Dance Therapy workshop June 25, 2008

Dance Therapy was conducted at the Center for Counselling office in Mylapore on 25 June 2008. Around 10 participants from varied backgrounds participated. The session started with Gayatri Pappu (Gheethu) leading with some warm up exercises.

A series of exercises, played to a music facilitated in helping gaining insights on various issues relating to work, our emotions, our boundaries etc. Creative Movements was a joyful way to explore movement through one’s own body.

The facilitation was done by Mrinalini Sekar and Gheethu Pappu.

Some of the activities were

• Lead with a body part
• Butterfly
• Wind
• Toe-chalk
• Trust Build

Outcomes of the workshop

• These activities were enjoyed by all the participants, it enhanced the individuals to open their mind to possibilities and not to be blocked by the straight and narrow thinking.
• There was a lot of sharing about how each participant felt during these activities, this helped each individual to have an insight about their own boundaries.
• These Creative Movements created awareness within each individual and there was a lot of emotional ventilation which gave them a deeper understanding of their selves during the sharing after the session.
• Interpretation of one’s own drawing was done.
• Understanding of others and opening self to others were the highlight of the session
• Overall this helped us get an insight into ourselves and how we behave.
  

Participants List

	Name	Organization	Address and contact details
1	Angeline	Director Green Valley SchoolMogappair	angieshub@gmail.com/9840378494
2	Weslin	Andrew Panakal Foundation	weslinpanakal@yahoo.com/26163951
3	Padma Govindan	The Shakti Center, 12 A, 1st Floor , 5th Avenue, Besant Nagar,Chennai- 90.	padma@shakticenter.org/ 9940025231
4	K.Mohan Babu	Hopers Foundation No.67, Thiruvengadam Street Perambur Chennai-11	morganrhymes@yahoo.com junkiesunion@gmail.com 9962278606
5	Sundhakar	Sahodaran 27/75, Railyway colony, Third street , First Floor, Mehta Nagar Chennai	sahodara@md3.vsnl.net.in
6	Lakshmi	Softsavant Info Services , 16, West Road, West CIT Nagar, Chennai- 6000 035	luxor3004@yahoo.com/9840942909
7	Saranya Mohan .M	CHES, 198, Rangarajapuram Main Road , Kodambakkam Chennia	saranyamsw@gmail.com 9940742677
8	Mrinalini Sekar	"BLUE" New no 329, TTK Road , Kolping Towers, 1st Floor, Alwarpet- 18	mermirna@gmail.com/9444022904
9	Ramakrishnan	Child Heaven International(India) Kaliayam poodi village Kancheepuram District
10	Thamilarasi	Training co- ordinator Center for counselling, Chennai	thamilarasi@centerforcounselling.org 9884700174

Child Centered Counselling Seminar - June 22nd 2008

Report on the child centered counselling Seminar

We had registered 28 participants.

Rationale for this seminar:

Play therapy can be done through storytelling, drama (“playing make-believe”), games, puppets, dolls, masks, drawing, painting, sculpture, etc.  At present, very few of our child counsellors are trained in, or are even aware of, these play-based methods, which can be used to draw a child into discussing what is going on with him/her. 

 Instead, in the organisations that work with children and seek to utilise counsellors to provide children with emotional support and facilitate children’s self-understanding, “talk therapy” is the main method used.  Talk therapy helps adults, but does it work for children?  A child may find it difficult to express him/herself in analytical words -- and all the more so when asked to talk directly about his/her problems with an adult.  A child-counselling session should be all about the child: when a counsellor uses a medium like analytical talk, which he/she is comfortable with, the counsellor may not be approaching the situation from the child’s perspective, and may not be utilising the child’s primary abilities.  This might be unfair to the child, and might also be ineffective: the counsellor could very easily assume what is happening, instead of actually knowing what is happening.  

 The seminar was designed to create a space to discuss the issues, problems, concerns, and frustrations encountered, and how to improve our current response systems.  Participants will have opportunities to network with colleagues, share their knowledge, and draw up individual and collective action plans to implement child centered counselling in the institutions in which they work. 

