A group of Counselors and psychologists in Nakuru and the United States of America have devised a new way of directing teenagers to their goals in the bid to enable them achieve the elusive self actualization.
The unprecedented three point analysis uses the latest brain and body analysis technology.
These peer councilors and psychotherapists also initiate a personal interaction with persons wishing to identify their potential in order to devote themselves and resources to a specific discipline.
The Kenya Peer Counselors Association in collaboration with the Gates Education Group in the United States provides a platform for parents to work with professional Counselors in testing abilities of their children to help them only pursue what they are gifted in.
The idea of the highly confidential Gift and Talent clinic is to have bemused post secondary school teenagers get motivated and focused on personal goals as they prepare to enroll to various colleges and Universities.
Twenty year old Evelyn Muthemba is focused, optimistic and enthusiastic hopes to make sense of her future with the clinic that is also a place of renewed hope for 30 others. She has begun attending the Gift and Talent clinic after she realized that she could not pick a pathway to a gratifying career in her short courses in computer science, Psychology and community nursing.
Evelyn`s decision is informed by the highly competitive market which she says has no room for Jack of all trades.
Unlike before, she is keen to identify what she is good at then have the right personnel complement her effort to realizing her goad as a human resource specialist.
She is among hundreds of thousands of youth in the country who by peer influence pick courses at the university and end up in careers they find no gratification.
She says wrong choices among such young people are made out of misinformation and this makes the prospect of success slender and many are frustrated.
Evelyn commends the 21 day clinic as effective saying it has enabled her realize her abilities and this is a springboard to her dreams.
The founder of the clinic Dr.John Muriithi is a professional counselor, an educationist and the Chairperson of the Kenya Peer Counselors Association.
Dr.Mureithi says the clinic is effective for children aged four years and above and teenagers.He explains that at this time the brain of the child is fully developed and the retention rate for knowledge is high .
Professional counselors are able to study a childs innate strength and weaknesses and predetermine a childs career.Dr. Mureithi says the clinic is aligned with the reforms in the revised competence based curriculum that is tailored to enable learners become adoptive and competitive in the face of rapid modernization.
He says timely identification of abilities among learners helps to enrich the country`s human resource pool as higher learning institutions train the right man power for specific careers and this motivates innovation a key ingredient of value based economies.
He also observes that this can also help teachers assist learners gifted in co-curricular activities realize their goals in their areas of choice.
Users of the clinic are subjected to a three step screening. They undergo an oral screening which entails a verbal chat between a specialized counselor and the user.Here,a counselor is able to identify pointers to known abilities.
Then the user undergoes software screening where a specialized counselor poses psycho questions and evaluates the user depending on performance at the first stage.
If users pass both stages, they qualify for the third screening stage where an expert scans their bodies with a specialized machine which transmits images to experts in the United States of America for in-depth analysis of the brain and responses to the questions in stage one and two.
After a week of meticulous study, the experts in the USA wire back a comprehensive analysis of the user`s ability and a recommendation for a specific area where users can pursue their goals.
A parent Jane Kanihu applauds the clinic for assisting her daughter pick a right course at the University.
“My daughter could not settle for a particular program to study but upon introduction to the clinic she picked a course that she now enjoys to study and looks forward to creating a career in the discipline” she says.
Kanihu appeals to parents to enroll their children to the clinic to be able to help them know their gifts and pursue careers that are personally fulfilling.
Psychotherapists Dr. Cecilia Muthami and Daisy Kariuki say the clinic becomes an oasis of hope to young people who are keen on channeling their energies and resources to what builds prospects for their success in education or extracurricular investment.
Evelyn calls on her peers to join the progressive clinic where she says is a tool that can help them to take aim at their elusive goals with pin point accuracy.
In a country that has shifted focus to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), the initiative if widely adopted may provide the country a practical means of foretelling its career space in years to come.
PHOTO/Pristone Mambili: Evelyn Muthemba is taken through scanning process by Robert Ombiri (right) deputy principal Gift and Talent clinic where the body is scanned with a specialized machine which transmits images to experts in the United States of America for in-depth analysis of the brain in order to establish once gifts and talents.