Diploma in Public Health Counselling

Explore how psychology applies to health, education, community work, and the workplace, guiding counseling, behavior change, motivation, and well-being in Zambia, including HIV prevention, gender-based violence, and substance abuse programs.

Psychology informs counseling practice by guiding approach selection, assessing mental and emotional problems, and boosting empathy, communication, and rapport. It also underpins trauma support and professional growth in crisis situations.

Explore how personality blends unique traits, stable patterns, and integrated processes, then learn Freud's psychoanalytic theory, including id, ego, superego, conscious, preconscious, and unconscious levels, psychosexual stages, and defense mechanisms.

Explore how behaviorist theory links personality to environment through conditioning and reinforcement. Examine humanistic growth, Maslow’s needs, self-actualization, trait theories (16 factors, big five), social cognitive theory, and biological influences.

Discover personality assessment methods, including self-report inventories (MMTI, 16TF, NEO TI-ARA), projective tests (Roe-Chanch-Inkblot test) and the TAT, and behavioral assessments, with applications in education, healthcare, workplace, and therapy.

Explore Eric Erickson's eight stages of psychosocial development, from trust versus mistrust to integrity versus despair, and see how lifelong, multidimensional growth is shaped by heredity and environment.

Outline the stages from prenatal germinal to fetal development, infancy, childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. Emphasize genetics, maternal health, nutrition, stress, and psychosocial and social factors shaping growth.

Understand the components of emotion, including physiological arousal, cognitive interpretation, and behavioral expression, and examine key theories (James-Lange, Cannon-Bard, two-factor, Lazarus) and their impact on counseling, motivation, and emotion regulation.

Explore self-reflection questions about the mind, motivation, communication, and emotions, showing how the mind influences resilience, problem solving, and self-actualization for counselors and clients.

Explore the basics of counselling, including attending, silence, reflecting and paraphrasing, clarifying and open questions, focusing, building rapport, summarizing, and immediacy to engage clients with confidence.

Develop active listening by speaking less and listening more, giving undivided attention, observing nonverbal cues, and using paraphrasing, reflection, and open-ended questions to build rapport and guide client understanding.

Explore the three types of counseling - client-centered, directive, and problem-solving - highlighting non-directive client-led approaches, open-ended questions, and a practical plan from problem definition to implementation.

Builds a client-counsellor relationship through professional greetings, respectful boundaries, non-threatening body language, and attentive listening, guiding three counseling stages from exploration to action with respect, empathy, and genuineness.

Explore ethics in counselling, including confidentiality, informed consent, autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, justice, and professional standards to protect client welfare and ensure fair treatment.

Explore open-ended questions to gain client clarity, encourage detailed disclosures, and drive one-question-at-a-time counseling discussions. Differentiate open-ended from closed-ended questions to keep discussions focused and aligned with the client's concerns.

Learn to conduct HIV counseling and testing with voluntary consent and confidentiality, build client rapport, and navigate pretest, rapid same-day results, and post-test guidance.

Counselling and testing empower individuals to know their HIV status voluntarily, obtain informed consent, and access linked health services, enabling risk reduction, adherence to treatment, and prevention of transmission.

Targeting CD4 cells, HIV enters host cells and uses reverse transcriptase to convert its RNA into DNA, then replicates. Suppressing the virus is possible with treatment, though no cure exists.

Learn how to measure HIV sickness using CD4 cell counts and viral load to assess immune status and viral burden, and monitor opportunistic infections.

Define acquired immunodeficiency syndrome as immunodeficiency virus-induced immune failure and aids-defining illnesses, with cd4 below 200. Discuss transmission routes, including sexual contact, mother-to-child, blood and fluids, and what cannot transmit.

Learn how rapid HIV tests detect antibodies using oral or blood samples, interpret control and test lines, confirm positives with follow-up tests, and follow safety precautions.

Explore how hiv progresses from infection to aids, influenced by stress, nutrition, depression, alcohol or drug use, and access to care, and understand the four stages for counseling.

Explore Freud's psychoanalytic approach, linking behavior to unconscious motives and early conflicts, with the id, ego, and superego shaping personality and defense mechanisms guiding healing.

Delve into conscious and unconscious processes, defense mechanisms, transference, and free association; examine dream analysis and interpretation of unconscious conflicts to bring unconscious material into consciousness and foster emotional healing.

Examine Carl Rogers’ person-centered theory and Maslow’s needs, focusing on self-actualization and innate goodness. Show how counselor attitude, unconditional positive regard, empathy, and active listening promote growth and self-acceptance.

Compare psychoanalytic, behavioral, cognitive behavioral, and humanistic approaches to understand their goals, methods, counselor roles, cultural sensitivity, and ethical responsibility; integrate these theories to address client needs in Zambia.

Explore existential and Galstead therapies that emphasize personal freedom, responsibility, and authentic living, guiding clients to create meaning and endure anxiety in a life without inherent purpose.

Integrative counseling models blend techniques from multiple theories to tailor flexible, holistic care that honors client individuality, cultural diversity, and evidence-based practice.

Explore integrative counseling with tailored, flexible, and evidence-based client-centered interventions that address diverse cultural and contextual needs, while upholding ethical standards and prioritizing welfare and autonomy.

Understand why mental health matters and its impact on physical and emotional well-being, performance, relationships, and the economy, and learn to raise awareness while reducing stigma.

Define mental health as a state of well-being where individuals realize abilities, cope with stress, work productively, and contribute to community, aligning with autonomy, responsibility, self-correction, and self-awareness.

Discover how counselling promotes mental health as a public health issue by building coping skills, reducing stigma, and supporting well-being to improve daily functioning and academic and work performance.

Recognize that mental health issues are common and affect individuals and public health, with stigma delaying care. Advance prevention through multi-sector collaboration and promote mental health as a human right.

Mental health issues are common across all ages and diverse, sometimes chronic, with co-occurring forms influenced by genetics, environment, and lifestyle; seek early treatment with therapy, medication, and self-care.

Explore how mental health issues lower quality of life, productivity, and physical health while raising healthcare costs and shaping community well-being through stigma and advocacy.

Discuss how stigma around mental health issues fuels discrimination and internalized shame that deter people from seeking help, and how education and advocacy reduce stigma and improve support.

Learn how prevention through healthy behaviors, supportive networks, and stress management reduces risk of mental health issues, while effective treatments—therapy, medication, lifestyle changes, and support groups—improve well-being.

Explore how mental health issues interconnect with substance abuse, chronic diseases, violence, trauma, and social determinants of health, and learn integrated treatment and counselling to improve outcomes.

Explore how mental health requires a multisectoral approach across healthcare, education, workplace, community-based organizations, and government to address treatment, support, and social determinants.

Recognize mental health as a fundamental component of health and secure the right to accessible, non-discriminatory mental health services. Advocate for dignity, social inclusion, and education about reducing stigma.

Educate yourself about mental health and public health issues to join the fight. Support organizations, advocate for policy change, reduce stigma, and care for others and your own mental health.