CETA Counselling Services Critical to Addressing Self-Stigma Among People Living With HIV.
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Enya Bushe, 33, a dedicated and brilliant psychosocial counsellor stationed at Sinda Zonal Hospital in the Sinda district of Eastern Province, says counselling services offered by CIDRZ under CETA have been critical to helping People Living with HIV (PLWHIV) overcome stress once they test positive.
Enya, a psychosocial counsellor for the past seven years working for the Eastern Province Health Office says she has witnessed firsthand how CETA services have positively impacted people’s lives.
“Most people undergo depression, especially at the time when they test HIV positive. They normally have issues to do with acceptance where they begin to think about taking ARVs for the rest of their life. CETA has been on hand to support these people, and most of them are now leading healthy lives,” says Enya.
She adds that CETA has helped most clients overcome self-stigma resulting from feeling ashamed for testing HIV positive.
“When people test positive, they put up a defence mechanism convincing themselves that they do not need to come to the hospital. So, they shut their lives out, and everything around them shuts down,” Enya explains.
Enya explains that once such individuals get involved with CETA counselling services, it helps them overcome depression and understand the importance of being on antiretroviral therapy (ART).
On a personal level, Enya says she applies the lessons obtained through CETA training to help her overcome her emotional issues during stressful moments.
Having started her psychosocial counselling career with a certificate, Enya’s passion for counselling services has propelled her to acquire a Social Work and Community Development degree from the University of Zambia.
She now plans to enrol herself in a psychology class at the University of Zambia so that she realizes her dream of becoming a psychologist to understand depression issues more.
Enya expresses her gratitude to CIDRZ through the CETA project for helping her learn more about counselling services and enabling her to help more people live a better life.
