Summary
Counselling Associations
All Professional Bodies, National Associations (e.g. Mental Health, School, Guidance, Addiction, Faith-based etc.) and Accrediting Organisations.
PNG Counselling and Care
- Website: https://tinyurl.com/c4tnukvw
- Organisation Size: N/A
Mental Health Awareness for the people of Papua New Guinea
- Website: http://www.mhaforthepeopleofpng.org
- Organisation Size: N/A
Universities and Other Education and Training Institutes
The University of Goroka
- University Website: http://unigoroka.ac.pg/index.html
- Programme Website: https://sites.google.com/a/uog.ac.pg/official/schools/programs-in-school-of-educatio/diploma-in-guidance-counseling-studies
- Programme type: Diploma in Guidance and Counselling Studies (DEGC)
Counselling Agencies, Services, Group Practices, Counselling Centres
There are no counselling agencies that could be found in Papua New Guinea.
Background & Context
There is very little information available in regards to the history of counselling in Papua New Guinea, but school guidance and counselling services have been available since the 1970s (Kravia, & Pagliano, 2015). Although guidance and counselling services in schools have been available for quite some time, there are limited guidance officers to look after a large number of secondary schools (Kravia, & Pagliano, 2015). With a limited number of Guidance officers, they are only capable of providing career guidance to 12th grade students (Kravia, & Pagliano, 2015). In addition, guidance and counselling services are either not present or are provided by teachers who have basic-level training in counselling services (Kravia, & Pagliano, 2015).
Current Regulatory Status / Level of Recognition:
The status of the counselling profession in Papua New Guinea (PNG) is not clear. However, there are counselling services provided by private counselling centers such as the PNG counselling and Care (https://care.org/our-work/where-we-work/papua-new-guinea/). It is unclear if there are any established regulatory bodies for counselling services in PNG. Although there are guidance counsellors in secondary schools in PNG, there are a very limited number of them with unclear training and credentials.
Practice Settings
It is unknown how many counsellors are currently practicing in Papua New Guinea . However, the existing counsellors practice in settings including:
- Private practices
- Hospitals
- Schools
Challenges & Trends
Papua New Guinea is a culturally diverse country with over 800 languages spoken in a large rural population (Kravia, & Pagliano, 2015). It is a challenge when implementing theories and techniques used in counselling or psychology because of the diverse culture and the different languages spoken within the country. There is also the lack of available building space for proper health care to take place (Kravia, & Pagliano, 2015). The low numbers of guidance counsellors in the secondary schools also presents challenges with providing adequate care to all the students.
Additional Information & References
For a deeper exploration of the counselling profession in the country, interested readers are recommended to read the following journal & website articles:
- Kravia, K., & Pagliano, P. (2015). Using a transformation paradigm research approach to investigate guidance and counselling service in Papua New Guinea schools. eTropic, 14(1), 98-110. https://journals.jcu.edu.au/etropic/article/view/3372/3312
- Roberts G.J. (2017). The history of mental health in Papua New Guinea. In: H. Minas, & M.
- Lewis (Eds.), Mental Health in Asia and the Pacific. International and Cultural Psychology. Springer. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4899-7999-5_15
Papua New Giunea