In an effort to increase the accessibility of counselling services within the University, the University of Cape Coast’s counselling center has officially launched the E-counselling and peer-counselling projects for students, faculty, and staff of the University.
These projects will roll out beginning of next semester and will run concurrently with the traditional face-to-face counseling approach.
In an exclusive interview with ATLFM NEWS at the sideline of the launch, the Director of the Counselling Center, Rev. Dr. Father. Anthony Kwabena Nkyi noted that both Initiatives are a part of his outfit’s effort to assist students and faculty members in finding solutions to stressful situations and problems they face.
He said “sometimes students especially feel more comfortable talking to their peers than lectures or parents…So we decided to develop the e-counselling and peer counselling project in a bid to offer unlimited opportunity to access counselling services at the university.”
According to him, a research he conducted together with his team revealed that most students do not prefer to sit down for long hours for counselling sessions because of their busy schedules while others also tend to feel shy discussing their problems with someone.
In developing the e-counselling project, he said “we at the counselling center collaborated with the tech gurus at MIS in the university to bring this service to fruition. And our peer counsellors are trained to provide listening, support, and alternatives to the students while avoiding dishing out advice. They have also been trained on when to refer the person to a professional counselor.”
He added that with the e-counselling service, students in the comfort of their homes can choose to either use the service via phone call, zoom et cetera.
He, therefore, urged students and faculty to take advantage of both initiatives.
Mr. Divine Selorm Wemegah, Assistant System Analyst with the Management Information System (MIS) Section of UCC, described how faculty and staff can access the e-counselling services through their respective portals.
He said “Students would be able to access this system by logging into their portals and then clicking on the counseling service link. And for the University’s staff, we have integrated it into their portal. So what they need to do is just to go onto their portal, click on the counseling service and then provide the necessary information that they have to provide for the counsellors to be able to get access to them.”
He however assured that all the necessary protocols and security measures have been put in place to ensure that every single piece of information or data sent through the system is well protected.
Speaking on behalf of the Vice- chancellor, Provost of the College of Educational Studies, Prof. Ernest Kofi Davis, applauded the counselling center for implementing both projects, adding that it had been launched at an opportune time and in line with the digitalization agenda of the university
“Currently, the student population of our university is close to 60 thousand, and meeting the psychosocial needs of around 60 thousand students is not easy. So the two projects, that is e-counselling and peer counselling will provide an avenue for the counseling center to take counseling services to the doorstep of our students. These projects sit very well with the digitalization agenda of the university, and management is excited about it.” He said.
While noting that counselling services constitute a major aspect of student support services in many world-class universities, he said it is his hope that the initiative will go a long way, to help the university maintain its position as the best university in Ghana, West Africa, and globally.
He, therefore, urged both university and peer- counsellors to endeavor to work to uphold the standards of counselling.
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Source: Emmanuella Ama Gyamfi/ATLFMNEWS
