Editorial, Applied Practices Special Issue

Abstract

As Editor of this Special Issue of Applied Practices in the Journal of Psychologists and Counsellors in Schools, I am delighted to introduce 10 great articles to you all. The Special Issue is a combination of six invited applied papers from leading Australian researchers, which I will overview and summarise in some detail, and four practitioner papers. Asking already busy top researchers to write something new and relevant for the profession was potentially challenging. I wish to thank all the invited persons for their generosity in first saying yes and then following through across several months in preparing these specific applied papers. Most Australian states are represented by an author, with a fascinating range of topics. Every article draws out the realities of applying research findings when working as a practitioner in schools. For simplicity I will use the nomenclature ‘school counsellor’ here, noting that this term is inclusive of school counsellors, guidance officers and school psychologists. Challenges in writing for practitioners in Australia are both the different titles used and the different models of working as a school counsellor in each state or territory. Nevertheless, every article offers key strategies about effective working practices, as well as providing important clear information about the approach they are presenting. Key themes across all the invited papers include evidence-based research, student involvement, working as part of a school team and with the whole school, overcoming barriers to successful school counselling work, positive and strengths-based approaches, and the specific skills brought by the school counsellor when engaging with students, their families and their teachers in individual counselling and intervention work. In presenting the processes necessary to apply evidence-based practices in schools, the invited papers offer a model to school counsellors about how to effectively implement initiatives in schools. Professor Donna Cross and her team have developed Friendly Schools, a systematic approach to bullying, over many years. In her article, ‘Friendly Schools Bullying Prevention Research: Implications for School Counsellors’, she and her co-authors summarise relevant key findings from a large range of research on bullying, with a focus on the role of school counsellors. The links between bullying and ongoing mental health difficulties are acknowledged, making the enhancement of protective factors, such as parent-child relationships, and early prevention of and intervention with bullying, of crucial importance. The section on bullying perpetrators raises some interesting specific factors and interventions needing to be explored further, as perpetrators might be resistant to typical interventions. School counsellors’ wide-ranging contributions as part of a whole school team are emphasised, including their specific role in providing confidential safe support for students experiencing bullying either as a victim or perpetrator or both. A second article exploring bullying, particularly cyberbullying, is from Professor Barbara Spears and colleagues, titled ‘Using Participatory Design to Inform Cyber/Bullying Prevention and Intervention Practices: Evidence-Informed Insights and Strategies’. The foci on student voice, as well as school staff voice and participation, are fascinating and are highlighted in the two exemplar case studies. School counsellors’ prevention and intervention work with others is acknowledged, while also stressing the importance of context and specificity. COVID 19 pandemic factors are included and integrated meaningfully. Personally, I found the sections contextualising children and young people, historically and in relation to their rights and participation, particularly interesting and helpful when considering bullying and other issues impacting students in schools and beyond in 2021. The detailed case studies can be