• Do you think that offering counselling is part of a teacher’s role, or is it a specialist role?

I think it is part of a teacher's role since teachers interact directly with students. But it is also important for the teachers to know how to provide counselling in the right way. If teachers can do counselling correctly, they can do this in a more effective way than a specialist can.

• Are there any risks involved in offering this support to learners?

Yes. If the counsellor does not follow the core skills. It can even make the student more stressful.

• Is this something that your school already provides or what further support or training would your school/learning centre need in order to be able to provide counselling support to learners?

The school that I used to teach does not have counselling session. But, the school that I attended, provides this. 

I would say the program was great but because of the strict schedule, it was not as effective as it should be. As this is one of the important session to have at schools in conflict areas, we need to make sure it is a part of the curriculum and teachers, to be aware of the counselling skills.