Consolate Apio is one of the two pioneer students of the University of the Sacred Heart Gulu who recently graduated with first class degrees. Consolate's journey into the Counselling Psychology profession is an inspiring and encouraging one that many can relate with. As we celebrate Consolate Apio for her first class degree (CGPA: 4.70), we would like to thank her sponsors for making her dream a reality.

MY JOURNEY INTO THE COUNSELLING PSYCHOLOGY CAREER (Consolate Apio)

My name is Consolate Apio, a graduate of the Bachelor in Counselling Psychology program at the University of the Sacred Heart Gulu. After my senior six, I was enrolled at Mulago School of Nursing and Midwifery on private sponsorship. My studies were however shattered prematurely in my second year when my elder sister who was paying my tuition suddenly passed on. I painfully dropped out of school. I wasn’t supported through my intense period of grief, bereavement, and loss. I fought my own emotional and psychological battles. It was at that moment that I experienced how powerful it can be not to have anyone for support and encouragement. That was when I realized my call to the Counselling profession. I developed the desire to help others by providing supportive interventions and imparting hope. My dream never died but was delayed.

10 years later I was able to join Caritas Counseling and Training Institute in Gulu where I pursued my Diploma in Counseling. This qualification helped me to get admission to the Bachelor in Counselling Psychology degree program at the young University of the Sacred Heart Gulu in 2017 which was the only institution offering a Counselling Psychology program at a bachelors level.

I am excited to be a pioneer graduate and for having graduated with a first-class degree in Counselling Psychology. The journey towards it has been rich, intense, and sometimes difficult. I would not have done it without the academic scholarship I got through an online search on a website “scholarship for African undergraduate students” I appreciate the great support of the management of the University of the Sacred Heart Gulu especially, the Vice-chancellor, Rev. Fr. Dr. Jino Mwaka who believed in my abilities and provided the necessary support, recommendations, and facilitation to enable me to get and keep the scholarship.

The next step of my career is to pursue a Master of Science in either Clinical Psychology or a Master of Science in Counseling Psychology with a higher preference to clinical psychology. this will leverage me to diagnose or evaluate mental and emotional disorders of individuals and in addition become a mentor, trainer, role model and be amongst the best lecturers to all who are pursuing Counselling Psychology at all levels.

I would like to encourage anyone out there never to give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. Don’t reach the end of your life and the dreams inside of you begin to complain that “because of you, we were not born”. step out of your comfort zone, dream big and never give up because many years from now the world will be a better place to live in because we were part of a noble cause that promoted mental health and wellness and healed the emotional wounds of those going through tough times in life, restored sanity and above all strengthened human ability to confront fears with compassion, hatred with love and misunderstanding with dialogue.