Graduates of Crisis Pregnancy Counselling Skills Course Conferred at NUI Maynooth

The HSE Sexual Health & Crisis Pregnancy Programme celebrated the latest graduates of its certificate course in crisis pregnancy counselling skills at a ceremony in the NUI Maynooth on Monday November 22nd. 17 crisis pregnancy counsellors and support staff completed the year-long, skills based programme which aims to support individuals working in a paid or voluntary capacity to further enhance their counselling skills in this unique field of counselling and to set standards of good practice in the area. The year-long course is delivered by the Department of Adult and Community Education, NUI Maynooth and was developed in partnership with the Sexual Health & Crisis Pregnancy Programme, who also fund it.

All of the graduates support those affected by crisis pregnancy at services which are promoted through the Positive Options campaign. Women can access free crisis pregnancy counselling by visiting the positiveoptions.ie website or by freetexting the word ‘LIST’ to 50444.

Dr Stephanie O’Keeffe, Research and Policy Manager of the Sexual Health & Crisis Pregnancy Programme said: “I would like to congratulate the graduates on their achievement in completing this course. The Sexual Health & Crisis Pregnancy Programme is committed to ensuring that free, non-judgemental support is available to all women who experience a crisis pregnancy regardless of age or what part of the country they’re from. This course further demonstrates the high quality counselling and support which is available throughout the country.”

Ends.

Editor’s Notes:
1. The HSE Sexual Health & Crisis Pregnancy Programme (formerly the Crisis Pregnancy Agency) is tasked with developing and implementing a national strategy to achieve the following core objectives:

i. To reduce the number of crisis pregnancies by the provision of information, advice and contraceptive services.
ii. To reduce the number of women with crisis pregnancies who opt for abortion by offering services and supports which make other options more attractive.
iii. To provide counselling services, medical services and such other health services for the purpose of providing support, after crisis pregnancy as may be deemed appropriate by the Sexual Health & Crisis Pregnancy Programme.

2. Crisis Pregnancy Counselling
Free, State-funded crisis pregnancy counselling is available at over 50 centres nationwide. For a list of organisations offering free, non-judgemental crisis pregnancy counselling, members of the public can freetext the word LIST to 50444 or visit positiveoptions.ie.

For more information contact:
Lorna Farren
HSE Sexual Health & Crisis Pregnancy Programme
087-4134174