Godfrey D’Sa sdb
MUMBAI, JULY 6, 2008: On July 4, 2008, Prafulta Psychological Services in its Tenth Anniversary Year, crossed yet another milestone! The Don Bosco Advanced Diploma in Counselling Psychology was flagged off at the Youth Services Audio-visual Hall, Matunga. Fr. Edwin D’Souz
a, Rector of Provincial House and the Shrine of Mary Help of Christians, in his inaugural talk emphasized the need for good and able counselors in this fast-paced, chaotic world. He suggested that we do not neglect the ‘divine element’ in the counseling process because “without God all our learning and effort comes to naught”. Prafulta Psychological Services in the last three years has been conducting a program of 100 hours in “Basic Skills in Counseling” for the teachers of the Mumbai Archdiocesan Board of Education (ABE) Schools. Over 300 teachers from 85 ABE Schools have been trained thus far, and this program continues with 2 batches of 38 teachers each being trained in the current academic year. Most of the teachers trained expressed that the course made a “big difference” in their own personal lives and in the way they related with their families and school children. Spurred on with this success Prafulta constantly dreamt of conducting an advanced programme in counselling. Finally, the “Don Bosco Advanced Diploma in Counselling Psychology”, a course of 260 hours which includes over 60 hours of supervision, has become a reality. Ms. Shalu Mehrotra, Counsellor at Prafulta Psychological Services, is the program designer and coordinator of this course. The First Batch of 20 students of psychology come from different walks of life with one common element – a determination to make a difference in the lives of people they will work with. Besides learning the basic and advanced skills in counseling, these students will do a lot of ‘Self Work. They will be introduced to various therapies like TA, Somatic, Art, Group and Marital Therapies. They will learn to deal with special issues like academic underachievement, anti social behavior, learning disabilities and sexuality. Above all, this Course will stress hands-on experience of working with clients and being supervised during the learning process. The objective is to enable participants to work as effective counselors in various settings like mental health centers, schools, colleges, hospitals, corporates or in private practice. To promote emotional growth and development has always been the objective of Prafulta Psychological Services. The Don Bosco Advanced Diploma in Counselling Psychology enables this in a meaningful way.