Emotional Guidance
My silence is just another word for my pain.
Anonymous
The step up from secondary school to junior college (JC) is often a steep one for many of our students. They are faced with many important decisions to make, ranging from subject combination selection, application for scholarships, internships and eventually university applications. On top of these, at an individual level, Eunoians are growing emotionally and socially as they transit into adulthood.
As parents, we often want the best for our children. At the same time, we, too, are growing in this journey with them. Effective home-school collaboration is key in ensuring this period of transition is positive and nurturing for our Eunoians.
If you have any concerns about your child, you may reach out to the Civic Tutor, Deans or School Counsellor. Below are more information about on the guidance and counselling support for students in EJC, and available resources in the community to support parents in their roles.
Student Well-being Counselling Team
EJC has a team of counsellors who are trained to speak to students about their socio-emotional issues. They consist of 2 Teacher Counsellors and 1 School Counsellor. Their names and contact details are below:
Teacher Counsellors:
Ms. Leong Wymin leong.wymin@ejc.edu.sg
Ms. Lim Lyn Na lim.lyn.na@ejc.edu.sg
About the EJC Counsellor
Ms. Jasmine Ng joined EJC in 2022, after 11 years working in Primary and Secondary School setting as a School Counsellor.
Trained in Social Work & Psychology in NUS, she went on to pursue further studies in Early Childhood Education. She has worked in various capacity as a Social Worker, Church Worker, Preschool Teacher and Trainer both locally and overseas before becoming a School Counsellor.
In her counselling career, she has been certified in Trauma-Focused work using CBT (KKH), Sand-Play and Expressive Therapies (Expressive Therapies Australia). Besides teaching skills and strategies in coping with challenges, Jasmine is committed in creating a safe space for children and adolescents to be in touch with their inner selves and find congruence and hope through creative ways of expression.
Besides working with Civic and Subject Teachers, the School Counsellor also liaise with the community to ensure efforts in supporting students are coordinated and optimised to yield positive outcomes. Some of the agency partners for referrals and collaboration are listed below. Please click in the links to find out more.
Contact Information
Email : ejc.counsellor@ejc.edu.sg
Tel. no. : 63518388
Location : Block A, 3rd Level (beside HOD Room)
Students may book an appointment with EJ Counsellor using the link here .
Guidance & Counselling in EJC
The following are some ways the college reaches out to students to provide guidance and support for the students.
Period Zero Sharings (by the School Counsellor) on relevant topics such as, Support for Your Journey in EJC; Coping with Academic Stress; Tuning in to Your Emotions; Managing Perfectionism etc.
Termly Newsletters to provide tips for students in dealing with prevalent issues students face such as, Tips on Making Friends, Study Smart, not Hard, Time Management etc.
Peer Support Programme to encourage peers to reach out to peers within their class to build inclusiveness, support and a cohesive environment for learning.
Termly Check-in Survey to ensure that our students are coping well with various areas of their life as a student and if needed, care and support is provided by teachers to help them through the challenges.
Serenity is a space created for students to feel safe to work on their difficult emotions through different media of expressions in order to cope better.
What is Counselling?
Counselling is a process of self-exploration within an atmosphere of acceptance, trust and respect. Individuals are in turn empowered to make the decisions needed to cope better with whatever they are facing in life. This helps them to proceed with greater clarity and confidence.
Some of the areas explored in school counselling include:
Self-awareness which aids in coping/problem solving and responsible decision making.
Self-management, such as stress management, anger management, time management, acquiring study skills, and self-motivation.
Social awareness and relationship-building through social skills training.
Personal issues like self-esteem, depression, anxiety, grief, loss, and relationship issues.
When is it time to Seek Help?
Life poses many challenges especially for the adolescents in their process of growing up to be adults. It is not uncommon to experience stress, anxiety and feeling down when things are not going their way, issues in peer relationship and when demands of school work increases. Sometimes, it is difficult to tell if these feelings are typical response to the ups and downs of life or something more serious which require professional help.
If your child is experiencing (1) prolonged stress which may affect his/her coping or physical health, (2) anxiety which is debilitating, (3) feelings of being depressed for an extended period of time such that he/she is unable to perform daily normal tasks or (4) mood swings, these are signs that maybe it is time to get help*.
Parents can refer the child to the School Counsellor for counselling support or for referral to external professionals for psychological assessment. Through referrals from school, not only does it save travelling time for services to be conducted in school, it also allows for a more wholistic approach in collaborating with school in planning intervention to support the student. Moreover, the services referred by school are mostly free or heavily subsidised.
Visit MindSG for tools on how to take care of your mental health and use the information to support your child's mental health concerns.
*Adapted from 4 signs It May Be Time to Seek Professional Mental Health Help
Resources for Parents in the Community
REACH (Response, Early intervention and Assessment in Community mental Health).
Family Service Centres is a useful link to services that seek to support the wide range of needs within the family. Click on the FSC E-locator for the FSC which serves your geographic area.
Youth Counselling Services such as ec2.sg (Fei Yue), Mental Health for Youth (Insight) (CareCorner), Limitless, Singapore Association of Mental Health (SAMH) etc.
Government Hospitals and other private practitioners students/parents are consulting with.
Agencies listed here are non-profit organisations providing services for free or with minimal charges. If you need help with referral to any of the agencies or advice on a suitable one, please contact the EJ Counsellor.