Counselling
Counselling is a process where the client and counsellor work together through purposeful conversation in an understanding environment to come up with different ways to experience, understand and respond to life situations.
Talking to a professional counsellor can help people to deal with strong emotions, sort through confusion or worry, plan ways of making positive life changes, and feel understood and supported. Counselling can provide the support to help people to feel empowered in their lives.
How can counselling help?
The Counselling Services department provides assistance to vulnerable individuals and families in a number of different ways: managing emotional responses, behavioural functioning, relationship management and communication, goal setting and pursuit, refining problems, identifying strengths and possible solutions, promoting efficient and effective actions, developing positive coping mechanisms and many more.
The kinds of issues that might be dealt with in counselling include:
Anger management
Anxiety and panic
Coping with health risks
Coping with a terminal illness
Coping with family member illness
Depression
Family or relationship issues
Grief and loss
Lack of motivation
Life events and transitions
Self-esteem
Stress management
Sexual/emotional/physical abuse
Substance abuse
Suicidal thoughts
Teenage and unplanned pregnancy
The Counselling Service Department work in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, Department of Social Welfare, Department of Correctional Services and many community organizations, as well as with the valued support of our donors, to ensure counselling is available to:
Patients, caregiver, family member and staff at health facilities
Children and women who experience all forms of abuse
Antenatal mothers and their husbands or partners at health clinics
Vulnerable individuals such as sex workers, gay, lesbian, transgender
HIV positive and their families
Prisoners and prison officers
School students and families affected by flood
Individuals with mental illness and more