Lending Counselling Weight

Bhutan board for certified counsellors launched, giving a fillip to the profession

Conference: Her Majesty Gyalyum Ashi Sangay Choden Wangchuck launched the Bhutan Board for Certified Counselling (BBCC) service yesterday, which aims to develop the counselling profession to help address increasing mental health issues in the country.

The board would also provide opportunity to validate and orient the counsellors and para-professionals in the country.

“With development we’ve witnessed increasing number of domestic violence, sexual abuse, and rape, drug and substance abuse,” Her Majesty said. “Migration from villages to urban centres also adds to the challenge.”

Her Majesty also said that suicide rates, depression, absenteeism, conflict, economic struggles, crime, hospitalisation and substance abuse were some of the common external signs, where there is a need of counselling help.

The launch, which coincided with the second bi-annual Bhutan national counselling conference, highlighted the requirement of professional and certified counsellors to help the increasing number of people suffering from mental illness, mostly cause due to stress.

President and CEO of the national board for certified counsellors (NBCC) of counselling and globalisation, Thomas Clawson, said that Bhutan is growing faster than many countries in the world, and that growth has both joy and danger.

“With increasing migration and development, families are breaking up family bond, which is the main strength of Bhutanese,” he said. “In most cases, both the parents are office goers, and most children are working or staying away from family and tend to undergo varied stresses.”

Clawson said that, around the world, mental health is not seen as important as physical health, and contributes to a lack of affordable, quality mental health services.  This means that more than 450M people globally live with unmet mental health care needs, as per world health organisation report.

Counselling as a profession started in 1996 through a royal decree to establish a systematic program to address pressing youth issues.

Soon after the education ministry introduced the youth guidance and counselling program, the royal civil service commission introduced a career counselling program.  Counselling extended to mental health issues, with the establishment of (Respect, educate, nurture and empower women) RENEW in 2004.

In 2011, 12 teachers were selected as teacher counsellors and, by the next year, 32 counsellors were posted in high schools and institutes.  All 32 teacher-counsellors are attending the two-day conference.

Tashi Wangchuk, 32, counsellor at Bajo high school, Wangdue, said that, as a school counsellor for three years, he had witnessed change in the behaviour of his students.

“Although some students attend counselling classes voluntarily, some don’t, fearing stigma,” Tashi Wanghuck said. “The counselling practices are moving forward, but the stigma still continues.”

         Lending counselling weight