Designing a Workplace Counselling Programme for Managing Stress Among Civil Servants in Rivers State

Civil servants in Nigerian state government institutions face occupational stressors including job insecurity, bureaucratic overload, and resource inadequacy that contribute to poor mental health and reduced productivity, and a professionally designed workplace counselling programme is needed to address these challenges in Rivers State. This study designed a workplace counselling programme for stress management among civil servants in Rivers State, South South Nigeria. A programme design methodology integrating needs assessment, theoretical grounding, and stakeholder consultation was applied. Stress level profiling using the Perceived Stress Scale among 150 civil servants from five state ministries in Port Harcourt confirmed high stress in 61.3 percent. Stakeholder consultations with 12 HR managers and three occupational health officers identified awareness raising, individual counselling, group stress management skills training, and managerial climate improvement as the four priority intervention components. The designed programme encompasses seven elements: organisational stress audit tool, employee stress screening protocol, individual short-term counselling provision (six sessions per employee annually), monthly group stress management workshops, manager mental health awareness training, work environment assessment, and programme evaluation framework. A wellness policy advocacy template for state government ministry adoption is included. Resource requirements and staff training needs are specified for a 500-employee implementation. Expert review by eight occupational counsellors and two HR specialists confirmed the programme's professional adequacy. The study recommends implementation at the Rivers State Ministry of Education as the pilot site.

Keywords: workplace counselling, stress management, civil servants, Rivers State, employee wellbeing