Assisting in the Development of Counselling Services in a Post-colonial Era: Experiences in Kiribati
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Assisting in the Development of Counselling Services in a Post-colonial Era: Experiences in Kiribati Susan B. Webb
Published online: 2 October 2007 # Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2007
Abstract This paper discusses the dilemmas for counselling and counselling training as these become established in less affluent nations. Westerners face difficulties in providing culturally appropriate training in countries still struggling with colonial dynamics but have a moral obligation to respond to requests for assistance. Tentative suggestions for providing safe and relevant input are made, using the author’s experiences in the Republic of Kiribati, one of the smallest Pacific nations, as an example. Keywords Kiribati . Counselling training . Post-colonial era Introduction As counselling acquires an international profile, new dilemmas are posed about how best to assist its development in countries where it has not previously been practised. In many cases these places suffer from a myriad of social and economic problems, where counselling can be but one intervention, amongst many, needed to bring about change. This paper describes the author’s beginning assistance in the development of counselling in Kiribati, a group of coral atolls in the Pacific Ocean, formerly known as the Gilbert Islands.1 In seeking to provide assistance with emotional, familial and social problems in ‘the two thirds world’2 (Nettleford 2004) through the application of its Western models, the Mainly ‘I-Matang’ (Western) writers have been accessed; like many others, I am reliant on the knowledge produced by Europeans for much of what is reported here, supplemented by personal contact and conversation with I-Kiribati. Regardless of source, information and opinions have been gathered in English, which may not have adequately conveyed an intended I-Kiribati meaning.
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2 This expression was used by Professor Nettleford in an address to the International Association for Counselling Conference, Jamaica, 2004, to denote the poorer nations of the world. The terms ‘third world’, ‘developing’ or ‘undeveloped’ all risk conveying unhelpful value judgements. In the interests of common usage, however, the terms ‘developed’ and ‘developing’ are used in the rest of this paper, having noted here the pitfalls involved.
S. B. Webb (*) School of Arts, Development and Health Education, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand e-mail: [email protected]
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Int J Adv Counselling (2007) 29:137–148
counselling profession needs to interrogate itself carefully about overall purpose, role, ethics, choices as to input, the impact of involvement, and the likely beneficiaries of its interventions. Counselling risks being an agent of social control and a perpetuator of the dynamics of cultural abuse, initiated under earlier colonial regimes. It must avoid contributing to negative influences, instead attempting to ameliorate these.
The Risks in Providing Assistance Counselling, as any other form of intervention, risks contributing to the wide-ranging damage,
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