling Studies, highlights the crucial role of school counseling, particularly in the wake of recent fire tragedies affecting schools. She emphasizes that school counselors are essential in supporting students’ learning and development, focusing on social-emotional learning, skill development, and emotional reflection.
“Counselors play a pivotal role in helping students understand and address rising trends and incidents in schools,” Dr. Gachutha explains. “Unaddressed, these issues can profoundly impact students’ learning outcomes and emotional development, influencing their worldviews and their pursuit of safety, personal fulfillment, and community.”
In the aftermath of traumatic events, counselors have a responsibility to help students make sense of the situation, offer consolation, and support their recovery. This process involves several key actions:
1. Comprehend
Counselors must first understand the traumatic events and manage their own feelings about them. This self-awareness enables them to better support their students. Dr. Gachutha stresses, “Phenomena such as violence and terrorism need to be understood before they can be resolved. Counselors must be aware of how these issues affect them personally and how they can respond. This self-knowledge aids in providing deeper insights into the students’ experiences.”
2. Collaborate
Effective counseling requires collaboration with parents, administrators, teachers, and community members. Through dialogue and reflection, counselors can devise the best strategies to address these challenges. “School counselors, teachers, and other professionals need to establish interactive communications to address emerging trends, especially in the digital age,” Dr. Gachutha notes. “This can be achieved through newsletters, PTO meetings, and other communication channels to guide parents on reinforcing their children’s learning at home.”
3. Counsel
Counselors must provide one-on-one and small group support when community events affect students’ emotional well-being. Whether dealing with large-scale events or more localized issues, students need emotional support to cope and heal. Dr. Gachutha observes, “The scars left by such events do not simply fade away. School counselors often face the challenge of providing answers where there are none and offering comfort that can seem inadequate in the face of such profound distress.”
Dr. Gachutha’s insights underscore the indispensable role of school counselors in navigating and mitigating the impact of traumatic events on students, highlighting the need for comprehensive support and collaboration within the educational community
