President of the College of Counselling and Psychology (CCP), Rev. Prof Samuel Oheneba-Dornyo, admonished graduates to go out there and heal a hurting world.
In a speech delivered at the 9th Graduation Ceremony themed “Healing a Hurting People: The Role of Professional Counsellors” in Accra on Friday, April 26, he noted that the world is in a difficult state and the primary merit of training counsellors is to provide healing and direction for a hurting world.
The College President shared that the vision of the college is to be a world-class institution for training Professional Counsellors who can heal a hurting world, with a mission to educate and develop the talents and skills of individuals to become Professional Counsellors, emphasizing the use of modern scientific tools and cutting-edge innovative training in a traditional lecture form, distance learning, a virtual campus model, and practical attachment under supervision.
Recalling the historical trajectory of the school, he noted that it started at Cantonments in Accra as the International Theological Seminary in 1998, training Ministers of the Gospel and Christian Counsellors. In 2004, the school initiated the journey towards accreditation from the National Accreditation Board (NAB) of the Ministry of Education (GES).
“Accreditation is a long process of meeting stringent requirements for educational assurance, quality, and high standards of excellence,” stated Prof. Oheneba-Dornyo, highlighting that in 2013 they received institutional authorization and were asked to seek affiliation. “We gained affiliation with the Trinity Theological Seminary, Legon in 2014,” emphasized the President of CCP.
Currently, according to Rev. Oheneba-Dornyo, the school has received Accreditation and submitted the Post Graduate Diploma and a Master of Arts in Counselling Programs to the Ghana Tertiary Education Council (GTEC). The College is awaiting certification for these programs to roll out soon. “This is how far God has brought us,” stated an elated school President.
To propel the school to the next level, it continues to subscribe annually to the world’s most exhaustive E-Library, where students have access to over 5000 uploaded books, articles, and journals in Counselling Psychology as well as other related fields of study.
Since 2014, according to Prof. Oheneba-Dornyo, the College has trained over 1000 Counsellors at the Executive Certificate level, at the Lay and Para-professional levels. “The cream of our students are Evangelicals, Catholics, Pentecostals, Charismatics, and Muslims, cutting across different professions such as Ministers of the Gospel, Medical Doctors, Human Resource Managers, Engineers, Soldiers, Police, Immigration, Fire Service, and Customs etc.”
The President of CCP revealed they have students in all the regions of Ghana as well as those coming from other countries including Nigeria, Sudan, Somalia, Rwanda, Gambia, USA, UAE, Uganda, UK, and Canada, among others.
In examining the legal framework governing counselling in Ghana, Rev. Oheneba-Dornyo hinted that, with the passage of Act 857 of the Health Professions Regulatory Bodies Act 2013 by the Parliament of the Republic of Ghana, it established the Ghana Psychology Council (GPC) with its mandate of supervising the practice of applied psychology/Counselling.
Since 2016, the College of Counselling and Psychology has received accreditation from the GPC to run its courses.
The special guest of honour for the occasion was Okatakyie Ababio Boakye Danquah II, Honorary Consul, Consulate of Jamaica, Managing Partner, Minka-Premo, Osei-Bonsu, Bruce-Cathline & Partners, and the current Chairman of the National Communications Authority.
Other special guests included Rev. Prof. Johnson Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu, President, Trinity Theological Seminary, Legon; Dr. Sampson Atiemo, Chairman of the Governing Council and Members of Council, the College of Counselling and Psychology; Dame (Dr) Mrs. Mary Anane-Mensah, Ag. Registrar of the College of Counselling and Psychology (CCP); Ms. Anna Plange, Ag. Registrar of the Ghana Psychology Council (GPC), and Mr. Frank Owiredu-Yeboa, the Executive Secretary of Ghana Academy of Christian Counsellors (GACC), who were present to grace the occasion.
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