Psychologists at educational institutions learn about humane psychotechnologies

January 22-26, 2018 -- in the village of Kuryk, Mangistau region, the first training seminar was held for 9 psychologists from five schools, two kindergartens, a professional college, and a district hospital of the Karakiyansky district. Participants were acquainted with legislation related to psychologists' activities, studied the features of a psychologist's work in an educational institution, and mastered the basics of Erikson's therapy.

The psychologists are trained to improve their skills for effective work with teachers, students, and parents on self-actualization and career guidance for working with difficult adolescents,  preventing suicides, etc. Training is conducted by specialists from the Genesis Verae Center of Psychotechnologies, Zhanar Danenova and Kurmantai Shurabekov, from Almaty. The course consists of ten modules of humane psychotechnologies, which will be held before the end of 2018. The program also includes monitoring and consultation.

"Working in rural areas on an educational project for more than five years, we noticed the difficult psychological climate in schools. Communicating with students and their parents, we saw that the source of many psycho-traumas is families and schools. And then we realized that in order to help children, we need to work with adults. So we added a component to the project related to the improvement of the skills of educational psychologists, " says project manager Azhar Nurbay.

According to the Rules of Psychological Service in the Secondary Education Organizations of the Mangistau Region, approved by the Order of the Akim of Mangistau Region No. 115 of April 22, 2015, school psychologists face the following tasks:

assistance in the personal and intellectual development of students; formation of the ability to self-educate and self-develop; provision of psychological assistance to students for their successful socialization in a rapidly developing information society; development the of creative potential of students; implementation of psychocorrectional work to solve the psychological difficulties and problems of students; protection of the mental health of students; provision of advisory assistance to parents (or their substitute persons) and teachers in solving psychological and pedagogical problems and in the selection of optimal methods of teaching and educational work.

But, unfortunately, school psychologists cannot always perform effectively because of out-of-date knowledge and limited tools for effective psychological and psychotherapeutic help.

"The seminar was a breeze. Our knowledge of theory was cemented through practice. We gain a lot of new knowledge, including Erikson technologies, skills of psychotherapeutic methods, types of work with children and adults. We are ready to use this knowledge in our work," says Raushan Abisheva, a psychologist at School No. 6.

"The training was great. The trainers were able to fully reveal to us the assigned topics. Erikson's's therapy is necessary for our work. We are very grateful to the trainers and organizers for this opportunity, for helping Kuryk specialists to improve their knowledge and help the villagers. We are waiting for the next training and we promise that we will show worthy results," said Gulzina Mamaeva from the district hospital of the Karakiyansky district.

"Over the course of these 5 days, I gained a lot of theoretical and practical knowledge. And in the future, I want to learn and improve on my skills. I want to provide psychological help to needy people, I want to help them rid themselves of psycho traumas, solve their life difficulties and change their outlook on life," says Moldir Duisenova, Karakia's professional college.

By increasing their qualifications on the course, psychologists will be able to improve the situation in many schools and work with teachers and students on various issues. Further, the psychologists of Kuryk plan to unite in the association and open an office to provide private psychological assistance to villagers outside educational institutions. In addition, the status of school psychologists will increase.

The training took place within the framework of the second phase of the social program "Learning Together!" Aimed at improving the quality of vocational guidance work and improving the social and psychological atmosphere in the schools of the village of Kuryk, implemented with the support of ERSAI Caspian Contractors LLC.