Counselling in the new normal exploring counsellors’ perceptions of e-counselling during covid-19 in Ghana

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic left a slew of psychosocial issues in its wake. To reach out to clients in these very difficult times, most counsellors resorted to e-counselling as an alternative means to the traditional face-to-face counselling due to the restrictions and lockdowns. The study explored the experiences of counsellors who used e-counselling during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Central Region of Ghana. This study adopted a qualitative research approach and a phenomenological research design. Data was gathered from ten counsellors in the Central Region of Ghana through a semi-structured interview and analysed thematically. The findings indicated an increase in e-counselling during the pandemic. The study discovered that e-counselling was characterized by the use of modern technological media. Further, the findings reveal that e-counselling was effective in supporting clients' psychological and emotional needs, with clients giving positive feedback and referring their friends and families. However, poor networks, misinterpretation of messages, lack of knowledge and skills on the use of e-media, communication delays, and diminishing counsellor-client rapport were challenging factors that affected counsellors' usage of e-counselling during the pandemic. To improve and cope with e-counselling, counselling and clinical psychologist in the Central Region of Ghana adopted a hybrid mode of counselling, sought IT assistance and training, and combined different e-media to provide counselling services during the covid-19 pandemic. The study recommended that counsellors should seek continual professional development and training on ICT use and integration in the counselling process. It is also recommended that institutions pursuing counselling programmes should include e-counselling in their curricular. The study contributes to the understanding of e-counselling during the COVID-19 pandemic.