Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now we know a national recruitment campaign has been launched
(00:03):
to attract more school counselors to the Northern Territory. The
nt government provided one point nine million dollars in the
budget to expand school counseling across the NTA, and the
campaign is also targeting qualified social workers in Australia and
New Zealand. Now, the Minister for Education and Training, Joe
Hersey says that eligibility criteria has been expanded to attract
(00:27):
more qualified counseling professionals due to a national workforce shortage. Now,
if you've listened to the show for quite some time,
you'll know that this is something that we have spoken
about on quite a few occasions. In fact, I believe
it was at the beginning of last year. It may
have even been the year prior. We had students join
us to raise concerns about a lack of counselors. So
(00:49):
it was actually something that was very much student lead.
And joining me on the line is cogzo's executive officer,
Michelle Parker. Good morning to you, Michelle.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Good morning Katie, Michelle.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Lovely to have you on the show. Now, do you
think this announcement is a positive one.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Oh, it's a fabulous announcement, isn't it. Katie, and you
as well as COGSO have been on this journey, and
you're right, it was a couple of years ago those
students came on. So it's been quite the advocacy journey.
And that's something that advocacy is. It's not something that
you ask for and it gets delivered immediately. It's been
relentless and it's been a good partnership actually, and that's
(01:32):
where you get results. COGSO is a peak parent body
to students, the school bodies and counsels the Department of Education.
And you may remember that our key election arts was
for the return of school based counselors and yeah, the
opposition fully supported that and committed to that if they
(01:53):
won the election. They won the election. It's been a
priority for them and it's been a absolute pleasure to
work with Joe and the department and here we are.
It's a great announcement.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Well, that is really good to hear, Michelle, because you
know so often we sort of talk about these things
and you think, oh, is it ever going to make
a difference, And you know, I've spoken to you guys
on so many occasions about the school counselors, and we
spoke to those students and they were so passionate about it,
you know, they were like, we really need school counselors
(02:26):
in our schools and spoke about why they are instrumental
within schools. So, Michelle, how are things tracking at the
moment when it comes to those school counselors and how
do you foresee this role out happening?
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Well, it's going. Well, it's fundamentally the return of what
we call the knock on the door, that a student
can be in a school and knock on a door
and there's somebody appropriately qualified to be able to do
that preventative work that we've talked about that is so well,
that can a student can check in with something that
(03:01):
might be going on and have a trained professional on
the other side of the door. And so that's what's
being returned. And then to meet the shortage, the department
has looked at how do we expand the qualifications from
a psychologist counselor point of view and look at social
workers and other people that have counseling experience, because there's
(03:25):
lots of different streams for these professionals and they're all
of value. And so last year we passed a policy
as an organization on mental health services, you know, supporting
that expansion of the type of people that can be
the mental health experts in a school. And so that's
(03:45):
now our policy position of the organization and that's what
the Department's gone down in terms of how do we
recruit and fill these positions. So we're excited about the campaign.
It's concentrated, it's dedicated, it's planned designed to reach many
people across Australia and into New Zealand to come and
live in the beautiful territory landscape and be a part
(04:10):
of our amazing public schools.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Michelle, We've just had somebody call through wondering if COGSO
know what the school allocations are going to be for
those counselors and if there's going to be certain schools
that need the most. Also, how many school counselors have
been budgeted for. I'm not sure whether you've got that
level of detail.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
I have, but just not in front of me. I'm
out of the meeting at the moment. I'm sorry. So
we will certainly get that out to our members and
if the person inquiring wants to contact cogso through the website,
we'd be more than happy to share that. It would
be on our going up on our comms and socials
as well. It's a return for the middle and the
secondary in regional and urban of a dedicated health professional.
