COUNSELLORS REDEFINE “THE ELEPHANT”

The fable about seven blind men and the elephant is well known. In the fable, each of the blind men approaches the elephant and depending on whether he touches the trunk, the tail, the sides or the legs, he gives a totally different description of how an elephant looks. This same type of narrow description also occurs among some Manitoba school counsellors who have not yet embraced a comprehensive guidance and counselling program for all students. Even the best-intentioned school counsellors may see their roles as imperfectly and incompletely as the blind men saw the elephant in the familiar fable.

The first blind counsellor sees her role as helping a few students with more serious problems. All her energies go into helping those with the greatest concerns and she works with them throughout the year. She analyzes and diagnoses the children for attention deficit disorder, eating disorders and depression. She even sees parents with problems; after all, she took a weekend workshop on family reconstruction. She loves the labels that are provided in DSM-IV. In addition, she works with substance abuse children and low self-esteem students. Tara Pea loves doing therapy and is well liked and respected by the few students she works with intensively.

The second blind counsellor is Prince E. Pull. He loves to administer and organize things. He helps the administrators with the timetable at the end of August and is very active with all the school committees; be it the curriculum committee, the athletics committee, the lunch committee, the parents committee, the social committee, the orientation committee or the community liaison committee. The administrators are very appreciative of the fact that Prince E. Pull has also taken it upon himself to assume responsibility for the discipline of students. He also organizes the buses for field trips. Prince E. Pull is very well liked by the administrators.

Reese Orz looks upon her role as that of a resource person. He maintains good connections with numerous agencies and organizations, such as Child and Family Services, the Winnipeg Police Department, Addictions Foundations of Manitoba, Autism Society, Bib Brothers Association, Cerebral Palsy Association, Children’s Home of Winnipeg, Elizabeth Fry Society, Knowles Centre, Manitoba Adolescent Treatment Centre, Pregnancy Distress Service, Sexual Assault Crisis Program and the United Way (to name a few) Reese is frequently out of the school maintaining contacts but he is dependable with follow-up and returning calls. Staff and parents like Reese Orz.

Both Ralph Nader and his less-known brother, Cord, are known for their coordinating skills. Every year Cord Nader prepares detailed reports for the administrators, the divisional Student Services Supervisor and the Superintendent. Cord arranges for any new programs to be tried in his school and actively promotes “The Real Game”, “Bridges”, and “Blueprint for Life/Work Designs”. He coordinates all the testing done in the school and he coordinates the annual career fair in school. He is a good friend with Prince E. Pull who helps him with his coordinating efforts. The superintendent and School Board members are very pleased with the annual reports that he sends them.

The fifth blind counsellor really sees herself as a teacher/counsellor. She, like the Manitoba Teachers’ Society (MTS), believes that since she took her eight month teacher training in 1973, she can do it all, from educational play with kindergarten children to Senior IV chemistry in high school. Once you’ve got that teaching certificate, you can do it all, including counselling and special education. This blind counsellor even likes the students to call her MTS. No one knows whether this represents her strong affiliation with the Manitoba Teachers’ Society or whether it has to do with her inflated self-concept where she sees herself as a Multi-Talented Superperson (MTS for short). So MTS tries to do it all: be a substitute teacher, be a counsellor, teach career units to all classes, teach alcohol education, teach safety courses and AIDS education, prepare conflict resolution exercises, teach suicide prevention, organize case meetings and lead groups for a variety of special needs students. Presently, MTS is seeing a counsellor about her “Burnout” problems.

The sixth blind counsellor visualizes his role as an educational planner. He has visited private schools, such as Balmoral Hall and St. John’s Ravenscourt on numerous occasions and is very impressed with the educational guidance given at these schools. So, Ed Planner spends the majority of his time helping students plan their programs and select suitable courses to meet entrance requirements for university programs. He has the best collection of university and college calendars of anyone in Manitoba. He insists on seeing any student who is considering changing a course, because he knows what best meets each student’s needs. Ed Planner is well respected by most students and their parents.

The last blind counsellor sees his role as a buddy. Last year he spent $257.73 of his own money keeping a bowl of candy filled on his desk. Students are lined up to see Buddy. He attends most of the student functions in school and is always in the hall between classes, smiling and chatting with students. He visits students in the lunchroom almost daily. Teachers frequently drop into his office for candy and a cup of coffee. Everyone likes Buddy.

Unfortunately, the school division that these seven counsellors work in has no comprehensive guidance and counselling program. Even though each counsellor believes she or he is fulfilling an effective counsellor role, they are frustrated because of the student needs that get neglected in these schools. School administrators have a vague feeling that the counsellors could do more but they can not identify just what adjustments need to be made. They like and respect most of the counsellors, but the School Division is looking for a place to make cuts. Since they would not be cutting a well-defined program, cutting guidance and counselling seems a likely choice.

Could this fable have a happy ending? Prince E. Pull and Ed Planner decide to do something. They drop in on Buddy for their daily whine and they begin to discuss the possibility of a comprehensive counselling program. They decide to see whether Reese Orz can get more information about the comprehensive programs in Ontario, New Brunswick, Alberta and British Columbia. Reese has copies of these programs, as well as the “Blueprint for Life/Work Designs.” They become quite excited about the possibility of getting teachers, parents, students, administrators and the community involved in a comprehensive guidance and counselling program.

They gather on the weekend at Buddy’s for a work session. Buddy has the barbecue going and a buffet table loaded with food. Prince E. Pull leads them through an action plan for implementation. Tara Pea talks with them about risk-taking and making changes. Their new comprehensive program will require each counsellor to add new skills and activities to ensure that the program is developmental and comprehensive, and that the new activities effectively meet student needs. Building on the guidelines from already established comprehensive guidance programs, these counsellors agree to use their skills to help each other develop the services to address the unmet needs of each school. MTS and Cord agree to work on a presentation to the Superintendent and the School Board members.

They feel confident, now that they can all see how their skills and interests fit into a comprehensive plan to meet student needs as well as the organizational needs of the school and school division. Their renewed confidence bolsters their enthusiasm as they present their comprehensive plan to the Superintendent and School Board. Every counsellor shows up that night, even Tara who has never before shown interest in public relations and politics.

This year’s budget cut won’t be in the guidance and counselling department.
 

Note:
 Some aspects of this article are based on Lorrie Burhans’ article in Professional School Counseling (3:1 October 1999)