Building the profession of psychological counselling in Ethiopia—achievements, challenges, and future directions

Mental healthcare in Ethiopia is underutilized due to a lack of resources and skilled practitioners. Psychological counselling offers unique intervention possibilities because of its focus on a wide range of mental health and social justice issues. This literature review tracks the historical development of the profession of psychological counselling in Ethiopia to establish what has been achieved to date and the development challenges. Key achievements include recognition of the profession by the Ministry of Education, growing public awareness, and increasing capacity of practitioners skilled in psychological counselling. Challenges include limited contextually relevant training, poor representation of the profession within Ministry of Health policies, poor public and government mental health literacy, and a lack of regulatory frameworks. Postgraduate training would benefit from more culturally, contextually, and linguistically appropriate evidence-based, indigenous psychology practices. The profession would benefit from engagement in government policy development that promotes mental health, and professional regulatory bodies to hold practitioners accountable to professional standards and ethical practice.