Story republished from:  Southland Express – Nina Tapu

A furry brown monkey is helping Southland tamariki talk about their feelings.

The lanky limbed, ochre-eyed primate is a puppet named George whose character was by Miles Guenther-Dotten.

George the monkey puppet springs to life during counselling sessions that Mr Guenther-Dotten holds when he works with children in his role as a counsellor for ChatBus South.

“I start every session where my monkey is talking to them, might be sharing jokes and they might be sharing jokes with the monkey.

“They might play Connect Four or Jenga or a card game with him, and what I find in three to five minutes of play relating to George as a puppet, the amount of relationship and safety that’s built,” Mr Guenther-Dotten said.

The former teacher has been working as a full-time counsellor for ChatBus South for nearly five years, serving schools within the region.

Chatbus South Counsellor Miles Guenther-Dotten counsels tamariki with the help of his puppet, George the monkey. PHOTO: Nina Tapu

The use of George the monkey came from the educator’s familiarity with narrative therapy.

“I was a primary school teacher for about six or seven years and felt restrained, so I got my postgraduate in counselling.

“And when I finished that training, this job came just as I finished.

“So having a primary school teaching background and doing counselling in primary schools was a perfect fit, as I could support not just students, but teachers and also parents,” he said.

He introduced puppets to his mahi as a way for students to externalise their feelings.

“Often they came in with a presenting issue, whether it’s anger, anxiety or something dynamic in their family or with their friends.

“They may choose a puppet to represent anger like in the movie Inside Out or a puppet to represent a family member or represent themselves.

“I learnt that as I introduced George to primary schools and to children ranging from 5 to 13 years old, the amount of belief they had in George was completely dependent on my belief in relationship with George. They related with him because it was real to me.

“And so the funny thing is, often younger ones will ask, you know, is George real with a genuine, honest honesty.

“And I tell them he’s as real as you believe he is.

“They look at me a little bit confused but some kids reveal the secret that he’s a part of me and so we’re relating to parts of ourselves,” he said.

ChatBus South is a free school-based mobile counselling service working in 10 Murihiku primary schools.