Many people find it difficult to talk to relatives or friends about dying. The diagnosis of a terminal illness is a traumatic event and patients are often overwhelmed by their thoughts, fears and feelings. A counsellor can provide the information and emotional support they need.
Most people think that domestic violence involves only physical assault, harm and injury. Counsellors, however, need to recognise that domestic violence includes many forms of abuse. Most of the time they occur together and sometimes there is a progression from one to the other.
When someone discovers they are infected with HIV, they face a difficult decision about whether to tell anyone. If they opt for disclosure, they may need your support. They will need to decide who to tell and how and when to tell them. Disclosure is to be encouraged, but it is important that people take time to think through the issues carefully. Their choices have major implications.
Child sexual abuse is the involvement of a child in any sexual activity that occurs prior to the legally recognised age of consent. Child sexual abuse occurs when a child is used by an adult or older or more knowledgeable for sexual pleasure. There are a number of misconceptions about child sexual abuse. As a counsellor it is important to be aware of such myths and to educate people and society alike.
Talking about survival skills is a vital part of HIV counselling. It helps people understand that their life is not over because a laboratory test has found that they are infected with HIV.
AIDS counselling can mean different things to different people. It is therefore important to agree on what it aims to achieve.
Throughout southern Africa, HIV and AIDS have affected millions of children. Many have already become orphans or are caring for sick parents, grandparents, siblings or other relatives. Many more have had their school and community life changed beyond recognition.
Meanwhile, other children are themselves infected with HIV, and often have to cope with ill health combined with social stigma. In some cases, such children experience the double trauma of coping with their own HIV status while also having lost their parents, brothers or sisters.
Working on HIV and AIDS is not easy, especially for people working on the frontline of the epidemic in community groups and NGOs that provide information, give emotional support and care for the sick. It is particularly difficult for staff and volunteers who are infected with HIV or affected by HIV and AIDS. In these situations, workers and careers are likely to feel the stress of pressures of their jobs, responsibilities or health status.
These guidelines focus on men who have sex with men.
This booklet deals with treatment counselling. Counselling is a structured conversation between two or more people. These people are a client (or clients) and a counsellor. The aim of this conversation is to help the client work through a particular problem or situation that he or she has.
Why is treatment counselling important?