Probation officers trained in new counselling techniques

The Ministry of Social Protection, through its Probation and Social Services Department, is facilitating sessions for probation officers to improve their ability to offer counselling. The training is being held under the theme “Enhancing Our Counselling Skills for Effective Service Delivery”.
Facilitator of the workshop, Dr. Joy Wilson, noted that the sessions offered capacity-building training focusing on the area of counselling, with extensive focus on personal and professional competencies. She explained it was important for social workers to know themselves before engaging a client.
“When we go to work, we don’t leave ourselves at home. The importance of having good mental health, emotional and other wellbeing is critical to your success. The most important asset is you,” she noted.
The ministry, in a release on Sunday, explained that probation officers were expected to be trained in batches to facilitate the training of every Probation and Social Service officer employed within the Ministry of Social Protection. The areas covered were theory and practice of counselling, ethical and legal issues, group counselling, record keeping, and leadership.
Senior Probation and Social Services Officer, the organizer of the training, Ms. Trenetta Elliot, was quoted as saying that Probation and Social Services officers are not only court officers, but serve other functions, such as providing psychosocial support.
She added that the workshop targeted providing officers “with the tools to better enable service provision to the public in the execution of their duties”.
She further explained that the ministry aims to continue to expose its officers to best practices and modern trends. It was pointed out that, apart from the most recent batch of trainees, further training sessions are scheduled for April 3-5, 2018, with the final training seminar scheduled for April 10-12, 2018. There are Probation Officers in every region across Guyana.