Integrating African Cultural Values in Counselling Practice among Objectives of New MA Program at Catholic Institute

According to the brochure the PSI leadership shared with ACI Africa on June 21, the MA in Psycho-Spiritual Therapy program will entail “face-to-face (in-class) lectures and engagements, regular live one-on-one counselling and spiritual direction sessions.”

Candidates admitted in the program will also be engaged in “growth therapy group sessions, and a combination of physical and online contacts for the execution and supervision of practicum, dissertation writing, case studies, workshops, seminars, and discussions.”

Applicants to the MA program, who should have “no less than two years’ working experience” need to have obtained a first degree in some specific fields of study, namely, Philosophy, Theology, Christian Religious Knowledge, Psychology, or Counselling Psychology.

Applicants may also have a first degree “in any field” alongside “a post graduate diploma in any of the Psychological Sciences.” 

The brochure shared with ACI Africa also indicates that “evidence of good health and competence to do rigorous research work” are also requirements for admission to the MA Abuja Centre program whose total cost is US$7,000.00 per year, inclusive of academic training, spiritual formation, professional exposure, comprehensive health insurance, and upkeep in “a Serviced Self-Contained Room, and Three Meals a Day.”

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“A few scholarship grants may be available for qualified candidates whose application processes are completed by June 30, 2025,” the leadership of the Abuja Centre of the PSI of Lux Terra Leadership Foundation indicates in the brochure in which the deadline for applications is given as July 15 and details of the contact person, the Registrar, are provided, including Email: registrar@psi-online.org.

PSI is a brainchild of Fr. George Ehusani. The Abuja Centre is PSI’s second in Africa, established after the PSI campus in Kenya that has been affiliated to the Kenya-based Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA) since 2014.

Besides the MA degree in Psycho-Spiritual Therapy that prepares candidates to handle a wide range of mental illnesses including depression and mid-life crisis, the Abuja Centre was also initiated to offer a Post-graduate diploma in Psycho-Spiritual Trauma Healing, focusing primarily on trauma.

The PSI affiliation with Veritas University was finalized towards the end of September 2024. A couple of months later, in an interview with ACI Africa, the Vice Chancellor (VC) of the Abuja-based university, Fr. Prof. Hyacinth Ichoku, described the affiliation as a game-changer in Nigeria’s university system, where psycho-spiritual therapy is a novelty.

“At the moment, what we have in Nigerian universities are psychology, psychiatry, and counselling courses. PSI combines psychology and spirituality. It is a whole mind, body, and soul integration. It also integrates culture. PSI’s programs also come with a religious element, which I think is a novel idea,” Fr. Hyacinth said during the 20 November 2024 interview.

The Nigerian Catholic Priest added, “To introduce the element of trauma healing from a spiritual perspective, integrating it with conventional psychology is quite novel. I don’t think there is any program in Nigeria, or even Africa that is offering this kind of program.”

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