Agenda of the workshop:

09.30 to 10.00 AM       : Registration

10.00 to 10.15 AM       : Introduction of participants and Organisation

 10.15 to 11.00 AM        : Child centered counselling concept, Training experiences on    

      CCC – Magdalene Jeyarathnam, Center for Counselling

      Eric Miller, World Storytelling Institute

      (Dr P Manorama to chair the session)

11.00 to 11.15 AM       : Tea break

 11.15 to 11.35 AM       : Government response to the Child Centered Counselling-

     Dr.P.Manorama Chairperson, Child Welfare Committee

                                         (Magdalene will chair the session)

 11.35 to 11.55 AM       : Child Centered Counselling in Schools

                                         (Dr Manarama and Magdalene will chair the session)

     Roshini Kumar – Counsellor, Olcott Memorial School

 11.55 to 12.15 PM       : D. Angeline - Director, Green Valley matriculation and

     Higher Secondary school         

 12.15 to 12.35 PM       : Faith Based Organisations’ response to Child Centered

Counselling (Dr Manarama and Angeline will chair the     session)

    Nirmal Thomas, Compassion India (NGO)

12.35 to 12.55 PM       : Rupa Santhanam, World Vision

01.00 to 01.45 PM       : Lunch

01.45 to  03.00 PM     : Panel Discussion and taking this forward (Dr Manarama and Magdalene                                          will facilitate the session)

 Participant list:

	Name	Organisation Name and Address	Email id and contact number
1	Anitha Mohan	RASA	9841442671 Anumo_242@hotmail.com
2	Jansi Margaret	ICCW TN	9444799777 iccwtn@md3.vsnl.net.in
3	Shyne K J	Sneha Sadan, Mangalore	shynekjose@gmail.com 9731213872
4	Sr Shantha	Marialaya Street childrens project	9444926131 shanthamarym@gmail.com
5	Meena	Homemaker	9976474654, meenabalaji2007@gmail.com
6	Srithi Kannan	Swayam kiriti learning centre	sriti.kannan@gmail.com
7	Esther Barnabas	Christian fellowship	epadmini@in.ci.org 9380535352
8	Esther Martin		esgab_13@hotmail.com 9884046153
9	Anita Chandrasekar		anita_2102@yahoo.com 9444174997
10	Rupa Sathanantham	World Vision	9840833324 rupa.wv@gmail.com
11	Samantha Ruth	Special educator
12	Dr Manorama	Child welfare committee chairperson Project Director, CHES	9444077177 "Pinagapany Manorama" ,
13	Deepa T.	Brosiga Animation Centre	9941595453
14	Thamilarasi.S	Special Educator (V Excel , Mandavelli)	thamilarasi_s@hotmail.com 9841304444
15	Aishwarya .S	Bright Kids preschool and learning centre	rajeashu@yahoo.co.in 9380732495
16	Manikya Rao	Spandana Educational Society	ses_20012002@yahoo.co.in 9849746674
17	Shanmugam.S	Brother Siga Animation Center  no.a-248, b-kalyanapuram, s.m.nagar main road, vyasarpadi chennai-600 039	bsac1@rediffmail.com chn_tail@hotmail.com Phone: (044)26731284 Mobile: 9940173901
18	M.Kamalakannan	Child Heaven International(India) Kaliayam poodi village Kancheepuram District	044-27292921
19	D.Murugan		044-27292921
20	Bailey Schergevitch		thelmasgun@hotmail.com
21	S.Thilagar		044-27292921
22	P.Paulinmary		044-27292921
23	G.Thenmozhi		044-27292921
24	P.Padmanaban		044-27292921
25	Weslin Panakal	Andrew Panakal Foundation	26163951 weslinpanakal@yahoo.com
26	Mridula Anand	Teacher ( KVAN school)	26561321 ananda001@rediffmail.com
27	Roshini Kumar	School Counsellor Olcott Memorial School Adyar	9444047587 roshini_traviesa@yahoo.com
28	Angeline D	Director Green Valley School Mogappair	9840378494 angieshub@gmail.com

