Psychologists tasked to embrace psychological consulting and entrepreneurial mindset

Accra, June 28, GNA - Professor Joseph Osafo, Head, Psychology Department, University of Ghana (UG), has called on psychologists to embrace psychological consulting and entrepreneurial mindsets.

He said currently there are a lot crisis management issues and psychologists are likely to be engaged for their services, and this highlights the need for them to be well positioned to take up such opportunities.

Prof Osafo said creating a business from psychology was not an anti-human activity as long as this was done with the purview of licensure regulations and credible experience.

He said this in his presentation on ‘Choosing Consulting Career Path’ during a Continuous Professional Development (CPD) Seminar in Accra.

It was organised by the Ghana Psychological Association (GPA) in collaboration with the Department of Psychology, UG and Ghana Telecom University College, on the theme: “Professional Development and Consulting Protocol: Psychologists as Entrepreneurs”.

Prof Osafo said it is prudent to build policies with science, and these are areas psychologists can intervene, particularly in education, healthcare, improved productivity, crime prevention and rehabilitation of criminals, and transport safety.

He said after graduate training it was important to acquire consultation skills to help address community needs and fostering social betterment, advocate for underserved population, and programming interventions especially primary prevention intervention.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency on the topic Professional Report Writing, Dr Erica D. Dickson, GPA President, underscored the need for professional report, saying one could do a good job but failing to communicate it appropriately through a report was unacceptable.

She said it served as a record for others who may collaborate with the psychologist working on the client in various aspects, hence, good record keeping was a good skill and must be done well.

“If you do not write a good patient or client records and there are issues that arise, it is the same documents that would be fallen on, to either settle an ethical case or legal case, therefore, you must show competency and take notes of essential details”, she said.

Dr Inusah Abdul-Nasiru, an industrial and organisational psychologist, said the role of psychologists was key in national development, stating that "this is because when the psychologist is consulting, he or she conducts research and observes issues, at the same time".

He said in this regard whatever recommendations or advise to be given to national policy makers would be based on facts.

“Psychologists as consultants are really strategic and if we want to make progress in terms of development, they should be engaged," he said.

Dr Abdul-Nasiru, who is also a Lecturer at the Department of Psychology, UG, said for instance issues concerning employment and unemployment, education and even issues about building human capital were all issues at the doorsteps of psychologists and could be handled easily.

Dr Collins Badu Agyemang, Industrial and Organisational Psychologist and National Vice-President of GPA, told GNA that if someone is not competent, well trained, well licensed and with the mandate to practice the person begins to adulterate the service they provide.

He said “the fact that we deal with clients we need not veer off into romantic relationships and that we only have the humble privilege to provide psychological services”.

More so, he said, “by their seductive behavior in dress, glittery makeup, bodily movement and suggestive remarks, some women at work invite rape, sexual assaults, harassment which otherwise could have been avoided”.

Dr Agyemang, who underscored the need for practitioners to brand themselves, noted that the CPD aims at building the capacity of all professional members, as psychology and its practice thrives on competency.

GNA

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