Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Communication Skills in Counselling Services in the 21st Century

ABSTRACT

The knowledge and skills experienced by professional counsellors are the requisite Information Communication Technology (ICT knowledge and skills) every professional counsellor must have to make for easy counselling services. In counselling discipline, communication skills entails the systematic processes of making available essential packages of data, documents, books, verbal, non-verbal or written communication to individuals or groups (clients) who find them to be useful in their lives. Hence the paper focused on the communication and meaning of counselling, some characteristics of communication, verbal communication and non-verbal communication were highlighted. Ways of improving intra-personal and interpersonal communication. The paper also examined the counselling model of communication technology to enhancing counselling practice such as the use of movie clips, video conference opportunity, video tapes, video CD, CD-Rom, Flash Drives, television facilities, network of intercom, services, films among others and found out that the application of this communication technology is indispensable for an effective counselling. In the light of the above, the paper recommended among others, an effective deployment of modern communication facilities in counselling, training for counselling practitioners in utilization of modern communication technology and emphasis on the use of the skills and ICT in counselling and among others. It concludes by calling for a more use of verbal and non-verbal techniques with ICT knowledge in counselling skills to add more value to the Guidance and Counselling programme as it was observed by the researcher among others.