(04:55):
And there's other people that will work within the school
well being team as well, not just the counselor. So
well being is seen by everybody as critical. What's exciting
also is that the department is also committed to looking
at mental health services as we are for our remote
and very remote and so the body of work has
(05:16):
already started around what other models might be appropriate for
those remote schools and students and you know, working with
Aboriginal controlled organizations and various models that might work for
them that's culturally appropriate. So everyone's focused on every student
and their well being, yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Which can only be a good thing. But so your
understanding though, is that the majority of those middle and
high schools will go back to having a school counselor
at the school.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
That's right, that's exactly right at the school, knocking with
the door that can be knocked on by a student
and they can access and recognizing that from next year,
we'll have high schools.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Yeah, well, yeah, that's exactly right. They'll all be high
schools rather than the middle schools as well. Michelle. I
mean this is like to me, this is exactly what
those students were asking for a couple of years ago,
you know, to have that school counselor back at the school,
to be able to build that relationship, build a rapport
with somebody who they feel comfortable going in and speaking to.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
That's exactly right. And for parents who've had children, and
I can speak about my own lived experience, having your
student able to have somebody when there's something going on
at the school or it could be home, like it
could be anything that's impacting their ability to learn is
just incredibly powerful. And you know, I don't mean to
(06:36):
speak for the minister, but the minister had lived experience,
and that's the thing. When you're a student or a
parent who has lived the benefit, of course, you want
it to continue to expanded and improved. So that's what
we thought, they promised, it delivered. Couldn't be more thrilled.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
I guess the only issue now is making sure that
we can fill these roles Michelle, how quickly and how
do you think it's going to be a difficult thing
to do.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
I'm not sure who's out there. It's not our sort
of area, but you know, I would encourage all your listeners.
If you have people in the field who elsewhere, encourage
them to come to the territory. When you start to
see the campaign roll out, share it as widely as
you can. I'd imagine that for this year there'd be
intensive recruitment drives and processes for recruitment and getting them
(07:31):
in as soon as possible. It's what everybody wants to see.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Well, Michelle Parker, great to speak with you this morning.
I really appreciate your time. I always love a good
news story when something does come to fruition. I know
you guys have been pushing really hard for these at
nt COGSOS. So good to see this positive move being made.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Yeah, and thank you to Katie for your advocacy. It
takes somebody who listens and sees it as an important
issue and covers it, so thank you too.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Anytime I think it. You know, fundamentally, for me, we've
got to make sure that kids have got these supports
when they're in school. You know, they may not want
to talk to their parents about some of this, some
of the stuff that they're dealing with. They may not have,
you know, somebody that they can talk to. And if
you've got a school counselor and if that person can help,
you know, just some of these kids, it can only be.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
A good thing, absolutely good.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
Michelle, thank you lovely to talk to you this morning.
Now we know a national recruitment campaign has been launched
(00:03):
to attract more school counselors to the Northern Territory. The
nt government provided one point nine million dollars in the
budget to expand school counseling across the NTA, and the
campaign is also targeting qualified social workers in Australia and
New Zealand. Now, the Minister for Education and Training, Joe
Hersey says that eligibility criteria has been expanded to attract
(00:27):
more qualified counseling professionals due to a national workforce shortage. Now,
if you've listened to the show for quite some time,
you'll know that this is something that we have spoken
about on quite a few occasions. In fact, I believe
it was at the beginning of last year. It may
have even been the year prior. We had students join
us to raise concerns about a lack of counselors. So
(00:49):
it was actually something that was very much student lead.
And joining me on the line is cogzo's executive officer,
Michelle Parker. Good morning to you, Michelle.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Good morning Katie, Michelle.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Lovely to have you on the show. Now, do you
think this announcement is a positive one.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Oh, it's a fabulous announcement, isn't it. Katie, and you
as well as COGSO have been on this journey, and
you're right, it was a couple of years ago those
students came on. So it's been quite the advocacy journey.
And that's something that advocacy is. It's not something that
you ask for and it gets delivered immediately. It's been
relentless and it's been a good partnership actually, and that's
(01:32):
where you get results. COGSO is a peak parent body
to students, the school bodies and counsels the Department of Education.
And you may remember that our key election arts was
for the return of school based counselors and yeah, the
opposition fully supported that and committed to that if they
(01:53):
won the election. They won the election. It's been a
priority for them and it's been a absolute pleasure to
work with Joe and the department and here we are.
It's a great announcement.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Well, that is really good to hear, Michelle, because you
know so often we sort of talk about these things
and you think, oh, is it ever going to make
a difference, And you know, I've spoken to you guys
on so many occasions about the school counselors, and we
spoke to those students and they were so passionate about it,
you know, they were like, we really need school counselors
(02:26):
in our schools and spoke about why they are instrumental
within schools. So, Michelle, how are things tracking at the
moment when it comes to those school counselors and how
do you foresee this role out happening?
