The Office of the Dean of Students and the Counselling Centre of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology have sworn in a Rapid Response Team (RRT), a wing of the KNUST Counselling Centre (KCC), on Wednesday, 2nd February, 2022.
The 50-member team will serve as the emergency readiness unit of the Centre to provide urgent first aid assistance to students on and off-campus.
According to the Head of KCC, Mrs. Victoria De-Graft Adjei, setting up the team has been an idea they have nurtured for quite a long time, hence, she expressed her delight that the team has come to fruition.
Mrs. DeGraft stated that the wellbeing of students is a top priority for University Management and deemed it necessary to inaugurate and orient front-line student volunteers to provide rapid assistance and recommend professional help to them when the need arises.
The Head of KCC lauded the efforts of the students for volunteering to take up such huge tasks and promised Management’s commitment to work together with them to achieve success.
The Dean of Students, Professor Wilson A. Agyare, urged the members to regard their duties as a service to the University and work wholeheartedly. He further entreated the RRT to collaborate with Senior Tutors and student MPs to protect the wellbeing of the students who may need their assistance. ‘As a counsellor, you have to be close-lipped and manage information entrusted to you wisely,’ he advised.
Mrs. Bernice Peasah of KCC mentioned that volunteerism is the bedrock of their engagement and tasked them not to lose that virtue. She also walked the team through crisis management, intervention, and protocol for reporting.
After the inauguration, the Senior Tutors of the Halls and off-campus hostels facilitated a discussion with the RRT to share their thoughts on how to ensure success and address pertinent issues.