Dr. Clawson Thomas –President National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC) and Dr. Wendi Schweiger, associate Vice-President for NBCC International comes to Uganda.
On 24th -26th August 2012, Uganda Counseling and Support Services (UCSS) will host in Uganda Dr. Clawson, President NBCC and Dr. Wendi Schweiger, associate Vice-President for NBCC International. UCSS is a national Non-profit organization with a mission to improve the quality of life and spread God’s love to people in remote communities of Uganda by providing, counseling, social services and spiritual development – one community at a time. UCSS is using a holistic approach that addresses clean water, medical care, education, economic development, counseling and spiritual development. UCSS currently works with the village of Bulike in the eastern region of Uganda. It was founded by Ronald Kaluya and his wife Ronah governed and directed by a local board in Uganda and in the United States of America to help the people of isolated villages by building schools, hosting mobile medical clinics and involving in a model farm and economic programs, as well as drilling wells for clean water in an effort to improve the livelihoods of the people in rural communities. The two eminent personalities from NBCC will be coming to Uganda three months after Dr. Jennifer and Dr. Daniel Williamson were in Uganda for the Mental Health Facilitator (MHF) Program in which 51 mental health trainers/facilitators were trained. MHF is a training designed to improve access to Mental Health Care within communities by educating and training professionals, paraprofessionals and lay people in basics of mental health. The Williamsons are professors from Lindsey Wilson College in Kentucky where Ronald Kaluya received his training. Kaluya says that as a student he was encouraged by the Williamsons to promote counseling in Uganda. Dr. Clawson and Dr. Schweiger will visit Uganda to encourage and promote counseling through certification, licensing and legislature of ethical standards in counseling. They will have the opportunity to follow up with Mental Health Facilitation (MHF) training that was held in May 2012 at Uganda Christian University. During their time in Uganda we hope they will have an opportunity to meet with government ministers/ officials, universities officials and organizations promoting counseling. These meetings will be aimed at promoting partnerships to advance the quality of life through counseling. 