President of the College of Counselling and Psychology (CCP), Rev. Prof. Samuel Oheneba-Dornyo has admonished graduands to go out there to heal a hurting world.
In a speech he delivered at the 9th Graduation Ceremony, themed "Healing a Hurting People: The Role of Professional Counsellors” and held at Haatso, Accra, Friday, 26th April, 2024, he noted that the world is in a difficult state and the cardinal 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, emphasising 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.
In recounting the historical trajectory of the school, he noted that it started at Cantonments in Accra as 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 the year 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 Counseling Programs to the Ghana Tertiary Education Council (GTEC). The College is awaiting certification for these programs to roll soon. "This is how far God has brought us," stated an elated school President.
In order to push 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 the year 2014, according to Prof. Oheneba-Dornyo, the College has trained at the Executive Certificate level, over 1000 Counsellors 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, the 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 that governs 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 the year 2016, the College of Counselling and Psychology has received its 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 current Chairman of National Communications Authority.
The other special guests included, the 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) were present to grace the occasion.
