The Department offers psychological support to students through counselling and referrals. Students face an array of psychosocial problems including drug and substance related problems. These include students’ living realities of addiction to alcohol, drugs and other illegal substances. Some struggle with reintegration into the university after rehabilitation. The ever present mental struggle to relapse to drugs and substance abuse is also a reality for students who would have come back to university after rehabilitation. Some of the challenges also stem from academic pressures, failure to meet financial demands of university tuition fees and family related challenges. A large percentage of our students are young people who are invariably engaged in love relationships within and off campus. Often these relationships trigger off psychological challenges such as depression and in worst cases even suicidal thoughts.

The department relies on the Chaplain (who is housed in the department) as well as university counsellors in every campus to mitigate these challenges. Counselling sessions are available both physically and virtually. The counsellors schedule counselling sessions with students in need and refer them for rehabilitation and further counselling services when need arises. The chaplain and counsellors often have to call parents and guardians (with students’ consent) to help the students overcome their challenges. The university also makes room for fledgling counsellors through peer counselling to assist with students who need these services. Peer counsellors are easier to access and students find it relatively easier to approach them for assistance in matters they consider sensitive. To complement all these efforts, the university has regular as well as vibrant health and psychosocial awareness campaigns/activities in all campuses every semester. These cover sexual reproductive health rights, HIV and Aids, mental health awareness, drugs and substance abuse, gender based violence among others.