One area he addressed was the danger smartphones and social media pose for young people, advocating for a need to have a huge societal pushback in relation to this. Cecilia McGuiness works at Sligo Grammar SchoolĬlinical Psychologist David Coleman addressed the delegates on how they can help students but also on the need to ensure that they too were emotionally supported and how to care for themselves. Otherwise, this is going to be a huge societal issue going forward," she said. "We need to try to get students back on track and build resilience and self-confidence. "Basic communication skills like making eye contact with people and talking to people have been lost by some young people. Ms McGuinness said that in recent years, the move to online schooling has been very overwhelming for students and many have difficulties in relation to things like interacting with people, being in a big hall for exams and doing oral exams. There is usually just one guidance counsellor in each school, but the career guidance element of their work is now secondary to the counselling and pastoral element of the job, she said. Mr Crowley said it is very important now that guidance counsellors get support, tools and ideas to deal with the more severe problems they are facing with students.Īccording to Cecilia McGuinness, Chairperson of the Sligo/Longford conference organising committee, the challenges faced now by guidance counsellors are huge. Mr Crowley was speaking at the IGC annual conference at Atlantic Technological University (ATU) in Sligo where 300 counsellors gathered for their first in-person conference since 2020. He added that it is getting harder for guidance counsellors to deal with the scale of problems and the disruption caused. He said that post-covid, students have anxiety about being in school and relating to others, resistance to being told what to do, as well as the pressures of social media and body image. Tadhg Crowley, President of the Institute of Guidance Counsellors (IGC) said that more hours are needed in schools to deal with students' problems, but it is a constant battle to get sufficient time to deal with them individually. They say there has been an increase in anxiety among secondary school students since the pandemic and it is being seen by guidance counsellors working in schools around the country. Problems faced by teenagers today are now greater than before the Covid-19 pandemic, according to secondary school guidance counsellors from across the country.
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