ABOUT GPA
The Ghana Psychological Association (GPA), is the largest, oldest and the only all-encompassing Association of practitioners and researchers in the field of Psychology and applied Psychology in Ghana. It is a legal entity, having been registered by the Registrar General’s Department and recognised by the Ghana Psychology Council (GPC), the state regulator (vide Act 857) of such Associations and its members.
Our History
The
GPA's story unfolds in three distinct phases. Each phase is a testament
to the resilience and commitment of Ghana's psychology community.
Phase
1: The Founding Vision (1996 – 1999)
Between
August 1996 and May 1997, a series of workshops were held at the University of
Cape Coast (UCC), University of Ghana (UG), Kwame Nkrumah University of Science
and Technology (KNUST), and the Ghana Education Service (GES). These workshops
aimed to strengthen Career Advisory Services at Ghanaian universities, bringing
together professionals from disciplines offering psychological services to
students.
Ten
participants committed to forming an association of psychologists. They were
joined by Prof. Nathaniel K. Pecku, who is widely regarded as the father of
Guidance and Counselling Psychology in Ghana. He hosted the very first formal
meeting of the group. The association was initially named the Psychological
Association of Ghana (PAG), before being renamed the Ghana Psychological
Association (GPA) in February 1999. A constitution was drafted alongside plans
for a Code of Ethics, a Psychology Act, and a logo.
Phase
2: Inauguration and Growth (2000 – 2012)
GPA
was formally inaugurated on 21 July 2000, with Prof. Joseph Kwesi Essuman as
its founding National President. The Association established annual conferences
and launched the Ghana Psychological Journal. A critical advocacy movement
which was spearheaded by Rev. Dr. Dinah Baah-Odoom, Prof. S.A. Danquah, and
Prof. Angela Ofori-Atta, succeeded in securing psychology's recognition as a
distinct profession, resulting in its separation under the Health Professions
Regulatory Bodies Act, 2013 (Act 857).
Phase
3: Revival and Transformation (2012 – Present)
In
2012, a three-person ad hoc committee chaired by Prof. C.C. Mate-Kole (UG),
working alongside Prof. Linda Naa Dzama Forde (UCC) and Mr. Kwarteng Ofosuhene
Mensah (UCC), reviewed and restructured GPA's governance, renewed its
registration with the Registrar General's Department, and established an
Electoral Commission. By November 2012, the Association had been revived and
collaborated with the University of Ghana Medical School and the Department of
Psychology, UG, to hold a landmark two-day conference.
Since
2013, successive National Executive Committees have grown GPA into a thriving
professional body with an active membership spanning professionals, students,
honorary fellows, associates, and lay practitioners, and pa1ticipating in major
national discourse, programs, and interventions.