NOUN professor urges Nigerians to embrace psychosocial counselling in daily life
A Professor of Counselling Psychology at the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), Fidel Onjefu Okopi, has stressed that psychosocial counselling should not be confined to schools, clinics or offices, but should become a vital part of everyday life.
Okopi, a member of NOUN’s Faculty of Education, made the call while delivering the institution’s 37th Inaugural Lecture on Thursday at the university’s conference centre in Abuja.
In the lecture, titled “From Heart to Heart: Integrating Psychosocial Counselling into Daily Life to Build A Harmonious Nigeria,” the professor explained that counselling matters in daily living because it is shaped by emotions, relationships, and life contexts.
According to him, psychosocial counselling promotes self-awareness, resilience, adaptability, and meaningful connections, helping people to heal, grow, and live with purpose. He further stressed the importance of what he described as “the power of counselling without a counsellor.”
He explained that counselling is often seen as something reserved for clinics or professionals, but its true essence lies in human connection.
“Counselling is not limited to clinics or professionals; it is the practice of human connection through listening, empathy, reflection, and support, skills anyone can learn,” Okopi said.
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Elaborating further, he added: “You do not need to be a therapist to listen deeply to someone’s pain, help a child to manage emotions, guide a young person in making good decisions, resolve conflict with empathy, encourage resilience during tough times or creating safe spaces where people feel heard, respected, and supported.”
The professor also advised that counselling should begin at home, noting that “home is our first place of learning, care, and belonging. It can either nurture wellbeing or breed tension.
“Counselling is not only for professionals, it can be lived out daily in homes, schools, and communities through simple acts like attentive listening, kindness, reflection, and validation.
“Core counselling tools, empathy, active listening, supportive conversation, can be practised by anyone with a willingness to learn.”
Speaking on family and community wellbeing, Okopi said when psychosocial counselling skills and values enter family and community life, they transform relationships. He noted that conflicts no longer divide but instead become opportunities for respect and mutual understanding.
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He said: “Trust and safety flourish when principles such as confidentiality and unconditional positive regard are lived out in homes, classrooms, and communities.
“Even without a counsellor, the beauty of these skills is that they are not reserved for professional counsellors alone. Parents, teachers, peers, and community leaders can all become first-line helpers.”
The inaugural lecturer stressed that counselling values such as respect, confidentiality, compassion, cultural sensitivity, and integrity should extend beyond therapy into families, schools, and communities. According to him, “when practised daily, they foster psychological safety, allowing people to speak, feel and grow without fear or shame.”
The Vice-Chancellor of NOUN, Prof. Olufemi A. Peters, commended Okopi for his insights, noting that NOUN has the largest number of counsellors in any Nigerian university. He said this reflected the high regard the institution places on counselling and its practitioners.
Peters further thanked the professor “for making us to be aware that we all can be counsellors in our everyday life, making us to understand that we do not have to be professional counsellors to help out in our society.”
Details of the lecture were contained in a statement issued by NOUN’s Director of Media and Publicity, Ibrahim Sheme. He confirmed that the event was well attended by principal officers and staff of the university, invited guests, as well as members of Prof. Okopi’s family.
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