The Ecuadorian people contain a rich mixture of ethnic identities and have a long and complicated legacy resulting from their indigenous and colonial past. Early in the 1800’s Ecuador won independence from Spain and then underwent rapid changes in the 20th century – moving from being a traditional farming country to having booming industry following the discovery of oil. More recently, Ecuador has been severely impacted by natural disasters, including coastal earthquakes in 2010 and 2016, with thousands losing their lives.
Counselling as a profession is not widely recognised or utilised. However, school counselling is structured and supported. According to the World Health Organization (WHO, 2011) an officially approved mental health policy does not exist, but, mental health is given specific mention in the Ecuadorian general health policy in the form of a plan including the movement of services from mental hospitals to community mental health facilities and the integration, into primary care services, of mental health services.
Traditional healing practices play a strong role in the mental health of the population. According to Smith and Valarezo (2013), a significant segment of the population, especially in rural areas, seek out and have strong faith in the healing services of the curandero. The curandero or shaman is a folk healer found in many Latin American countries and is sought out to treat physical and spiritual problems. Smith and Valarezo (2013) further describes the folk healing practice as being passed down through the generations by word of mouth.
In 2014 the Ministry of Education in Ecuador embarked on a project to enhance student wellbeing. According to UNICEF (2017), the Ministry of Education partnered with UNICEF to reach 1.2 million students by training 2,900 student counsellors on a number of themes relating to social issues. These included prevention of violence, drug abuse, diversity issues, gender, sexuality, and prevention of teenage pregnancy. This outreach was led by the Department of Student Counselling (DECE). The counsellors received six days of training during a two-to-three month process and covered between 450 to 900 students.
Guidance counselling within the school system is also in use in Ecuador. Smith and Valarezo (2013) point out that the exact number of guidance counsellors cannot be known as there can be multiple overlapping roles for those posts including teachers, social workers, and psychologists. Smith and Valarezo (2013) also report that the Regulations of Vocational Guidance Education and the Welfare of Students (Falta de orientadores limita la atención a problemas juveniles, 2011) estimated the guidance counsellor-to-student ratio in Ecuadorian public schools to be as high as 1 guidance counsellor for every 1,500 students.