Papua New Guinea

IAC Member Associations & Organizations

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Additional Counselling Associations & Organizations

Papua New Guinea Counsellor’s Association (PNGCA) 

IAC Education Institute Members

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Additional Education Institutes

The University of Goroka

• Programme type: Diploma in Guidance and Counselling Studies (DEGC)

IAC Member Centres/Group Practices

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Additional Centres/Group Practices

There are no counselling agencies that could be found in Papua New Guinea.

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).

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. 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.

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

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.

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. 
• 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.