School Counselling in East and South-East Asia: Challenges and Opportunities

This book explores trends in the practise of school counselling in East and Southeast Asia in response to socioeconomic changes, developments in education and schooling, the growth of technology, and the legacy of the recent COVID-19 pandemic.

The volume adopts an ecological perspective, taking into account both schools’ institutional contexts and the sociocultural settings in which school counsellors work. Chapters focus on the needs, perspectives, and expectations of different stakeholders, and explore the changing roles and identities of school counsellors. Contributions from Mainland China, Hong Kong SAR, Japan, Malaysia, The Philippines, Singapore, and Vietnam provide a wide-ranging account of the development of school counselling in the region and set out key themes and priorities for this fast-developing field.

Academics in the field of school counselling, practicing school counsellors, academics involved in training programmes for school counsellors and students will find this an invaluable volume. More broadly, the text will be of interest to individuals involved in accrediting bodies for international schools in Asia, and school leaders tasked with overseeing counselling provision and that of wellbeing.

Mark G. Harrison

Department of Counselling and Psychology, Hong Kong Shue Yan University

Mark G. Harrison is an Assistant Professor at Hong Kong Shue Yan University with a research interest in school counselling in Southeast Asia. Originally from the UK, he has lived in Hong Kong for more than twenty years, where he worked in international secondary schools in various senior leadership roles before becoming an academic. He is a practising counsellor and supervisor, mainly working with parents, teens, and school counsellors.

Queenie Lee

Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong

Queenie Lee is a Lecturer of The University of Hong Kong with research interests in school counselling, school connectedness and psychotherapy. She is a licensed schoolteacher in Hong Kong and has received training as a counselling psychologist. Her areas of expertise include school counselling, career facilitation and somatic experiencing. She is a trainer of career facilitation and supervisor of postgraduate counselling students and in-service school counsellors.

James Yu

School of Humanities and Social Science, The Hang Seng University of Hong Kong.

James Yu is a clinical psychologist and Associate Professor (Practice) at the Hang Seng University of Hong Kong. He is an editorial board member of the Journal of Asia Pacific Counselling. His research interests include clinical cases studies, psychodynamic therapy, evidence-based practice, and phenomenological psychology.

Contributors

Elgin B. Clavecillas

Department of Guidance and Counselling, Far Eastern University

Elgin B. Clavecillas holds a master’s degree and is a licensed Guidance Counsellor, bringing with her over a decade of expertise in counselling, case management and career development programmes. She is currently working towards her doctorate in Clinical Psychology at the University of Santo Tomas while also fulfilling her role as a guidance counsellor at Far Eastern University.

Hoang-Minh Dang

Vietnam National University, University of Education, Hanoi

Hoang-Minh Dang is a clinical psychologist and an Associate Professor at VNU University of Education. She is also the Director of Clinical Research Institute for Society, Psychology and Education (CRISP-E) at VNU University of Education. Her scholarship focuses on the development, evaluation, dissemination, and implementation of evidence-based interventions for child and adolescent mental health in low- and middle-income countries such as Vietnam.

Michael Hass

Attallah College of Educational Studies, Chapman University

Michael Hass is a Professor Emeritus and former coordinator of the graduate programmes in Counselling and School Psychology at Chapman University. He also holds an appointment as Visiting Professor at Vietnam National University, University of Education, Hanoi. His scholarly interests include school mental health, strength-based approaches to counselling, and resilience. Dr. Hass is the author of books on effective psychological report writing, interviewing for school counsellors, and most recently, Student Mental Health in the Classroom: Essentials for Teachers

Sheila Marie G. Hocson

Department of Guidance and Counselling, Far Eastern University & Philippine Guidance and Counselling Association

Sheila Marie G. Hocson is the past President of Philippine Guidance and Counseling Association for 2016-2018 and 2022-2023. She was also the branch leader and currently one of the mentors for the American Counseling Association. Moreover, she is a Guidance Director and full professor of the Far Eastern University. She is also a mental health consultant of the Office of the President, Presidential Management Staff of Malacanang and Senior Technical Consultant of the Unilab Foundation.

Houming Jiang

Keystone Academy in Beijing, China

Houming Jiang currently serves as the Head of Middle School at Keystone Academy in Beijing. Before joining Keystone, he held various leadership and faculty positions in different international schools in Beijing and the Greater Bay Area. Dr. Jiang also taught in rural China on the Burmese border for two years and became an advocate for service learning. He attended Xiamen University for his bachelor’s degree in accounting, completed a master’s degree in private school leadership from Columbia University, and a Doctor of Education from The University of Hong Kong. Dr. Jiang has his teacher licensure in China, U.S. and U.K. and aspires to ground the best practices of international education in Chinese context.

