Mental Health and Counseling Services

UCSS is providing mental health services throughout the community.

Counseling has been taking place at the Nana Health Center and through mobile counseling services and is available to all age groups throughout the community. We are able to counsel people on grief, health issues, spiritual growth, economic development, education guidance, and psychosocial support. This counseling allows us to address some of the root issues that harm families, individuals and the community and helps people make healthier choices.

What we do:

Mental Health Facilitation (MHF)

Mental Health Facilitation (MHF) is a counseling services that is designed and implemented by the trained para mental health facilitators who provide first aid mental health guidance to community individuals within their immediate communities. This service is implemented in all UCSS programs such as agriculture, economic tempering groups, evangelism, schools, and Nana Health Center. Having mental health care services available within a community has led to healthier choices, more positive outlooks and better quality of life, and an increase in students who stay in school.

Psycho-education for the Community

This mental health program is designed to enable students and their parents to gain insights into their own situations and form solutions and/or health coping mechanisms. We continue to allocate all the required resources and efforts to ensure that mental health is destigmatized and prioritized to facilitate the community’s quality of life.

Mental Health and Counseling Achievements 

  • Hosting counseling sessions: individual and group sessions.
  • Offered counseling services at the Nana Health Center, the secondary school, primary school, churches, at homes, and throughout three communities including Nawaikoke, Buyende, and Buluya.
  • Trained a total of 200 individuals in MHF. The trained MHFs are volunteers who proactively identify individuals who may be most at risk of mental distress or illness and provide the needed first aid mental health.
  • Created a safe and comfortable space/platform, especially for girls to express their challenges and needs through homogeneous support groups which we are calling “girl talk sessions”.
  • Pastors in the Evangelism Department have also been trained as Mental Health Facilitators to promote mental wellness within the church. This is done through the church counseling sessions as well as home visits.
  • Maternal counseling and parenting sessions are offered to mothers to enhance parenting skills, finances, family planning, HIV/AIDS, health and nutrition.
  • Individual counseling sessions are also conducted at the facility as well as HIV/AIDS counseling both pre and post-test.
  • 400 pupils of Bulike Community Primary School attended psychoeducation sessions which focused on mental wellness and empowering them with coping strategies.
  • 120 students of Liberty Community High School received psychoeducation on educational guidance and other relevant topics that promote mental health.

Future Plans for Mental Health and Counseling

  • Train new teams of MHFs to support communities over the post-COVID 19 anxiety and related challenges.
  • Continue offering more services for people in the community and increase availability through phone service and on-site (at home) sessions. .
  • Add seating so that more clients can receive services comfortably.