Alice's Dream of Counseling Psychology

UPDATE: 17.11.2022

Carmen and I reached our initial goal in such a short time…thank you to everyone who gave generously.

We have increased the campaign to $5000 to accommodate Alice's living expenses while studying, and personal therapy sessions that will be required for her education. Alice is a mother of three and grandmother of one, and these additional funds will support her on both her personal and learning journey.

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My name is Andrew Lieberman and it is Alice’s devotion to her community and her special interest in mental health that is at the heart of this GoFundMe appeal.

In April 2022 I had the great fortune of meeting Alice Kirabi, the principal of Eutychus Academy High School in Nairobi, Kenya. Although Alice became principal after initially coming to the school as the accountant, her life’s dream is to become a licensed counseling psychologist. Alice is already a respected leader and peace-maker in her community, both in Nairobi and in her home village five hours up-country. On any given day, Alice is involved in settling tribal and community disputes, raising funds for someone in need, or talking a friend, family, or community member through a crisis. She is what we would call a modern day saint.

Eutychus Academy is a special place for learning and growing. The school, a safe and peaceful oasis located in an otherwise underdeveloped community, has in its charter and mandate the mental health and well-being of its students. Madame Alice, as she is known by the students, works tirelessly to prioritize mental health even as she deals with the myriad of daily issues that arise as principal.

Dr. Stephen Atsatsa, a clinical psychologist and Chair of the Department of Psychology at Catholic University in Nairobi, is an original founder of the school. Under his guidance, students of psychology form the core of volunteers working at Eutychus. When a counselor such as myself from the C.G Jung Institute in Zürich is present, any student may sit for a therapy session, for any reason, and many students hold regular weekly appointments. My dream, along with Dr. Atsatsa and my fellow student and South African colleague, Carmen Mettler, is to expand the mental health offerings at Eutychus, not only to students of neighboring schools, but to the community as a whole. We envision Eutychus becoming the community’s home base for mental health, offering confidential one to one therapy that connects students to both local and worldwide counselors, in person and online.

As partners, we wish to support Alice to move from her role as principal to one focused exclusively on mental health and psycho-social support. Alice’s further eduction is a key factor in our plan and this GoFundMe seeks to raise funds specifically for her to complete the Diploma Certificate Program in Counseling Psychology at Catholic University of East Africa in Nairobi. By western standards the tuition of $3000 for two and half years of full time study is negligible, but for Alice it is beyond reach. We thank you deeply for your support in helping to fund Alice’s professional education, a main ingredient in our collective vision of increasing psycho-social support in communities of need.