Innovative Approaches to Youth Information and Counselling

1. Innovative Approaches to Youth Information and Counselling Prof. em. dr. Willy Faché Department of Education and Psychology Ghent University - Belgium

2. Focus This presentation focuses on the innovative services set up for the specific purpose of giving social support to young people by means of information and counselling. Willy Faché

3. Content • Early years • Three types of comprehensive youth information and counselling centres - arguments for and against • Working principles • Three organisational concepts • Preventive actions and advocacy function • Outreaching • Staffing • Evaluation • Policy of authorities Willy Faché

4. Early years • These innovative services originated in USA, Canada and Europe in the sixties. • All these services developed atypical, non-traditional or experimental methods of dealing with youth questions and problems. • They develop as an alternative or competing form explicitly or implicitly criticising established services, who are to bureaucratic or who are to much psychological or therapeutic oriented or who do not see young people’s needs. Some of the centres focus on drug related problems. Willy Faché

5. Mutual influences Free clinic (San Francisco) ( 1967) Switchboard (San Francisco) (1967) Release Amsterdam (1970) JAC Amsterdam (Mc Gillavry, 1969) Info Jeugd Gent (W. Faché, 1966) Release London (1967) (C. Coon & R. Harris) Young people’s consultation centre (London) (Laufer, 1961) JACAntwerpen (J. Mertens 1972) JACEindhoven (1971) JACRotterdam (1970) JACLeuven (1972) Willy Faché

6. A comprehensive type of service most appropriate for young people • Will usually be necessary as a first resort or a last resort, somewhere to go when you do not know where to get information or help, somewhere to go when other sources fail. • Problems are not always so specific that you need a specialised service. • Youngsters may be unable to formulate their distress in terms of a specific problem. Willy Faché

7. Three types of comprehensive youth information and counselling centres • Integrated youth information and counselling services • Youth information services • Youth counselling services What are the arguments for and against each of the alternatives? Willy Faché

8. 1. Integrated youth information and counselling services + Requests for information may, unforeseen lead to a counselling conversation . + One limits the number of situations in which youngsters have to be referred to another organisation. The realisation of an integration demands a number of conditions: • Knowledge base of frontline workers • Large number of workers and their expertise Arguments Willy Faché

9. 2. Youth information services + Possibility of helping a large amount of young people with a relatively limited staff. - Young people who need counselling have to be referred to a counselling centre. Arguments Willy Faché

10. 3. Youth counselling services + The counselling is hindered when large numbers of youngsters with requests for information visit the centre at the same time. - Can keep young people away from requesting assistance, because they are afraid of being stigmatized as problem cases when entering a Youth Counselling Service. Arguments Willy Faché

11. Working principles • Any young person may walk in with any problem • Immediate help at the moment client asks for it • Client-centred approach • Self determination - the right of client autonomy • Confidentiality - anonymous help • Charging no fees • Independence Willy Faché

12. 1. Any young person may walk in with any problem Client does not need to make a self-diagnosis before calling upon a service. A precise definition of intake criteria has the following negative effects on the client: • Agencies focusing on specific problems mostly label their clients • “Where to go with which problems" constitutes a problem in itself Problem for centres: • Attract clients who often cannot find help at any established agency • Are faced with a wide variety of persons and problems Working principles Willy Faché

13. 2. Immediate help at the moment the client asks for it Concept of crisis intervention (Lindeman & Caplan) Working principles Willy Faché

14. 3. Client-centred approach Instead of fitting the client's question within the method of the service, the counsellor takes his cue from the need of the client, and together with the client tries to find a solution for the client's problem in creative and innovative way. The client is the real principle, even when minor clients are concerned. Clients often do not raise confidential problems during the first contact. Working principles Willy Faché

15. Working principles (2) • Self determination - the right of client autonomy • Confidentiality - anonymous help • Charging no fees • Independence Working principles Willy Faché

16. Three organisational concepts Willy Faché

17. 1. A team of front-line workers operates in a rotation system for the intake of any client with any problem Intaker Organisation Client Willy Faché

18. 2. A consultant is used by the intaker in order to help him with some aspects of a case Intaker Consultant inside The YICC Consultant outside The YICC Organisation Client Willy Faché

19. 3. When the intaker feels unable to provide appropriate assistance, then he can refer client to an experienced colleague inside or outside the agency. Intaker Inside referral Outside referral Organisation Client Willy Faché

20. The worker tries to sustain an open relation with the client he refers to a specialist by telling the client that he may always return "if it does not work". In certain centres, referral of clients occurs so frequently that they operate rather as switchboard in the network of helping services. Other services invite specialised professionals (such as a lawyer, a physician, a career counsellor) to come once a week, on a fixed day and time, and help young people with specific problems. Willy Faché

21. Preventive actions • “Do-it-yourself” material in the form of leaflets on contraceptives, unemployment benefits, drugs etc. • Other centres have combined information by means of leaflets with radio broadcasts. Willy Faché

22. Advocacy function Problems of clients are frequently rooted in society. Helping young people only successful if society changes. Centres greatly differ in their vision of their role in relation to society inducing problems: • Assistance to young people and social action are integrated • Assistance to young people and social action run parallel • Drawing attention to societal problems as a parallel task of workers • Only assistance to young people Willy Faché

23. Outreaching Youth workers in youth clubs, teachers are able to use the staff at youth information and counselling services as consultants. Willy Faché

24. Staffing • Centres range from those with a small group of volunteers providing a service on one or two evenings a week. • More substantial agencies staffed either by paid full-time and part-time workers. • By larger teams of agency-trained volunteers co-ordinated by paid workers. In agencies focusing on counselling, there is a predominance of social workers, psychologists and educators. Some centres use young people as peer-group counsellors backed up by professional counsellors. Willy Faché

25. Evaluation • Contribution to denunciation of specific types of problems and societal causes of particular problems that have been ignored by traditional helping agencies. • They have introduced numerous innovations in the field of counselling and informing methods. • Many of these innovations were later adapted by the established services as well. Willy Faché

26. Innovations (1/2) • Immediateassistance when it is requested, whereas it was normal to make appointments for a specific day and time. • Anonymous assistance instead of traditional questions about name, address and age that were the first statements in a counselling session. • The client is the one who defines the task of the worker, whereas it was normal that parents of minor did so. • Assistance free of charge. Willy Faché

27. Innovations (2/2) • Attention paid to societal causes of particular problems instead of looking for individual inadequacies and adapting the client to societal demands. • Continuing responsibility of worker in case of referral of client instead of being content to simply refer client elsewhere. • Treating client as a competent person in relation to his own life situation instead of being patronising. • Not using too specific intake criteria. • Systematic attention paid to preventive strategies. Willy Faché

28. Policy of authorities How can they effectively support these new forms of servicing through policy measures so that the latter could offer qualitative assistance and continue to be sources of innovation? Willy Faché