The traditional healing practises of priests, debaters and other traditional healers have a lot of similarity to Western models of counselling and psychotherapy although not understood or labelled as counselling and psychotherapy in the modern sense (Janetius, Tibebe, & Mini, 2016). These traditional healings involve active listening, empathy, person-centred approach in understanding the problems of the clients which are important components of Western counselling and psychotherapy.
In the 1960’s counselling was first introduced in Ethiopia as an educational tool instead of a therapy modality. It is to provide the purpose of educational training to enhance a better understanding of pupils, psychological testing, measurement and evaluation were taught in college education. Counselling Psychology was first introduced in Addis Ababa University by Dr David Cox from the University of Utah, USA (Janetius, Tibebe, & Mini, 2016).
Moreover, the Western form of counselling and psychotherapy has not deep rooted in the country although rapid extension in the recent years seen in school counselling and Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) services for HIV patients in the cities and urban centres. However, it is deeply not enforced in rural areas till today.