President’s Welcome

Fáilte róimh go léir!

It is my great honour and delight to welcome you to our Institute of Guidance Counsellors (IGC) website.

It is a privilege to serve as President of the Institute of Guidance Counsellors and to represent a profession that makes such a profound difference in people’s everyday lives. I am especially proud of the essential work our members undertake daily for the benefit of individuals, families and communities.

Our website is a great portal for all those interested in Guidance Counselling and Lifelong Guidance. Here, you will find information about our profession, our strategic priorities, research and policy publications, professional development opportunities, supervision, membership, events and the latest news from across the Institute.

The IGC is the professional body for Guidance Counsellors in Ireland. Our members work across post-primary education, Further Education and Training, Adult Education, Higher Education, private practice and other settings, supporting people of all ages to make informed educational, career and personal decisions. Undeniably, the strength of the IGC lies in its members who frequently volunteer as National Executive Representatives, Branch Chairpersons, Secretaries, Treasurers, CPD Coordinators and Supervision Officers. Their dedication to the IGC is deeply appreciated and commended. At the heart of our profession is a commitment to ethical practice, advocacy, research, professional excellence and the belief that every individual deserves access to high-quality guidance from a qualified Guidance Counsellor. Our Institute exists to support this work and to provide a strong voice for Guidance Counsellors both nationally and internationally. We are strongly committed to ensuring that our profession is recognised, understood, valued and appropriately resourced.

The IGC will continue to advocate for a holistic and vibrant, highly professional, and adequately funded Guidance Counselling service across the lifespan and across all sectors. We will continue to champion the highest standards of professional practice through lifelong learning, high-quality supervision, evidence-informed advocacy and a steadfast commitment to those we serve. I urge all members to reach out to your IGC Branch, attend CPD and supervision, and avail of the warm support of your IGC colleagues. Together, we will continue to raise the profile of Guidance Counselling and ensure that every learner and client has access to the professional Guidance Counselling service they deserve.

Thank you for visiting our website. I hope it strengthens our stakeholders’ understanding of our role and our profession. I invite you to peruse our website at your leisure and to contact us if we can be of assistance.

Ní neart go cur le chéile.

Valerie Fitzpatrick
President

From the Secretary-General

When I took up the role of Secretary-General on July 1st, it felt like a continuation of the work Valerie and I had been doing because the work of the Institute has never been about any one office or any one person. It is about a community of Guidance Counsellors, in every county and every branch, who show up for students and clients every single day.

A new role, a shared purpose

The Secretary-General role is a new chapter for the IGC. This is a much-needed senior leadership role in line with the IGC Strategic Plan 2024-2027. Put simply, my job is to serve the members: to support our President, Valerie Fitzpatrick, and the Board, to lead and manage our head office team, and to make sure that the voice of Guidance Counsellors is heard clearly, consistently and early wherever decisions about guidance counselling are made. As I said in Belfast when we announced Conference 2027: ask us before the policy is written, not after.

I come to this role after 35 years as a teacher, and as a Guidance Counsellor, at St. Macartan’s College, Monaghan. Everything I know about this profession I learned in a school corridor, in a one-to-one meeting, in the quiet moment when a young person begins to see a future for themselves. That is the work. Everything else exists to protect it.

What I stood for, and still stand for

When I sought election, I set out a small number of clear priorities, and they remain my compass now.

Identity and recognition. Words matter. We are Guidance Counsellors, and what we practise is guidance counselling. I have written and spoken about why that language matters, because when our identity is blurred, our profession is diminished and, more importantly, the people we serve lose out. Our Professional Recognition Roadmap is about ensuring that the qualifications, the ethics and the expertise of our members are named, valued and protected.

Strong branches, connected members. The strength of the IGC has always been local. Our branch renewal work, including mentoring structures and a proper welcome and induction for new members, is about making sure that no Guidance Counsellor, whether newly qualified or long serving, ever feels they are working alone.

Evidence, not anecdote. Our National Survey 2024/25, conducted by Dr Eimear McDonnell with responses from almost half our 1,500 plus members, gives us something powerful: EVIDENCE. Evidence of the breadth of what Guidance Counsellors do, and evidence of where the system falls short. We have brought those findings to school management bodies, to the Oireachtas, and to European partners, and we will keep bringing them, because guidance allocation is not a favour to be granted. It is a commitment to be honoured, and a right. We will hold the system to account.

Listening first. Leadership begins with listening. Through our stakeholder listening events and through every branch visit, my door, my inbox and my phone are open to members.

Looking ahead

This past year has given me some of the proudest moments of my professional life: addressing the gathering of members at the IGC National Conference in TU Dublin, addressing CPD days at the University of Limerick and Trinity College Dublin, and closing the CareersPortal National Career Skills Awards. We are looking forward to IGC Conference 2027 on 5^th and 6^th March in Belfast.

Recently, I borrowed a line from Mary McAleese, who observed that the world divides into cynics and doers. Guidance Counsellors are doers. We always have been. And as I have said before, we can do better, and we must do better, for our members and for every student and client who walks through our doors.

I am honoured to serve you as your Secretary-General. Let’s do this together.

Secretary-General,
Institute of Guidance Counsellors
secretarygeneral@igc.ie