European University of Lefke (EUL) Faculty of Education Psychological Counselling and Guidance Department (PCG) organized a conference themed “Current Issues on Psychological Counselling and Guidance”. Mersin University Head of the Department of Psychological Counselling and Guidance Prof. Dr. Alim Kaya attended to the conference as a speaker.

Before starting his speech, Kaya underlined that EUL Department of Psychological Counselling and Guidance students are the group which comes to the island with the highest points and said that in this sense the quality of EUL is ever increasing. Kaya said that PCG passes through periods such as birth, childhood and puberty just like human beings, and in terms of PCG Turkey is in its puberty period which has crises of identity as a developmental problem and stressed that Turkey is faced with crises of identity in the field of PCG.

Kaya: PCG graduates prevents the society from a mental breakdown

The presentation of Kaya was collected under the titles of; identity issue, evolution phenomenon, opportunities and problems waiting ahead of Psychological Counselling and Guidance. During his presentation Kaya specified the position of Psychological Counselling and Guidance Department among mental health crew as; “Dear students, you are the protectors who are going to prevent the society from a mental breakdown”.

Kaya explained the education types of PCG, what it serves, whom it serves and with which approach it serves with his visual presentations. Kaya pointed out that PCG has five basic subfields which are; school psychological counselling, family and marriage counselling and psychological career counselling.

Kaya: If your occupational identity is on the right track, achieving great things in your profession deems likely.

Kaya stated that protecting the mental health of every single member of the society including kids and youth is as important as treating mental illnesses and said primary education and secondary education students constitutes one quarter of the Turkish population and to train these kids as healthy individuals in terms of mental health is the most important task of the psychological consultants.

Kaya said that there aren’t any theoretical and scientific differences between psychological consultancy and psychotherapy but point out that each discipline has a unique language which sever the disciplines from each other. Kaya stated “If your occupational identity is on the right track, achieving great things in your profession deems likely” and explained their occupational identity to the students. He also dwelled on the fact that the establishment date of PCG goes back 100 years but in Turkey it was established 30 years ago.

At the end of the conference Dean of Dr. Fazıl Küçük Faculty of Education Dr. Oğuz Serin expressed his sincere thanks to Kaya and presented a certificate of appreciation.