Contributed Articles
HELPING THE YOUTH TO HELP THEMSELVES
By SENAIT MICHAEL
Jun 30, 2008, 11:43am

Because people facing different problems have different levels of need, there is definitely a place for the highly trained professional clinical counselor. For many, nothing less than a medically trained therapist is needed. On the other hand, there are many people who would respond positively to counseling from a trained lay counselor, especially if medical professionals are consulted at the same time. Such people may just need some elementary counseling on how to respond to their problems.
Sensing this need, the National Union of Eritrean Youth and Students started a telephone counseling service. The hotline telephone counseling service was launched in January 2005 and was active until April 2006. Due to technical problems, the service was interrupted for about eight months, and then it started again in December last year. Now it provides counseling service seven days a week, twelve hours a day (from 8:00 AM till 8:00 PM).

The program was started with 20 lay counselors, trained by professional counselors from the Ministry of Health. The young counselors were from different educational backgrounds. This was intentionally done because, it was seen as part of the ‘peer group’ therapy, because when one talks with his/her peer, it is easier to communicate and come to a common understanding of things. Therefore the National Union of Eritrean Youth and Students took the responsibility of starting such a program by selecting and organizing volunteers from the University of Asmara and different other institutions.

The main objective of the program is to help youth to help themselves and help them through tough times which need tough decisions. “In our culture,” says one of the counselors, “it is not easy to talk about one’s own private issues. Especially family or intimate sexual matters are not normally discussed out side the people involved. So, in the project of hotline telephone counseling, we provide our clients with hospitable environment to discuss their most troubling private issues freely with out having to worry about getting their secrets out, because the caller and the lay counselor are anonymous to each other, and the code of confidentiality is strictly kept.”

In our country, counseling service in general, lay counselors in particular, are needed for several reasons. In the first place, professionals are typically few and quite busy, and do not always have time to work extensively non-clinical cases. Secondly, many people don’t really feel comfortable talking with a complete stranger in a face to face counseling session; so telephone counseling is an alternative. Thirdly, there are many people who want immediate answer to their worries, avoiding having to arrange a session with a professional counselor and wait for an appointment. So, for the youth who need quick answers to urgent problems, they have a ready service. Finally, when the youth are faced with sudden crisis, they can call the hotline counseling service and be provided with consultation right away. This also has the effect of making counseling available to any one with in reach of a telephone; with out necessarily having to come to a certain place to get help. Especially, with the introduction of mobile phones, people are calling even from the remote parts of Eritrea and getting help.

But a question may be raised: what if the lay counselor does it wrong? What then? Well for the lay counselors to avoid causing damage in people's lives, they are trained by professional counselors so as to be able to tell which cases require professional attention. Therefore, when a lay counselor senses a problem that needs professional help, s/he automatically tells the caller that the problem is more than a lay counselor can handle and, he or she should seek professional help. The lay counselor sees the professional therapist as an ally, and the two work cooperatively to serve the youth of Eritrea. In fact, the Ministry of Health helps a great deal with the service, starting with providing training to the volunteers by professional counselors, to always opening its doors for troubled people referred to it by the hotline counselors.

The issues the hotline telephone counseling most serves are those issues which are considered embarrassing to talk about, out in the open. Issues like family matters, sexual relations, concerning HIV and AIDS and other intimate matters. The primary goal of the hotline counseling service is to help people to help themselves, not to substitute or take their ability to make their own decision away from them but just to act as a mediator between their problems and themselves. Basically, what the hotline telephone counseling service does is, it helps people to see the problem clearly and thoroughly and then, leave them to decide what to do to tackle it. Among situations calling for consultation are:
• Stress
• Reproductive health and family planning
• HIVAIDS and STDs
• Family problems
• Social interaction and self confidence










HELPING THE YOUTH TO HELP THEMSELVES

SENAIT MICHAEL
Because people facing different problems have different levels of need, there is definitely a place for the highly trained professional clinical counselor. For many, nothing less than a medically trained therapist is needed. On the other hand, there are many people who would respond positively to counseling from a trained lay counselor, especially if medical professionals are consulted at the same time. Such people may just need some elementary counseling on how to respond to their problems.
Sensing this need, the National Union of Eritrean Youth and Students started a telephone counseling service. The hotline telephone counseling service was launched in January 2005 and was active until April 2006. Due to technical problems, the service was interrupted for about eight months, and then it started again in December last year. Now it provides counseling service seven days a week, twelve hours a day (from 8:00 AM till 8:00 PM).

The program was started with 20 lay counselors, trained by professional counselors from the Ministry of Health. The young counselors were from different educational backgrounds. This was intentionally done because, it was seen as part of the ‘peer group’ therapy, because when one talks with his/her peer, it is easier to communicate and come to a common understanding of things. Therefore the National Union of Eritrean Youth and Students took the responsibility of starting such a program by selecting and organizing volunteers from the University of Asmara and different other institutions.

The main objective of the program is to help youth to help themselves and help them through tough times which need tough decisions. “In our culture,” says one of the counselors, “it is not easy to talk about one’s own private issues. Especially family or intimate sexual matters are not normally discussed out side the people involved. So, in the project of hotline telephone counseling, we provide our clients with hospitable environment to discuss their most troubling private issues freely with out having to worry about getting their secrets out, because the caller and the lay counselor are anonymous to each other, and the code of confidentiality is strictly kept.”

In our country, counseling service in general, lay counselors in particular, are needed for several reasons. In the first place, professionals are typically few and quite busy, and do not always have time to work extensively non-clinical cases. Secondly, many people don’t really feel comfortable talking with a complete stranger in a face to face counseling session; so telephone counseling is an alternative. Thirdly, there are many people who want immediate answer to their worries, avoiding having to arrange a session with a professional counselor and wait for an appointment. So, for the youth who need quick answers to urgent problems, they have a ready service. Finally, when the youth are faced with sudden crisis, they can call the hotline counseling service and be provided with consultation right away. This also has the effect of making counseling available to any one with in reach of a telephone; with out necessarily having to come to a certain place to get help. Especially, with the introduction of mobile phones, people are calling even from the remote parts of Eritrea and getting help.

But a question may be raised: what if the lay counselor does it wrong? What then? Well for the lay counselors to avoid causing damage in people's lives, they are trained by professional counselors so as to be able to tell which cases require professional attention. Therefore, when a lay counselor senses a problem that needs professional help, s/he automatically tells the caller that the problem is more than a lay counselor can handle and, he or she should seek professional help. The lay counselor sees the professional therapist as an ally, and the two work cooperatively to serve the youth of Eritrea. In fact, the Ministry of Health helps a great deal with the service, starting with providing training to the volunteers by professional counselors, to always opening its doors for troubled people referred to it by the hotline counselors.

The issues the hotline telephone counseling most serves are those issues which are considered embarrassing to talk about, out in the open. Issues like family matters, sexual relations, concerning HIV and AIDS and other intimate matters. The primary goal of the hotline counseling service is to help people to help themselves, not to substitute or take their ability to make their own decision away from them but just to act as a mediator between their problems and themselves. Basically, what the hotline telephone counseling service does is, it helps people to see the problem clearly and thoroughly and then, leave them to decide what to do to tackle it. Among situations calling for consultation are:
• Stress
• Reproductive health and family planning
• HIVAIDS and STDs
• Family problems
• Social interaction and self confidence

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