4. Exploring Connections Between Literacy and Therapy

Linking Literacy and Counselling or Therapy

Many questions were raised as I thought about the needs of survivors of trauma and the resources that might support their literacy learning; Should there be links between literacy and counselling? If so what form should “links” between these two areas of work take? Should literacy workers refer students to counselling? Should counselling be offered in conjunction with literacy programming? Should literacy workers be able to provide counselling?

I heard repeatedly about workers who felt pressured to counsel and support students in crisis and who felt inadequately prepared or trained to do so. I heard often of learners (sometimes from learners themselves) overwhelmed by their experiences of violence in the present or the past, and that they considered such experience a barrier to learning. I was told that learners often had nowhere to take these accounts. It therefore seemed crucial that literacy programs recognize that some learners will be dealing with issues of trauma and may need access to culturally appropriate counselling. To respond to this need, the minimum that programs must do is to thoroughly assess what counselling is available in their community. This would enable them to offer adequate referrals to suitable services, for learners who are struggling with issues that might make counselling appropriate.

Workers should ideally also assess what capacity is needed within the program to foster good links to the counselling services in the community and to provide solid support for learners who continue in the program while they also seek counselling. Where existing services are inadequate or inaccessible, programs could offer counselling in the program independently or in collaboration with local counselling services. During the study it became clear that although a wide range of types of counselling and therapy exist, services available for free are often extremely limited. Often only short-term or group counselling is available at no charge and there are frequently lengthy waiting lists.

Interviews with counselors, therapists and staff connected with the shelter movement made clear how little awareness of literacy issues many people in this field have. Current shifts within the shelter movement to consider offering a broad range of services in a storefront setting, led some of the women I interviewed to suggest that they needed to think through possible links, both for referrals to literacy programs and for the types of educational groups they should offer on-site. Literacy workers and learners should educate the shelter movement about existing literacy programming and explore educational links with shelters.

There is also a need for education for counselors and therapists about literacy issues, so that a lack of awareness of the limited literacy skills of many women, or belief in common stereotypes and prejudices about illiteracy and “illiterates,” do not shape counselling interactions.

Various types of links with counselling services were discussed by interviewee's in different situations. One counselor told me that she felt it was crucial that programs did not just refer students to counselors but also supported them within the program. Instructors in colleges thought they would invite counselors into their classes to talk about their work and the counselling services available for students in the college. Workers in other situations needed information about the services available in their community that students could access or wished they had funds to offer services on site. A subtle, but important shift, prompted by the discussions about possible links, was that learners in full-time programs who spent time seeing a counselor should be judged, not as missing time in the program, but as doing work to further their learning.

Recognition of the aptitudes and interests of literacy workers, within programs could permit some workers to focus more on the counselling needs of learners. Depending on the type of program, this might mean that such workers could have more responsibility for referral, or that they could provide support to other workers hearing disclosures or for learners who are accessing counselling. Such roles would certainly mean that workers would need opportunities for support and debriefing. However, even if some workers take on specific roles, all workers need to know something about the issues, so that counselling does not become something pushed off to one worker and so remain “outside” the literacy frame.

Few literacy programs currently explore possible links with programs which offer counselling, or even with counselling departments in their own institution. Programs rarely consider ways to build greater visibility for counselling services or more creative alternative possibilities for learners to access suitable counselling or other supports. Knowledge of counselling within a program and strong links with counselling services, internal or in another organization or organizations, would enable the program to offer more support to learners who have experienced trauma.