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Well, it's going. Well, it's fundamentally the return of what
we call the knock on the door, that a student
can be in a school and knock on a door
and there's somebody appropriately qualified to be able to do
that preventative work that we've talked about that is so well,
that can a student can check in with something that
(03:01):
might be going on and have a trained professional on
the other side of the door. And so that's what's
being returned. And then to meet the shortage, the department
has looked at how do we expand the qualifications from
a psychologist counselor point of view and look at social
workers and other people that have counseling experience, because there's
(03:25):
lots of different streams for these professionals and they're all
of value. And so last year we passed a policy
as an organization on mental health services, you know, supporting
that expansion of the type of people that can be
the mental health experts in a school. And so that's
(03:45):
now our policy position of the organization and that's what
the Department's gone down in terms of how do we
recruit and fill these positions. So we're excited about the campaign.
It's concentrated, it's dedicated, it's planned designed to reach many
people across Australia and into New Zealand to come and
live in the beautiful territory landscape and be a part
(04:10):
of our amazing public schools.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Michelle, We've just had somebody call through wondering if COGSO
know what the school allocations are going to be for
those counselors and if there's going to be certain schools
that need the most. Also, how many school counselors have
been budgeted for. I'm not sure whether you've got that
level of detail.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
I have, but just not in front of me. I'm
out of the meeting at the moment. I'm sorry. So
we will certainly get that out to our members and
if the person inquiring wants to contact cogso through the website,
we'd be more than happy to share that. It would
be on our going up on our comms and socials
as well. It's a return for the middle and the
secondary in regional and urban of a dedicated health professional.
(04:55):
And there's other people that will work within the school
well being team as well, not just the counselor. So
well being is seen by everybody as critical. What's exciting
also is that the department is also committed to looking
at mental health services as we are for our remote
and very remote and so the body of work has
(05:16):
already started around what other models might be appropriate for
those remote schools and students and you know, working with
Aboriginal controlled organizations and various models that might work for
them that's culturally appropriate. So everyone's focused on every student
and their well being, yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Which can only be a good thing. But so your
understanding though, is that the majority of those middle and
high schools will go back to having a school counselor
at the school.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
That's right, that's exactly right at the school, knocking with
the door that can be knocked on by a student
and they can access and recognizing that from next year,
we'll have high schools.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Yeah, well, yeah, that's exactly right. They'll all be high
schools rather than the middle schools as well. Michelle. I
mean this is like to me, this is exactly what
those students were asking for a couple of years ago,
you know, to have that school counselor back at the school,
to be able to build that relationship, build a rapport
with somebody who they feel comfortable going in and speaking to.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
That's exactly right. And for parents who've had children, and
I can speak about my own lived experience, having your
student able to have somebody when there's something going on
at the school or it could be home, like it
could be anything that's impacting their ability to learn is
just incredibly powerful. And you know, I don't mean to
(06:36):
speak for the minister, but the minister had lived experience,
and that's the thing. When you're a student or a
parent who has lived the benefit, of course, you want
it to continue to expanded and improved. So that's what
we thought, they promised, it delivered. Couldn't be more thrilled.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
I guess the only issue now is making sure that
we can fill these roles Michelle, how quickly and how
do you think it's going to be a difficult thing
to do.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
I'm not sure who's out there. It's not our sort
of area, but you know, I would encourage all your listeners.
If you have people in the field who elsewhere, encourage
them to come to the territory. When you start to
see the campaign roll out, share it as widely as
you can. I'd imagine that for this year there'd be
intensive recruitment drives and processes for recruitment and getting them
(07:31):
in as soon as possible. It's what everybody wants to see.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Well, Michelle Parker, great to speak with you this morning.
I really appreciate your time. I always love a good
news story when something does come to fruition. I know
you guys have been pushing really hard for these at
nt COGSOS. So good to see this positive move being made.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Yeah, and thank you to Katie for your advocacy. It
takes somebody who listens and sees it as an important
issue and covers it, so thank you too.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Anytime I think it. You know, fundamentally, for me, we've
got to make sure that kids have got these supports
when they're in school. You know, they may not want
to talk to their parents about some of this, some
of the stuff that they're dealing with. They may not have,
you know, somebody that they can talk to. And if
you've got a school counselor and if that person can help,
you know, just some of these kids, it can only be.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
A good thing, absolutely good.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
Michelle, thank you lovely to talk to you this morning.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy And Charlamagne Tha God!
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.