Counsellors are highly-trained professionals assisting students to live more joyful, productive lives. No one would seriously doubt that life is challenging and, at times,—we need only to look around. A counsellor in an educational institution is known as a helping hand to achieve excellence, working together with a team of professionals in perfect harmony. HKBK Pre-University College, Nagawara has one such well functioning unit of counsellors, who devote quality time with students to listen, understand and empathize with them.
“College is a very unique time in a person’s life. Some students are very young and away from home for the first time. Other students may be going back to school with the responsibility of a family to start a new career. Inevitably, some students will face life challenges such as stress, academic difficulties, relationship issues, etc., that if dealt with appropriately, can facilitate emotional growth & maturity.
Counselling is a two way communication process. One of the challenges our counsellors face is the stigma that students have towards approaching counsellors with their issues, in several cases they are just encouraged to talk. Our counsellors strongly believe, while maintaining anonymity, a counselee who voluntarily approaches the counsellor will make better progress. Further, our counsellors go the extra mile by organizing several group counselling sessions to help students break pre-conceived notions about speaking their mind to the counsellors. Furthermore, our counsellors arrange life-skill training and workshops for students on different topics such as academic achievement, anxiety, stress, substance abuse, anger management, communication skills etc. These sessions’ help students understand that it is alright to talk about their issues and seek help from counsellors. Our counsellors follow absolute ethical processes in counselling sessions. They are skilled to use authorized psychometric tests for assessment and analysis of different dimensions of their overall development and persona. Parents of students are encouraged to meet the counsellors for any child related issues and to discuss about effective parenting styles.
Counsellors work closely with the teaching professionals. Teachers have an enormous responsibility to be sensitive and observe students and their behavioural changes over the academic years.
“It is necessary for the faculty to be able to identify student problems since they are the first contact point. If the problems are addressed in the initial stages it will not have to be brought to us,”
– says Head of counselling department.
Hence, Academics say that a strong support system, be it a counselling cell or an understanding family, is key to prevent the bottling up of emotions.
We believe that every student deserves this crown of happiness and contentment he/she would receive through career counselling sessions, to help him/her make an informed decision about their career.
Every student is faced with this challenge of ‘what should I do next’ after class 12 and 10. Primarily, to understand the stream that they may be passionate about, and then, the course they want to graduate in. In most cases a 16 year old is faced with the choice of choosing among three streams - Humanities, Science and Commerce, (Although, there are several other professional courses that are on the rise) and regrettably, the only ‘career guidance’ he has is from his parents and teachers based on his marks and the comments of his friends and neighbours. Any person considering a serious career would say that this is not sufficient for a person to base the foundation of his entire career.
This is something that we at HKBK Pre-University understand and empathizes with. We believe that it is profoundly important for students passing out of school /college from the 10th and 12th to go through professional career counselling to help them make a choice they would have to live with for the rest of their life.
Approaching a career counsellor is essential when you are not sure about choosing a suitable career option. Selecting a career option determines your course of life. While a good decision at the right point of time can make your life pleasant, a wrong one can ruin it. Remember that these decisions are irreversible. In case of dilemma, it is also better to take professional help. Career counselling is probably the best option in this case. Benefits of career counselling is as follows-