Deacon Justus Mendis
MUMBAI, JULY 26, 2018: Thirty-five participants - comprising of Salesians fathers, sisters and the lay collaborators from Mumbai province - attended the workshop on 'Dynamics of parent-youth conflict in family and interventions' on July 23 and 24 at the Don Bosco Provincial House, Matunga.
Father Glenford Lowe, the Director of Youth Ministry, organised the workshop by inviting Father Paul Raj Amal, the Director of Niraivagam: Don Bosco Institute of Psychological Services from the Salesian province of Chennai as a resource person for the workshop.
Father Godfrey D'Souza, the Provincial of Mumbai Province inaugurated the workshop by welcoming all to the resource-filled workshop. Father Savio Silveria, the Vice Provincial of Mumbai Province, also welcomed the gathering.
Father Amalraj was able to give his insights on the matter by conducting various group dynamics and then explaining the theory part of it. For instance, through the balloon game the participants were made aware of the endeavours of a family to maintain their peaceful co-existence. He stressed that families need to maintain their family health. He said, "A healthy family would contribute to healthy adults to the world but an unhealthy family would contribute to unhealthy adults to the world."
To maintain good health, the awareness of the developmental stages of the family was stressed. It starts from the married couples without children to the child-bearing family and ultimately to the ageing family members. To gain a complete understanding of a person's family, one of the tools named Genogram was used. The participants were engaged in discovering their own family tree up to four generations through the means of Genogram.
Father Roshan D'Souza, the assistant director of Shelter Home, Wadala, from his experience with street children said, "Those who do not have families or had bitter experiences are in need of healing through various processes. This seminar did open various avenues for interventions in such cases."
Within every family there is always a mixture of dynamics among the family members itself. Through the various role plays, the participants were shown how unseen boundaries get created unconsciously and its impact on the family health. The importance of communication among the family members, taking up the task of a leader in distinct situations and having a problem solving approach was very well brought out through the activity of 'Preparing the highest tower only with newspapers'.
Besides this, it was also stressed that counselling of families was also important. Various approaches were illustrated. In all these, the task of joining the family together would always be the focus. Father Dominic Martis, the assistant parish priest of Don Bosco Church, Vadodara said, "The workshop gave me the relevant tools to deal with family conflicts. It has also improved my counselling skills."
Sister Supriya, the Provincial Secretary of the Mumbai province, in her vote of thanks said, "The course helped us to see the family as a system and our role to intervene and help them when there is a dysfunction in the system." The workshop ended with a commitment to intervene in the dysfunctional families of youngsters and help the youth to live their lives in total fullness.