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About Us
The Institute's service provision function is
framed within the imperative of the Office of
Student Development and Support, which emphasises
the development of a safe, secure and supportive
campus environment which enhances student learning
and development and is sensitive to the needs and
realities of a diverse student body. Clinical and
counselling psychologists, and intern psychologists
provide free and confidential counselling and
psychological services for personal, academic,
study related, and career problems and concerns.
Close liaison with other service departments, such
as the Campus Health Centre and the Office for
Student Development, allows for an
interdisciplinary setting and for appropriate
referrals. A choice of predominantly short-term
individual therapies, as well as couple, family and
group therapy are practised at the Institute.
The Institute is also recognised for its focus and
expertise in the areas of learning skills hypnosis,
HIV/AIDS, sexuality, sex therapy and reproductive
counselling. Counsellors provide guidance and
information on career planning and development,
subject and career choice, and career and degree
programmes. Career assessment and career
counselling are also offered as a service to high
school learners. Additionally, the service includes
the provision of psychometric testing. Regular
workshops and psychoeducational groups are
facilitated by student counsellors, which focus on
the development of leadership, learning/study
skills, public speaking, assertiveness, anxiety
management and variety of other life skills.
Activities
- Provide professional services (developmental,
preventative and curative/remedial), pro grammes,
training opportunities and resources aimed at
enhancing the quality of life enhancing the quality
of life and wellness of the student community.
- Train and supervise intern psychologists in
accordance with the requirements of the
Professional Board of Psychology.
- Engage in research and scholarship within the
social & health sciences and education, with
particular emphasis on the developmental
behavioural issues of university students
Services and Programmes
Student Mentoring Programme
The student Mentoring Programme (SMP) was
implemented in 2005, and is an initiative aimed at
offering first year students access to a more
experienced academic peer. The relationship takes
on the format of a sustained one-to-one
relationship between an academically competent and
caring student, with a first year student who is
willing to access support to achieve academic
goals. Mentors are involved in training programmes
and workshops throughout the year as a way of
adding value to their mentoring skills. In
addition, the mentors are typically students who
have been involved in other student development
initiatives. On average, mentees meet with their
mentors once a week. During these sessions, goals
are established and strategies (e.g. Study/learning
skills, life skill, etc.) are identified and
implemented.
The programme has multiple benefits for the mentor,
mentee and the campus community as whole. Along
with its skilled mentors, the SMP provides students
with avenues to achieving their educational goals,
and encourages them to engage in proactive measures
(e.g. study/ learning skills, life skills) to
obtain their specified qualifications in the
minimum period required. The SMP strives to
successfully respond to the academic needs of first
year students by offering effective , flexible,
creative and student- centred academic development
initiatives. Students are provided with supportive,
yet stimulating relationships through which they
can become active agents in the process of their
academic growth. Our mentors are committed to
respecting diversity, and value the mentee as an
equal in the mentoring relationship.
Internship Training Programme
The Institute is accredited with Health Professions
Council of South Africa as an internship- training
site for counselling psychologists. It provides
training and supervision for interns from UWC's
Department of Psychology, as well from other
Universities in South Africa and abroad, and serves
as a dynamic placement for students seeking
clinical and counselling training in nontraditional
mental health setting and for those keen to engage
with critical and contextual issues related to the
practice of psychology in Southern Africa. The
Institute also provides placement and supervision
for UWC students in the first year of their
M.Psych. training.
The internship training programme is a well
established function of the Institute which has
garnered, and boasts, valuable theoretical,
clinical and research expertise and experience
among its training staff, thus exemplifying it as a
programme of excellence regionally, as well as
nationally. Since its genesis many intern
psychologists have successfully passed through the
programme and have subsequently progressed to
assume positions of note within the discipline of
psychology. The internship is structured to meet
the requirements of the Professional Board of
Psychology. Accordingly, interns are expected to
demonstrate competency in their overall management
of cases, the clinical application of
interventions, their theoretical knowledge, the
administration and interpretation of psychometric
tests, and record keeping and report writing.
Regular and ongoing supervision, and partipation in
case presentation; roundtable discussion and
relevant professional development activities are
considered to be crucial to the training process.
An attempt is made to create and provide dynamic
learning opportunities for interns, which include
exposure to alternative clinical contexts,
involvement in community-based interventions,
school counselling, participating in other
programmes hosted by the Institute, and the
challenge to interns to explore and expand their
repertoire of theoretical frameworks and models of
therapy.
Research
Research activities within the Institute continue
to be accorded increasing priority and attention,
with staff members being actively engaged in range
of search endeavours. Accordingly, the research
profile of the Institute presents as an impressive
contribution to academic scholarship in general,
and to growing expertise and knowledge in specific
areas interest within the field of psychology and
education, as well as related disciplines within
the social and health sciences. Staff members are
also involved in the research supervision of
postgraduate psychology students from UWC.
Additionally, they are in many collaborative
research pursuits with colleagues from South Africa
and abroad, with some staff members frequently
being commissioned to research, publish and present
on subject areas of interest and relevance to
national and international academic audiences.
Furthermore, staff is routinely invited by the
editorial boards of South Africa and international
journals to review journal articles and books. Some
staff and international journals to review journal
articles and books. Some staff members serve on the
editorial boards of local and international
journals.
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