PERMANENTsecretary in the Ministry of Education, Skills, Youth and Information, Dr Kasan Troupe says many students still avoid guidance counsellors because of a long-standing trust problem rooted in misunderstanding about confidentiality.

Troupe made the point on Thursday during the Education Transformation Oversight Committee’s quarterly press conference at Shortwood Teachers’ College, where a question from a student at Immaculate Conception High School brought into focus a deeply rooted issue inside Jamaica’s education system — why some students still hesitate to seek help, even when support exists.

Troupe, who said she served as a guidance counsellor for nine years at The Queen’s School, responded with a candid acknowledgement that mistrust has long followed the profession.

However, she argued that the issue is often more complicated than students realise, particularly when counsellors are required to act in situations involving self-harm or other safety concerns.

Troupe suggested that, in many cases, the perception that counsellors are responsible for private matters becoming widely known may not reflect the full reality of how information circulates in school communities.

She argued that by the time some issues formally reach the guidance office they are often already known by several people within the school environment.

Troupe also used the opportunity to explain what she described as one of the most misunderstood aspects of school counselling: Confidentiality is not absolute.

She said guidance counsellors operate within professional and ethical boundaries, and that students are sometimes reluctant to seek help because they do not fully understand when a counsellor is required to involve others for their protection.

“In guidance and counselling there’s something called privileged communication and then there are guardrails to what you cannot say or what you have to say. So if you come to the guidance counsellor and you say you’re going to hurt yourself, now the guidance counsellor has another leg of responsibility to converse with others within your space to protect you. It may come across as a breach but it is an obligation that they have — and that is why at the beginning of a counselling relationship we talk about the limitations to confidentiality,” said Troupe.

To address that, Troupe said the ministry has been trying to widen the support system beyond the traditional guidance office, recognising that not every student will feel comfortable speaking to an adult face to face at school.

According to Troupe, one of the ministry’s responses has been to strengthen peer support structures and encourage schools to build out student-led counselling frameworks alongside professional services.

She was also firm in defending the quality and commitment of the counsellors already serving in the school system, pushing back against the idea that distrust should be read as a sign of incompetence.