Teo Knives

Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies, Kyoto University

Teo Knives is a clinical psychologist and a Ph.D. candidate at Kyoto University. She holds a graduate diploma in clinical psychology and a master’s degree in counseling from the Moscow Institute of Psychoanalysis, as well as a master’s degree in built environment and architecture from Politecnico di Milano. Her ongoing doctoral research centres on the relationship between psychopathology and the arrangement of domestic environments.

Jin Kuan Kok

Tunku Abdul Rahman University (UTAR), Malaysia

Jin Kuan Kok retired as an Associate Professor from the Department of Psychology and Counselling, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Kampar, Malaysia. She is a registered counsellor and clinical supervisor from Singapore Association for Counselling.

Low Poi Kee

James Cook University, Singapore

Poi Kee is a counselling psychologist with experience and interests in psychotherapy, social care, special education, and refugee education & mental health. He is a registered psychologist, counsellor, and social service practitioner in Singapore. He is also a chartered psychologist and Associate Fellow with the British Psychological Society. Dr. Low is an Associate Professor of Counselling at James Cook University Singapore. He continues to maintain a small but active private practice.

Sew Kim Low

Tunku Abdul Rahman University (UTAR), Malaysia

Sew Kim Low is a Malaysian Registered Counsellor with the Malaysian Council of Counsellors. She retired as a Senior lecture from the Department of Psychology and Counselling, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Kampar, Malaysia. Her research interests include counselling, mental health, psychological wellness and development.

Boon-Ooi Lee

National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Boon-Ooi Lee, Ph.D., is Senior Lecturer and Programme Leader of MA in Counselling and Guidance at National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He is interested in culture and mental health, in particular, Indigenous healing systems, multicultural therapy, cultural psychopathology, alteration of consciousness, health beliefs, somatization, and the phenomenology of the body. His current research investigates the relevance of Indigenous healing practices to mental health, and altered consciousness (e.g., dissociation, trance, transcendence) in mental health and psychopathology.

Hong Thuan Nguyen

Center for Psychology and Education Research, Vietnam Institute of Educational Sciences

Nguyen Hong Thuan is a senior researcher with extensive experience in research and counselling in the field of school counselling psychology for governmental agencies and K-12 schools across Vietnam. Professor Thuan currently serving as the Director of the Center for Psychology and Education Research at the Vietnam Institute of Educational Sciences.

Anh Kim Pham

Faculty of Psychology, University of Social Sciences and Humanity - HCM National University, Vietnam

Anh K. Pham is a speaker, author, senior lecturer and educational advisor with intensive knowledge and experience in global K-12 and higher education. Dr. Anh serves as a senior lecturer teaching various subjects and maintains a wide range of research areas, including school counselling, industrial organisational psychology, leadership and entrepreneurship, and innovation.

Hans Raupach

University of Zurich

Hans Raupach is a master’s student at the University of Zurich. He received his bachelor’s degree in psychology from Goethe University Frankfurt. From 2022 to 2023 he studied at Osaka University. He is interested in clinical psychology and the history and practice of psychology in Japan.

Francis Ray D. Subong

Guidance and Counselling Association & Iloilo National High School / Dominican International

Francis Ray D. Subong has been in the field of education for more than a decade. He is a staunch advocate of guidance and counselling in the Philippines. In 2022, he received the US State Department’s Fulbright Distinguished Award for the International Teaching Programme. He is also one of the training consultants of the National Center for Mental Health’s Crisis Hotline Responders.

Nicholas Tajan

Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies, Kyoto University

Nicolas Tajan is a psychoanalyst and associate professor at Kyoto University. In 2021, Routledge JAW series published his open access book entitled ＂Mental Health and Social Withdrawal in Contemporary Japan: Beyond the Hikikomori Spectrum.＂ In 2022, he received an award from CIPPA for his work on autism.

Mantak Yuen

Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong.

Mantak Yuen is an Associate Professor and Director of the Laboratory for Creativity and Talent Development, Centre for Advancement in Inclusive and Special Education, The University of Hong Kong, China. He is a registered counselling and educational psychologist, a Global Career Development Facilitator, and a certified Laughter Yoga Leader. He has developed and validated The Life Skills Development Self-Efficacy Inventories, which are the first measurement tools for assessing Asian adolescents’ self-efficacy in applying life skills in the domains of academic, personal-social, and career and talent development.