Counselling service not meeting demand

Press, 6 December 1989, Page 4

Counselling service not meeting demand

By

SUZANNE KEEN

Vocational guidance counselling services in Christchurch are not meeting public demand, says the president of the Vocational Guidance Association, Mr Des Hendren.

People were continually telephoning the association seeking counselling, he said.

They were referred to the New Zealand Employment Service, but sometimes had to wait up to three weeks for an appointment with a counsellor and then, found their time was "severely restricted.”

Mr Hendren said having to wait several weeks to see a counsellor was often inconvenient, especially when people had to make quick decisions about whether to apply for a job or training. The Employment Service in Christchurch has three full-time and one parttime trained guidance counsellors in Christchurch. Two further counsellors are employed by Access and the Careers Education Service also offers some vocational guidance assistance. Before restructuring of the Labour Department there was a special team of 10 full-time counsellors who dealt with about 7000 people a year. Mr Hendren said he hoped special Vocational Guidance and Careers Ad-

visory Agencies proposed by the Ministry of Education would offer assistance to job seekers of all ages and therefore ease the situation in Christchurch. The general manager of the Ministry’s interim post compulsory education and training group, Mr Euan Dempsey, said the agencies were to open during the middle of next year. There would be an office in Christchurch, although it is not yet known how many counsellors would be employed. Mr Dempsey said it was intended that counselling be offered to the wider community as well as secondary and tertiary students. However, details of how this would occur had not yet been finalised. The agencies would have a national data base providing vocational and careers information for the public. The operations manager of the Employment Service in Christchurch, Ms Margaret Griffin, said its vocational guidance counsellors were “fairly busy,” but she was unsure how long their client waiting lists were. “We are hopefully providing the best possible services with the resources we have available.” Appointments usually lasted about one hour and she understood second interviews could be arranged if the counsellor believed they were necessary.