Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Experiences Of Jamaican Adult College Students In Counseling, Pamela Victoria Gray

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Since the introduction of counseling services in Jamaica in the 1960s, young adults continue to encounter obstacles in utilizing the services made available to them. Some significant factors impacting how individuals use the professional counseling services are (a) the clients’ historical and political background, (b) the ill-treatment of people with mental illness, (c) cultural practices and values, (d) the stigma toward mental illness, and (e) knowledge deficiency concerning psychological issues and psychosis. This qualitative, hermeneutic phenomenological research describes the experiences of Jamaican adult college students in counseling with counseling professionals. Seven participants volunteered through the networking sample method from universities …