THE PSYCHOLOGICAL COUNSELLING OFFICE

The Psychological Counselling Service was established at Comenius University by Assoc. Professor PhDr. Jozef Koščo, CSc, and his colleagues in 1968. Ever since, the Service has been available at no charge to all University students and staff who need no referral from the GP to use its services.

The staff who provide psychological counselling are open to queer/LGBTI+ people - including transgender people.

The Service is available to individual clients as well as couples and groups. Its staff also offer specific training and courses on an irregular basis.

BUDDY – Peer Support Programme

During the summer semester, in cooperation with the Faculty of Medicine, Comenius University, we launched the Peer Support Programme in Mental Health for medical students. Trained "buddies" are ready to support their peers in adapting to the university environment and to advise on mental wellbeing. Topics may include practical university issues, stress management, exhaustion, social anxiety, or relationship difficulties. You ma sign up for the programme using the application form. Once completed, you will be contacted by your 'buddy' who will work with you to find the best solutions and help. 

Psychological counselling involves a series of meetings of the counsellor with a client to explore the client's difficulties and seek ways of making the client feel better. The client's cooperation is indispensable to the successful outcome of the counselling. The relationship arising between the client and the psychologist involves a high degree of trust and is entirely confidential: anything said during the sessions remains between the counsellor and the client. Individual sessions last about 50 minutes and couples sessions about 80 minutes. The number of sessions is tailored to the needs of every client.

The issues of our clients are frequently combinations of some of the following:

• Family relations: discordant relationships, parental absence, alcoholism, lack of support, conflicts between siblings, falling-out with step-parents, critical periods of life - illness and death...
• Partnership: conflicts, crises, breakups, absence of partner, sexual issues, infidelity, jealousy...
• Social relations: absence of friendships, loneliness, abandonment, communication issues, conflicts with roommates...
• Relationship with oneself: feeling of inferiority, self-underestimation, dissatisfaction with oneself, better self-knowledge, search for a positive relationship with oneself and one's own value, important decisions...
• Study issues: consequences of choosing the wrong area of study, inability to master study techniques, fear of failure, exam anxiety, performance anxiety, demotivation, exhaustion...
• Trauma: rape, abuse, bullying, loss of a loved person, serious injuries...
• Issues related to the process of gaining independence, of individuation, direction in life.
• Psychosomatic problems.
• Psychological support for clients with specific needs.
• Psychological support of psychiatric treatment: depression, anxiety disorders, eating disorders, social phobia, panic disorders, addictions, personality disorders...