This 1.5 hour course explains the importance of counseling in family planning service settings and introduces key family planning counseling skills.
By the end of this course the student should be able to:
Counseling
Counseling is an interpersonal exchange in which a service provider and a client engage in a dialog about a health issue. Effective counseling is essential to ensuring quality of care in services. In their vital role as counselors, service providers educate clients about their options, support clients' choices, and encourage clients to speak openly about their concerns and to ask questions.
They actively engage with clients to help solve any problems they may be experiencing. Clients play an equally important role in the counseling relationship by explaining their health situation and informing the service provider about their preferences and needs. An empowered clients asks questions, actively participates in problem-solving and method choice and provides feedback to the provider over time.
With effective counseling, clients feel empowered and are more likely to make better choices. Clients are also more likely to adhere to treatment, to use a contraceptive method correctly and consistently and to make positive health decisions.
We are pleased to present a selection of counseling materials from the Health COMpass. In this focus package you will find tools for creating counseling materials and for training counselors, as well as samples of project materials.
Introduction adapted from Global Health E-Learning Counseling.
Resources
This guide helps program managers and materials developers transform complicated scientific and technical information into communication materials that audiences can relate to and understand. The guide provides practical ways to organize information and use language and visuals.
This counseling curriculum was developed to help recognize counseling as a skill and allocate sufficient classroom time for practicing skills and receiving feedback by addressing the needs of return clients in addition to new clients
This flipchart is part of the VMMC Communication Toolkit which was developed to create and sustain demand for Voluntary Male Medical Circumcision (VMMC) and reinforce that, while VMMC reduces risk for men, it does not prevent
This is a multipurpose decision-making aid for clients: a decision-making aid for clients, a job-aid and reference manual for providers; a training resource.
This training curriculum for tuberculosis (TB) health care workers introduces principles of interpersonal communication and counseling of clients on TB and HIV, providing practical experience in TB and HIV counseling skills through a three-day workshop.
The set of cue cards is designed to help a range of community- and facility-based providers to counsel adolescents and young people on their contraceptive options.
The Healthy Timing and Spacing of Pregnancy (HTSP) Counseling Pathways: A Counseling Tool for Health Care Providers can be used to identify a woman who may be at risk of a closely spaced pregnancy or pregnancy at too early an age.
These counseling cards were produced as part of a community-based child health program in 43 communities in the Dominican Republic. The program philosophy, structure and materials were adapted from the successful AIN (Atencion Integral a la Ninez) model for community-based growth promotion with support from USAID’s BASICS project.
The Communication for Healthy Living (CHL) project based in Egypt from 2003-2011 worked through a national working group to implement SBCC strategies that addressed family needs through a life stages
These tools were created to help health workers before, during and after a counseling session so that they can better support
The tools consist of the following parts:
This flipchart is designed to guide the service provider through the PMTCT counseling session. It is divided into four sections. Each section is marked by a different color. The following are the various sections:
- Information about pre-test HIV counseling
The Life Choices Family Planning Flip Chart was created as part of the "Life Choices" campaign in Ghana. It is a counseling tool with full-color illustrations and basic information on each contraceptive method, including: description of method, how it works, advantages and disadvantages.
The Grow.Glow.Go Nutrition Flip Chart is a 36-page spiral bound, laminated document with a triangular stand containing a detailed blueprint for child nutrition from birth to 5 years of age.