Discussion points at the end of the session:

1. A pilot study on the effectiveness of  these child centered approaches need to be carried out. World Vision Ms Rupa Sathanantham said they might be interested in funding this.
2. Magdalene Jeyarathnam suggested that all those present could join the counsellors forum which had 72 members already to  discuss issues that are coming up in their work. This could serve as an informal counselling supervision for now
3. Dr Manorama said she will prepare a resource directory of child services for the benefit of all those who were working with children
4. Dr Manorama also recommended that this group could meet every 3 months to see if any progress has been made with respect to child centered counselling.
5. We planned to make a list of those who are willing to work with the government reception home that Dr Manorama discussed about
6. Magdalene announced a dance therapy workshop to be held in the Center for Counselling office on the 25th June for those who might want to try this approach with children
7.  All those present wished to be in touch with one another and be informed of various programmes/ workshops/ seminars for working with children

Training in Warangal - 16 to 19 June 2008

The training center was a great one. All the participants enjoyed being there. 

We are hoping that this workshop like the others is followed up well. 

Kumar Nagarajan from Alliance India, Delhi office made a difference because it showed how they had prioritised the training.

This training had 3 languages spoken - English, Telugu and Tamil.

Counselling Training in Vijayawada - Alliance India

About the training:  

The workshop focused on Story telling therapy, Art therapy, Drama therapy, Play therapy and on Developmental Milestones of Children from the age group of 5 to 15 years. The main focus of learning these therapies is to intergrate them during the child counselling sessions. The story telling therapy focused on helping children tell their own stories and also taught the different methods of story telling to children. Almost all the sessions were activity based which enabled the participants to involve vigorously. The art therapy session consisted of many exercises and activities using colours pencils, water paints and charcoal pencil, and crayons which gave the participants the opportunity to express powerful emotions. More emphasis was laid as to how a child can often say more in pictures rather than to articulate through words and focused on  how through art therapy  a child is able  to represent a thought or feeling through an image and in certain  cases a fear or trauma could be resolved.  

In certain instances a child who is diagnosed to have HIV and is on ART medication , could be motivated to print the painted thumbs in chart paper forming a aquarium  or draw stars in sky etc as soon as they take the medicines every day and this eventually would help in the intake of the medicines every day and improves the adherence level. The drama therapy was conducted by Ms. Chandra.  Drama therapy was implemented with numerous theatre exercises, activities and role plays and the level of energy was very high during these sessions.  Developmental milestones of the children were also covered during the sessions. Case studies with regard to problems of the children were discussed in group and possible interventions using different approaches were established during the group sessions. All the participants enjoyed getting their hands dirty by painting, making clay models, making finger puppets, doing theatre exercises, playing a wide variety of games etc.,

Everyone seemed to have got in touch with and discovered the child in them. There were around 15 participants for this training. The participants all work with children. During the training many issues which they faced as counsellors came up. We discussed these issues and tried to find child centered ways of intervention like stories, drawing, drama etc.

The feedback we received from this training was was that it was overall a great training. We enjoyed doing this as much as all our participants enjoyed participating.

Overall a great training. We enjoyed doing this as much as all our participants enjoyed participating.

Training in Hyderabad - May 2008

This training was the Follow Up Counselling training for supervisors who are working in Andhra Pradesh State AIDS Control Society. This training was for master trainers who will be training counsellors working for the SACS.

This training is for 5 days plus another 2 days for TOT. There were a total of 25 participants and the training was organised by Lepra Society, Hyderabad. 

Participants of the workshop on Addiction Counselling

We received excellent feedback about this workshop. Center For Counselling has developed a 4 day module on addiction counselling for those counsellors who might be interested in learning about addiction to help clients who may be having an associated issue of substance abuse.