Probation and Social Services Officers exposed to new techniques to deal with evolving social issues

Probation and Social Services Officers of the Ministry of Social Protection are currently engaged in capacity building training focusing on the area of counselling. The training is being held under the theme “Enhancing Our Counselling Skills for Effective Service Delivery”. The officers are expected to be trained in batches to facilitate the training of every Probation and Social Service officer employed within the Ministry of Social Protection.

Among the areas to be covered are: theory and practice of counselling, ethical and legal issues, group counselling, record keeping and leadership.

Senior Probation and Social Services Officer and organizer of the training, Ms. Trenetta Elliot said Probation and social services officers are not only court officers but they serve other functions such as providing psychosocial support. She said the workshop aims at providing officers with the tools to better enable service provision to the public in the execution of their duties.

Ms. Elliot mentioned the nature of social issues are changing daily and so are the techniques to deal with them; thus in that regard that the Ministry aims to continue to expose its officers to best practices and modern trends.

Facilitator of the workshop, Dr. Joy Wilson speaking extensively on personal and professional competencies, explained it is important for social workers to know themselves before engaging a client – “when we go to work, we don’t leave ourselves at home – the importance of having good mental health, emotional and other wellbeing is critical to your success, the most important asset is you”

Further training sessions are scheduled for 3-5th April 2018 with the final training seminar slated for 10-12th April 2018.

The Probation and Social Services Department is the largest department in the Ministry of Social Protection, with Probation Officers in every region across Guyana.