The Ghana Psychological Council (GPC) has warned popular and controversial counselor, Rev Counselor Cyril George Carstensen Lutterodt to stop parading himself as a counselor because he’s not certified as such.
According to GPC, Counselor Lutterodt is not a registered member of the Council and by law he has no right to provide counseling services in any form in Ghana, adding that his continuous rending of counseling service is in breach of ACT 857 of 2013 which is punishable by law, of which the offender could be jailed for two years.
He’s unarguably the most popular counselor in Ghana in the past few years due to his media presence, and has made him the most sought after counselor gracing several platforms.
Counselor Lutterodt is regularly heard on various radio stations across the capital and also features prominently on several TV screens.
The eccentric counselor’s most often strange position on matters of marriage and relationship has endeared him to a lot of people while a huge section of the public especially the youth who he usually bashes also condemn him.
The Association has written a letter to the Ghana Psychological Council which is the body mandated by law to grant license to counselors, a copy of which has been intercepted by Kasapafmonline.com asking the Council to confirm whether Counselor Lutterodt is a member of the Council or not.
It remains to be seen what impact this letter will have on the activities of the maverick counselor as the Ghana Psychological Association which is obviously deeply worried about his activities wants him checked.
The association has further written to the counselor complaining bitterly about his utterances and has further copied the National Media Commission over his conduct.
In an exclusive with Kasapa News Serwah Akoto, the Acting Registrar of the Ghana Psychological Council, Dr Dinah Baah-Odoom stated that initially there was no law governing the activities of counselors and so anybody could provide counseling service or talk about counseling, but noted that the situation has changed with the promulgation of Act 857 in 2013.
“Now before anyone can make any pronouncement that person must be a registered member of the Ghana Psychological Association.
“Counseling is a psychological service although many Ghanaians don’t know, there are certificate and diploma courses for lay counselors, and Counselor Lutterodt is not a professional counselor so we could have registered him as a lay counselor. I assure you that he’s not a registered member of the association and per the law ACT 857 he’s not supposed to give counseling service.
“The Psychological Council is not the least happy with the fact that Counselor holds himself as a counselor and also finds his position on certain issues condemnable. If you call yourself a counselor… we are bounded by code of ethics, so there are things we don’t say and there are others that are outrageous. To the public you may think it’s okay but it’s unacceptable. He can go on radio and give advice as anybody will do, no one can stop him from doing that but he can’t call himself a counselor because he’s not one.”
Meanwhile, reacting to the issue, Counselor Lutterodt told Kasapa FM that he’s not the one being addressed by the letter.
According to him, he’s not aware that there is any such Council that regulates the activities of Counselors in Ghana, adding that he’ll will give an appropriate response when he’s well written to.