-
The Effect Of Divorce On The Family: Implications For Counselling
CHAPTER ONE -- [Total Page(s) 6]
Page 2 of 6
-
-
-
The absence of pre-marital and marital counselling
may be the reason why Kumuyi (1990) reports that homes are breaking at
an alarming rate today. Unhappy marriages and marital break down in
Nigeria has serious implications for the society. Amongst most Nigeria a
community, a marriage is not an individual affair. It involves the
entire family and even the village or community (Bulus, 1986). Marital
breakdown therefore affects the health of the society. If the family
therefore is an index of measuring the success or failure of the
society, it means that marital failure translates into the failure of
the society.
There is therefore need to understand and solve marital
conflicts because of the implications they have for development. In
Nigeria we are faced with such problems like youth delinquency, robbery,
drug abuse, sexual immorality, prostitution and several others.
Several
studies have investigated the family background of such children
involved, and the result have shown that most of these problems
mentioned above are as a result of parental separation. As a result, the
attention of the government, individuals charitable organizations,
parents, teachers, guidance and counsellors are needed to consider this
alarming problem.
Counselling like education is a
lifelong process. This means that every human being needs guidance and
counselling as they grow from cradle to crane. The importance of
guidance counsellor to adolescents and children in their multifarious
problem of adjustment to living cannot be overemphasized. In their daily
interaction with peers, teachers and parents, adolescents encounter
educational, vocational and personal social problems which they cannot
resolve themselves. Fears, anxiety, conflicts, suspicious of adult
values and occasional rebellious acts sometimes show the type of stress
and strain which typical adolescents experience as they grow from
childhood to adulthood.
Perhaps more than adolescents, parents also
need guidance and counselling for their daily living roles as parents
especially in training their children to be good citizens of the nation
and also to have and keep a peaceful and successful home. Counsellors
have been trained to listen effectively and help individuals make use of
their wealth of resources to resolve their personal concerns. Major
reason for the Federal Government of Nigeria to issue a policy statement
as contained in the National Policy on Education (2004) and observed as
follows:
“In view of the apparent ignorance of young people about
career prospect, and in view of personality maladjustment among school
children, career officers and Counsellors will be appointed in post
primary institutions. Since qualified personnel in this category
are scarce, government will continue to make provision for the
training of interested teachers in Guidance and Counselling. Guidance
and Counselling will also feature in Teacher education programmes.â€
Consequent
upon the above, frantic efforts were made by the three tiers of
government to train Counsellors for all levels of educational system
study and generous scholarships were granted teachers to undertake
courses in Guidance and counselling. It is in this vein that the
curriculum of counsellor trainees especially at the undergraduate level
has been focused on training them to meet the demands of adolescents not
only at the secondary school level but also beyond. Counselling assumes
that for us as people it is quite easy to relate with and disclose to
other people who take time to listen to us and our problems and try to
help us understand them.
Before guidance and counselling was
introduced into the 3rd world like Nigeria, some group of individual
were responsible for advising and counselling individuals in the
traditional society in the resolution of social, personal, educational
and vocational problems according to Odebunmi (1982) consisting of
traditional religious priests, fortune tellers, elders and heads of
families within the extended family system, teachers and principals
within the educational systems, priests and religious leaders of
churches and Imams and Alhaji’s within the Moslem religion, friends and
acquaintances within the peer group.
The American Personnel and
Guidance Association (1967) defined Guidance as an organized effort of a
school to help the individual child develop to his maximum potential.
Bernard and Fullmer (1977) on their part consider Guidance as the formal
and informal effort to guide youths into the future. For Ipaye (1983)
sees Guidance as a generic label, an umbrella term that covers all the
means whereby an institution identifies and responds to the needs of
pupils or students no matter the nature of the need and no matter its
source thereby helping the child to develop to his maximum potential.
Arbuckle
(1966) has attempted to distinguish the usage of the term ‘guidance’ as
a concept, as an educational construct and as a service. To him, it is
used as a concept to denote the utilization of a point of view to help
an individual. From the educational point, it refers to the provision of
experiences that assist pupils to understand and accept themselves and
function effectively in their environment. Also as a service, it denotes
procedures and processes organized to achieve a helping relationship
Olusakin (2010).
The American Guidance Service Inc. defines
Counselling as the process in which an experienced and trained person
assists a second person to understand himself and his opportunities,
make appropriate adjustment and decisions in the light of his
understanding, accept the responsibility for the choice and to follow a
course of action in harmony with his choice.
CHAPTER ONE -- [Total Page(s) 6]
Page 2 of 6
-
-
ABSRACT - [ Total Page(s): 1 ] The institution of marriage commands high social recognition and, importance in our society. Marriage is a social institution that is designed among other things by God to be enjoyed by humans and not to be endured. Since it involves two adults that comes together to live as one, conflicts will arise which will shake the union to its very foundation. Causes of the conflicts are numerous; some of them could be avoided with pre marital counselling, marriage counselling proper and post marital co ... Continue reading---
