Since 2009 I have been working in the Higher Education environment whereby, I have delivered a wide range of services to registered students and to prospective students. For much of my working experience within the Higher Education environment I have been working as a Student Counsellor, providing career, academic and personal counselling. Furthermore, I am a Registered Counsellor and I have been registered with the HPCSA since 2010. This year I graduated with my Master of Arts Psychology (Research) at the Nelson Mandela University. I am passionate about the wellbeing of students and strive to create accessible services to students. Currently I am part of team which coordinates and implements the Vice-Chancellor’s Scholarship Development Programme. We have four cohorts of students who are participating in our programme, and the students are registered in six different faculties. The programme aims to assist students to maintain an academic average of 70% and above, and we have had great success in this programme. This year we had the first cohort graduate as a Vice-Chancellor Scholar recipient. In this programme I facilitate group sessions which take the format of a workshop or dialogue focusing on different topics. The programme is also tailor made for each year. My approach when working with students is to adopt a Wellness approach which allows me to view a student holistically and within their context. I also adopt a Strengths-based approach within counselling, where I assist the student to form an understanding of their strengths and to build on that. The topic of my Masters dissertation was about how Student Counsellor’s utilized the Wellness Questionnaire for Higher Education as part of their counselling intervention – I chose this topic because I am passionate about student wellness and how we can further contribute to it. I found that there is a connection between student’s wellness levels and their academic performance, which is note-worthy as the core focus of any intervention for students is to promote academic and personal excellence. To promote academic and personal excellence, I would offer these sessions to the scholarship recipients. The Academic sessions that I offer are: Learning Styles, Applying Principles of Neuropsychology and Test/Exam Anxiety. I would offer psychosocial topics such as: Adjusting to university; Dealing with feelings of homesickness and loneliness; Stress Management; Improving your Wellness levels; Increasing your Emotional Intelligence. Providing one-on-one mentoring is another form of intervention I would provide to the scholarship recipients. I highlighted the importance of reaching out for help early, but I would also observe the student’s behaviour and attitude and if something was amiss I would invite them to attend a mentoring session. Providing individual counselling, developing and facilitating workshops are the duties I find meaningful and take pride in offering to students. I am competent in offering screening, counselling and emergency sessions to students. Whether the student is seeking help for personal, career or academic reasons, academic success is a key factor I focus on in counselling sessions. Student success is everybody’s mandate in the Higher Education sector; therefore, it is crucial to work closely with Academic and other Support Services staff. Forming networks with Academic and Support staff is a key factor when strategizing for student wellness. In my current I have formed networks with the Law and Education Faculty which enables me to have direct access to attend and present at the Faculties Teaching and Learning Committee Meetings. Furthermore, I would meet often with the Academic Advisor and Deputy Dean to collaborate about student wellness matters. Currently I am coordinating the Peer Help Programme which is to recruit and train students to offer support to their students. One of my responsibilities is to recruit students to apply for the programme. The next step is to screen their applications and interview the student. The interview is compromised of a panel, which is usually one Student Counsellor and myself. For several years I worked in the First-year Orientation department and I formed part of a team that was responsible for student recruitment, screening application forms and interviewing students. This interview panel was comprised of another member of the Orientation team, but we interviewed 6 students at a time, and this was due to the high volume of applications the programme received. A set of questions were pre-determined which guided the interview process. While working in the Orientation team we developed and implemented a programme which fostered students adjusting to their first year at university. We focused on academic and social integration as these two factors contribute to students adjusting and not dropping out. I have coordinated developmental programmes for students which I am passionate about. Creating opportunities to gain extracurricular activities and skills, contributes to their holistic experience at university. There are approximately 50 Peer Helpers placed on four different campuses and each campus has a Staff member connected to these students. I rely on the Staff members to keep me abreast with Peer Help matters on their respective campus, therefore I regularly communicate with the Staff member. However, I manage the Peer Helpers on the largest campus and meet with them twice a month where I assess their level of involvement and wellbeing. I am conscientiousness and therefore adhere to the administrative tasks that accompanies the counselling process. Counselling is often a remedial approach, so it is important to create developmental interventions for students about various topics. I have facilitated dialogues and workshops with groups of students relating to topics such as Gender-based violence, mental health, personal growth course and how to live a holistically well life etc. In my role of coordinating the Peer Help Programme, I work with a team of Psychologists, Registered Counsellors and an Administrator. I would organize regular meetings to discuss issues pertaining to the programme and to further develop the programme. I adopt a strengths-based approach when working with this team, and identify which person is most suitable to carry out tasks and request their assistance. Naturally, there have been occurrences where staff have not fulfilled their tasks, and this calls for engaging in an assertive conversation to address the matter at hand. This role also requires that I manage the budget provided by the University’s Council funds. While fulfilling the temporary role of the Orientation Coordinator, one of my duties was to manage the team. I would ensure that staff are adhering to their job description and oversee the management. We met every Monday morning to monitor if tasks were complete from the previous task and to re-strategize for the upcoming week, while keeping the bigger picture in mind of all the tasks that need to be complete and implemented. When staff experienced grievances I would assist to the best of my ability. I also had to monitor staff’s leave and movements in and out of the office. In this role, I reported to the Director of the department. In closing, I trust that my motivational letter together with my supporting documents has provided you with a glimpse of my professionalism, abilities and competencies. I hope that my application will receive your favourable consideration and I wait in anticipation to hear from you.