DOI: 10.36347/sjahss.2018.v06i12.021

Pages: 2305-2316

The need for guidance and counselling services has been recognized by various institutions in Kenya. The Presbyterian Church of East Africa initiated programmes in guidance and counselling including programmes to assist people addicted to alcohol and drugs. However, alcohol and drug abuse has continued to persist in the society regardless of the greater emphasis by the Church on abstinence from alcohol. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of pastors to counsel alcohol and drug addicts. The study focussed on strategies used by pastors and their effectiveness in helping alcohol and drug addicts towards recovery. The study adopted a descriptive survey design to carry out a research in the Presbyterian Churches in Tharaka Nithi County. A total of 29 pastors and persons who had benefited from counselling were identified. Through snow ball sampling, a sample of 58 beneficiaries was selected from the Church congregations. Data was collected through self-scoring questionnaires and interviews with respondents. Quantitative data was analyzed using the statistical package for social science (SPSS) and is presented using descriptive statistics. The strategies adopted in counselling persons addicted to alcohol and drugs included organizing workshops and seminars, listening to the client's formulation of the problem, avoiding arguments and labelling and managing counter transference among others. The study established that most pastors were not effective in counselling alcohol and drug addicts and was largely attributed to lack of adequate training in counselling, inadequate knowledge of other social support services and inability of clients to open up. The study recommends thorough training of the clergy on counselling of alcohol and drug addicts, continued research on alcohol and drug abuse and having specialized counsellors to assist in drug and alcohol addiction to enhance counselling effectiveness. The study recommends for incorporation of courses