Effective Christian Counseling for Secondary School Students with Low-Academic Status: A Case for Integration of Biblical Counseling and Psychology

Abstract

In Nigeria, the need for guidance and counseling in schools has been recognized. There is great need for a clear rationale and guidelines for guidance and counseling programs, and also the Guidance counselors (Chike- Okoli, et al 2018). Over the years several researches have been carried out to establish the need for counselors and their services. However, there exists a dearth of empirical studies on the effective strategies to increase impact of guidance counseling services on academic achievement of students. The main aim of this research work was to examine the perception of church and school-based counselors in integrating Biblical counseling and psychology for effective counselling of students with low academic performance status in Public Senior Secondary schools in Niger State of Nigeria. A population was studied and the acquired data collected. Data was analyzed using frequency and simple percentages. The people that participated in the survey all believe that any counseling that is not built upon a solid biblical theology has no authority. Majority of them stand with the integrated view of counseling. They strongly believe that the counselor has the ability to put together the truths of psychology and the bible in a harmonious way. Findings reveal that students with low academic status could be motivated to perform better using effective counseling strategies that integrate biblical principles and psychology. The debate for integrating Biblical Counseling and Psychology is on- going.