About us

Motivated by the passion to establish a world-class tertiary institution, the School of Psychotherapy and Health Sciences (SPHS), Okija, Nigeria, was established in 2016. This is the first of its kind in Africa.
The School of Psychotherapy and health Sciences (SPHS) Nigeria is affiliated to Sigmund Freud University (SFU) which has its base in Vienna, Austria. SPHS is also registered with Co-operate Affairs Commission (CAC), Nigeria.

We aim to develop professionals who think independently, are well-informed and are able to provide psychotherapy science and health sciences skilfully and ethically in a variety of professional settings (like hospitals, clinics, private practice, prisons, rehabilitation centres, etc) in Africa.

SPHS is a unique and dynamic institution which affords students the opportunity to advance their careers in psychotherapy science and health sciences.

It has the vision to be a career-focused world-class tertiary Institution that provides African trainees skills and entrepreneurial training in Psychotherapy Science and Health Sciences.

The mission is to train African students to become highly skilled, self-reliant and enterprising in Psychotherapy Science and Health Sciences.

The School of Psychotherapy and Health Sciences (SPHS) has the following objectives:

• Health for human mind and body constitute the core areas of teaching and research at the school. The school aims to become a global leader in the field of Psychotherapy science and Health Sciences.


• It respects the freedom of science and its teachings and the obligation to scientific thinking in an open-minded, tolerant community of teachers and students.


• It promotes self-development of its students to prepare and qualify them for their professional and social responsibilities.


• It seeks cooperation with other schools, research organizations and with institutions and companies operating in fields covered by its academic and professional portfolio, both in Africa and outside Africa.

As a private school, SPHS endeavours, through the competence and commitment of management and staff, to achieve a high level of excellence in teaching, research, and organizational framework conditions which will attract adequate numbers of students willing to pay the study fees on which the school must rely to maintain its operations. In the research field, the school and its organizational units are seeking external funding to allow the development of research priorities and links to international research.

Apart from strengthening the location and ensuring scientific competence, external funding also has didactic benefits for the students. In-house research results can be actively integrated in the courses. The students are furthermore afforded the opportunity of participating in such research projects within the framework of their theses/projects. This may be through direct cooperation or indirectly through the emergence of topic clusters suggesting topics and problems for research projects.

Cooperation with other schools, educational institutions and commercial enterprise in and outside Africa exclusively benefits the development of research and teaching. The statutory guarantee of freedom of research and teaching is not affected by these cooperation relationships.

SPHS, as a starting point, is located in Okija, Ihiala LGA, Anambra State, Nigeria. In the near future, it may be expanded to other states and countries of Africa.
Okija Town, with about 1 million inhabitants, is situated along the Onitsha-Owerri Road in Anambra State, Nigeria. So far, besides SPHS, it has 2 universities, 1 senior seminary, an International Marian Pilgrimage Centre, 2 Hotels, 3 hospitals, two banks, a football stadium, a big market and many other smaller markets, 2 motor parks, and many beautiful modern private houses that are also rented to students and immigrants workers in Okija, as well as many commercial houses, 2 police posts and a good security/vigilante system.

SPHS is located at the heart of Okija town, in Anambra State, Nigeria; about 3 minutes drive from Okija Junction. The buildings for the campus are located along the road leading from St. Peter’s Staduim in Ubahu to Umuohi, Okija.

The library is also located in the academic building. It is administered as a reference library, lending out books over weekends, public holidays, and overnight. The opening hours are determined by agreement and according to the students’ needs. The library is initially equipped with publications relevant to the course being offered and also other required publications. Magazines and international journals are particularly important. Volumes and journals not readily available are given priority. Altogether, there are 810 books and 300 different volumes of journals in the library.
The E-library is equipped with computers, internet access, and many types of software (like Ebscohost) that enable access to many journals that can be accessed electronically.