COUNSELLING PRACTICES FOR SPECIAL NEED POPULATIONS

Abstract

The paper discussed the need for change of approach for counselling services from the hitherto school setting, to a more generalized view of the whole fabric of the society thereby limiting its scope to special need populations who by the nature and peculiarity of situations demand a specialized approach in order to resolve their psycho-social and academic problems. The task of counselling as observed in this paper, therefore, is giving the individual the opportunity to define, explore, discover and adopt ways of living a more satisfying and resourceful life within the social, educational and vocational groupings within which he or she identifies or finds him/herself. The paper examined the counselling needs of a segment of die special population viz; the Youth, Drug Abused, Handicapped/physically challenged and retirees, and preferred certain strategies for counselling such groups. Recommendations were also given for meeting the challenges counselling faced in order to address the issues of the populations such as that. Such that the Counsellor based training Curriculum in our Universities and Colleges of Education should be broadened and enlarged, so that trainees would come to terms with the specific needs of counselling clients with special problem during practical attachments. The paper concluded by employing the Counselling Association of Nigeria (CASSON) to brace up and face the enormous challenges of Counselling the special need populations.