THE ROLE OF PARA-COUNSELLOR IN THE PROVISION OF INTEGRATED PSYCHO-EMOTIONAL CARE FOR OLDER PERSONS

摘要

>Background: Loneliness, boredom and helplessness caused by social isolation often affect the emotional well-being of older persons in the community. Besides professional psychological intervention, trained volunteers can be an important resource to enhance meaningful interaction and emotional support for older clients. The use of ‘para-counsellors’ saves cost and promotes volunteerism. This presentation describes the experience of, and lessons learned from, establishing a para-counsellor team in a context where volunteerism is under-experimented. >Intervention: an approximately 57 para-counsellors were recruited and trained over a period of 3 years. Majority of para-counsellors were seniors themselves. This facilitated more effective rapport and relationship building, because of shared values and common languages spoken. The latter was especially critical in a context where fewer younger generations were able to speak local dialects and/or non-English languages. . Training was conducted by professional gero-counsellors. After training, para-counsellors were able to provide emotional support to older persons through active listening, individual life review session and engagement in meaningful activities, which helps them to review, reflect, explore, appreciate their life experiences and have greater sense of meaning of life. >Lessons learned: Key success factors for establishing a para-counsellor programme include the setting up of: a volunteer management system; strategic recruitment and screening; age-friendly training methods; continuous guidance and supervision; and various options for development paths. >Conclusion: Senior volunteerism can be activated to fill in the human resource gaps in psycho-emotional care for older persons. Sustainable para-counsellor programmes can be established by integrating such programmes into existing professional and organisational framework.