Perryman Guides Belize in Establishing a National Model for School Counselors

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Assistant professor Kristi Perryman with Denise Lenares-Solomon in Belize City.

Kristi Perryman, an associate professor in the College of Education and Health Professions' counseling program, spent part of her summer over 2,000 miles away from campus helping Belize establish a national model for the country's school counselors.

Perryman, director of the college's Office of Play Therapy Research and Training, visited the country twice over the summer. During the first visit, Perryman and her husband, Paul Blisard, who also teaches in the U of A counselor education program, assessed needs and gathered information about the school system, visiting schools and meeting with administrators and teachers.

"Their school counselors wanted training, and they wanted help developing a national model for Belize school counseling to clarify their roles and be able to better serve their students," Perryman said.

Perryman partnered with Denise Lenares-Solomon, Ph.D., a U of A counseling alum and Belize native, to plan and implement a three-day training in Belize City. Their work began with weekly Zoom meetings with executives from the Belize School Counseling Association. A survey was also conducted to evaluate the needs of the school counselors in preparation for the training. Dreana Holloway, one of Lenares-Solomon's Ph.D. students at Capella University, led this process.

Over the summer, U of A counseling Ph.D. student and graduate assistant Rachael Crofford took the lead on developing the Belize School Counseling Code of Ethics, working directly with the school's counselors. Each visit consisted of working with members of the education realm to begin systematic changes throughout the school system. Perryman conducted the three-day training in person with Lenares-Solomon via Zoom. The training included development of a mission and vision, creating student standards and learning to use a time and task analysis. Identifying gaps and interventions was also an important part of the training.

Counselors across the country traveled to Belize City to attend the three-day training and learn about changes that would be implemented.

In the United States, the American School Counselor Association provides support as well as a national model for counselors to follow. The association provides a framework that prioritizes the empowerment and advocacy of school counselors, which is absent in Belize's education system. There, about 30 employees split their time as school counselors and teachers.

"A lot of their time gets eaten up by substituting for teachers or teaching various non-counseling subjects," Perryman said.

Since the pandemic, Perryman said there has been more of a need for the counselor-teacher hybrids to be more accessible for their students' counseling needs, such as direct services as well as referrals and consulting. 

Perryman and Lenares-Solomon have planned two more visits to Belize to help keep the momentum going. The next training is scheduled for November. Perryman said in addition to counselor education training, they will visit primary and secondary schools within each of the country's four zones.

The counselors have already started keeping time-task analyses and meeting with their principals to review their roles since the training. The U of A and Capella team will host monthly support groups via Zoom to help guide the project.

"Previously, three-day trainings have been conducted by professionals outside Belize, but once they left, there wasn't support in place to keep it going," Perryman said. "So, this was our best option to help make it sustainable for them."

Aside from the rich experience of working with teachers and counselors in Belize, Perryman left the country carrying memories of new adventures. She spent some of her time with Sonia Lenares, Denise Lenares-Solomon's mother, and her family. Lenares took Perryman to a party hosted by Attallah Shabazz, daughter of Malcolm X, and to the Emancipation Festival. She also attended KTV Remix — which is similar to the U.S. television show The Voice — and visited the Mayan ruins at Alton Hon.

Perryman said Belizean counselors are diligently working to change the education system one step at a time, and she considers it an honor to be working alongside them.