Counselling skills Certificate course - Stella Maris College

Venue: Stella Maris, 6th December 2010
Center for Counselling and Stella Maris College for Women jointly inaugurated the "Counselling Skills Certificate Course" for social work students.

Sr Principal, Mrs Arundhati Roy-counsellor,  Sister Coleen North-Vice Principal, Mrs Sandra-Head of Social work Department, Sheela- Professor of Social work Department, Dr Eric Miller from Center for Counselling addressed the students, who had gathered to be a part of the inauguration function.

Objectives of the Course:
1)To acquire counselling skills
2)To bridge the gap between counselling theory and practice
3)To help establish and support those social work students who aspire to become counsellors
4)To promote social,emotional and moral wellbeing


Details of the Course:
1)The course specifically targets students of Social work and particularly students who are considering counselling as a career.
2)The course is five hours a week for 12 weeks and for a total of 60 hours(After College hours)

Training Methodology:
The training methodology is participatory learning using techniques such as
1)Group Discussion
2)Games and Exercises
3)Case studies
4)Role -Play Presentation
5)Testimonies

Group Counselling session using Art -November 12th

Venue: Kellys Girls Home

Center for Counselling conducted a half day Counselling session, for the young women of reception unit in Kellys Girls Home using Art therapy. It was  organized and funded by World Vision.

Parents workshops at Alpha School

Venue: Alpha Matriculation Hr Sec School, November 10th, 2010

Center for Counselling organized an interactive session  with the parents of 10^th and 12^th students of Alpha Matriculation Hr Sec School.

The issues that were discussed surrounded the problems and anxieties commonly faced by parents of 10th and 12th children.

Objectives
1)Both, parents and children face Exam fear due to the pressure of Expectations.This is a common problem for children who are struggling hard to perform well.Brilliant children who are anxious to keep up the expectations also face intense Exam Fear.This can have a negative impact on their performance. In order to tackle Exam fever, breathing techniques to be practiced before writing the exam were taught; this would help the child calm down and focus.

2)The program stressed the importance of physical and Emotional health of children and its crucial role in their academic performance.

3)Most of the parents stop the children from participating in any extra curricular activity, they also stop the child from continuing his/her hobby. The session stressed the negative impact of withholding the child from doing such activities. It stressed the positive impacts of hobbies and extra curricular activities that would help the child perform better in all aspects of life.



5)Motivation is a very important factor in any performance therefore we discussed  the different ways to increase a child s motivation.

Parents of 10th and 12 students


Parents Workshop for Parents of Pre schoolers on 3rd December 2010

Venue: Alpha School

An Interactive session with the parents of Preschoolers(3 to 4 ear olds) of Alpha Matriculation School was conducted by us. Some of the important issues discussed were

Nutrition

The essential nutrition required  for the particular age group [3-4] was discussed

Developmental Milestone

Physical,Cognitive and Emotional development of the children belonging to this age group were discussed.

Effective ways of parenting pre-schoolers was also one of the main objectives of the session.

Counselling Workshop for TANSACS ART Counsellors

Follow up Counseling Toolkit Training workshop for TANSACS-ART counsellors from Oct 25th- 29th
Objectives- 

1)To train the counsellors for follow up counselling in terms of improving  the

 lives of PLHA and stopping the spread of HIV via prevention with positive

2)To demonstrate the appropriate ways to use the follow up counselling toolkit with HIV clients.

Tools Applied:      
Lectures
Case studies
Role plays
Large and small group discussion
Worksheets
 Individual work and discussions
Brainstorming sessions
 Trigger Videos & activities
 Quiz

ART Counsellors training

Counsellors doing various activities

Rotary Club - Oct 21,2010

Meeting with Rotary Club Members

Psychodrama workshops

Psychodrama Workshops with Dr Herb Propper

10 & 17 Jan, 2011 - Workshop on Psychodrama for the students doing the Counselling Certificate Course of the Stella Maris College

13 to 16 Jan, 2011 - Personal growth/work group for women at ICSA, Egmore

17 & 18 Jan, 2011 - Personal growth using psychodrama, on invitation only

Expressive arts therapy workshop 27 Sept to 20 Oct, 2010

Center for Counselling is organising a series of workshops on Expressive Arts therapy. We are honored to host Jennie Kristel (to read more about Jennie look up http://centerforcounselling.blogspot.com/2009/07/art-therapy-workshop-jen-kristel.html)

Workshop One: Sept 27th until Oct 1st 2010. Below are some pictures of the work we did.

We did movement, music, art, masks, mandalas, clay, poetry writing, collage, stick wrapping and dream circle.

We did sociometry, locograms, spectograms and barometers to build group trust and safety.

It was a riot of colors and creativity while processing several emotions and feelings. Look at some of the photos taken on the last day of the workshop.

Workshop 2: Oct 4 to Oct 8, 2010

All participants were from World Vision. It was easy to put together this training as some of the participants had already attended the training I conducted last year on Child centered counselling, they came back because they had given a good feedback to World Vision. We have a history of conducting trainings with World vision either for their staff or for the children they work with directly. I am particularly thrilled that participants had come from Kolkotta, Goa, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to attend this training. A big thanks to a special person in World Vision who made this possible - Dr Anita Victor who had the faith in me, that I will recommend only the best for her and her team. We did drawing, movement, clay, collage, singing, painting, games, sculpting, puppets and creative writing.

Participants got a certificate of 25 hours of training at the end of the 5 days.

Workshop 3: Meeting the past year students.....

A small group of us met to connect with Jennie this year. Rupa, Bhuvana, Raji and I got together for some intensive work over the weekend. We did some incredible work together. Dolls, clay, murals, movement, sound and painting.

Workshop 4: Oct 11 to 13, 2010

Women's christian College - Psychology department

A special thanks to Ms Veena professor in the Psychology department and dean of the student hostel. Another ally to Center for Counselling. She never says "no" to any of my recommendations and suggestions. A big thank you to Veena - my friend and colleague.

Workshop 5: Oct 14 - 15, 2010

Stella Maris College - Social Work Department

My own department! My college! The special connections I have has made this possible. My teachers who are so dear to me, who believe and trust me, I am ever so grateful to my department for helping my vision materialise in college.

Sr Colleen North, Mrs Sandra Joseph, Ms Benita, Mrs Sheila and the other wonderful staff for making this possible. There were 34 students and one professor who participated.

Workshop 6: 20 Oct, 2010

Faculty of Social Work Department, Stella Maris College

We had a very intense workshop as a small group. We did some very interesting and thought provoking activities. All the workshops and trainings are completed and we had another successful collaboration with Jennie Kristel, Journey Works, Vermont, USA.