What is Counselor in Africa?
Counselor in Africa is an organization that offers workshops and counseling for English-speaking staff and family members of corporations in Africa and other countries. Through its SaFE program, Counselor in Africa provides private, confidential, short-term individual, marriage, couple and family counseling. The counselor is an American ex-pat living in West Africa who travels to the clients' cities to bring counseling to them.

What is SaFE?
SaFE is the acronym for the Staff and Family Enrichment program. The focus of SaFE is private, confidential counseling for the individual, couples or families.

What other programs does Counselor in Africa offer?
The Licensed Professional Counselor that provides these services  has a wide range of experience and offers workshops and groups on topics such as adjusting to and accepting feelings about life in a different culture, anger management, HIV/AIDS and its affects on the family and on the workplace, substance abuse at home and on the job, enhancing communication skills, parenting skills, physical, emotional, and mental abuse, life in intercultural, interracial relationships and living and/or accepting gay and lesbian lifestyles.

Who pays for the services of Counselor in Africa?
Counselor in Africa contracts with corporations to bring counseling services and/or workshops to their staff and family. Counseling is normally not done in the corporations' facilities in an effort to maintain the privacy and confidentiality of the client(s). The amount of time that the counselor is available is flexible and arranged with the contracting corporation. 

If the corporation pays for the counseling, how is an appointment kept confidential?
Appointments are pre-scheduled through a link to the Counselor in Africa website which is not accessible to the corporation. A system for billing is used that does not disclose which clients have received counseling or how often.

Does a person have to be crazy to go to counseling? What is counseling? What happens in a counseling session?
A person who seeks counseling is not crazy; that person is looking for help to find some answers. During a counseling session the client talks and describes current conflicts to the counselor. It is a time when the client is the focus and is heard and knows s/he is heard by someone who has been trained to listen. The counselor helps the client reach conclusions or solutions significant to the client.

What's the difference between talking to a licensed professional counselor and talking to a friend?
A licensed professional counselor (LPC) has a graduate degree and has done a post-graduate internship under supervision and taken a test to qualify as a counselor and continually takes courses to update her knowledge. Listening skills are key components of counseling and clients sometimes become so comfortable with a counselor, they feel as if they are talking to a friend. This happens because the client is being heard. Unlike a friend, though, the counselor ethics mandate that confidentiality and objectivity be maintained. So, after a counseling session, the client does not have to worry about who is going to hear the intimate secrets she shared or did she share too much with the counselor. 

What techniques does the counselor use to get the client to talk?
The counselor has been trained in a number of therapeutic techniques using talk therapy as a base to help the client explore his presenting problem and find his own solution.