The Student Counselling Centre

Student Counselling Centre

The Student Counselling Centre is an integral part of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Mostar, designed to provide various forms of support and help for students. The centre was established in the 2014/2015 academic year and its services are available to all students of the University of Mostar. Counselling appointments are usually held on the premises of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. Counselling via Internet is also possible and the following services are provided:

-individual counselling

-group counselling

-educational workshops

-distribution of self-help resources

Individual counselling is carried out in accordance with the student’s specific needs. Group counselling refers to counselling in a safe environment, under the guidance of a therapist, where individual members of the counselling group present their problems to the group and other group members give support and try to find alternative solutions to the problem. The Student Counselling Centre organizes educational workshops focused on developing the skills and strategies necessary for successful learning, organizing student’s obligations, developing social relationships, strengthening self-confidence and so on. The activities are also focused on the development of educational resources and self-help resources for students with various needs.

Psychological support is provided by the employees of the Psychology Department who have experience in working with the student population and have successfully attended numerous professional training workshops.

According to previous experiences, there are several difficulties that students usually face during their college education:

-problems with friends, partner or family

-difficulties with fulfilling faculty obligations

-learning difficulties

-dealing with various stressful situations

-bad early life experiences

-lack of self-confidence

In April 2016, the Career Counselling Centre was established as a branch of the Student Counselling Centre and Ivona Čarapina, assistant at the Psychology Department, was named coordinator. The main objective of the Centre is to help students (both current and future) with planning and directing their future career by providing them with necessary information and guidelines. The existence of such a counselling centre is essential for any modern university, especially if the large number of students at the University of Mostar and the absence of a similar centre in the region are taken into account. Previous projects include free interactive workshops. In addition to workshops, the future activities of the Centre will include research and professional projects. Three workshops have been held so far, aimed at the three target groups: high school students, undergraduate and graduate students. The first workshop, titled How to Write a Resume, was held in April 2016 for graduate students; the second workshop titled How to Prepare Yourself (Psychologically) for the Entrance Exam was held in June 2016 for high school students, and the third workshop, titled How to Prepare for a Job Interview, was held in November 2016 for graduate students.

The Student Counselling Centre is also directed towards providing support for students with disabilities. A further development plan includes cooperation with the Office for Students with Disabilities in order to encourage and maintain the aforementioned activities and projects.

All counselling services are free for all students of the University of Mostar.

Email: savjetovaliste-ff@sve-mo.ba