Dear Saligaonettekars,
Quentin Coelho wrote:
Mario said " Yes, just for the village...an awareness campaign, with
the help of other like minded Saligaokars.
A small, informal, village based effort. And if possible, a
local, child-guidance counsellor
to whom troubled children in Saligao could go to/phone in when
they need help. The counsellor could be supported with a stipend, if
needed."
Quentin replied:
I like this idea, and I understand this is to benefit our children
in Saligao, who live at home with parents/guardians.
Why not a counsellor for the family, who would be able to identify
the troubled children, and deal with a situation which could be
nipped in the bud keeping the family nucleus strong and healthy. If
not then take the next step. This would encourage parents/guardians
to speak out too, for fear of social stigma.
This is even better and more complete than our suggestion!
For years we have been campaigning for a general
counsellor/therapist only for Saligao and our school children
during school hours. This we have done mainly
with the parish clergy and other church circles, without much
success. The only little success we had in this area was when we
were on the Lourdes Convent PTA, we barely managed to convince
the management of the need for the teachers to have *basic*
counselling skills in dealing with the an increasing number of
behavioural problems that contemporary children have.
Grudgingly, only primary school teachers
were deemed to require these much needed skills.
Accordingly, we arranged for Juliet D'Souza, a trained counsellor
from Bastora to do a tiny, 6-session course, every Saturday
only for primary school teachers. It stopped there.
Although Juliet had offered to do *voluntary* follow-up with the
school for the rest of the year, they were just not interested.
Academics, syllabi, completing the portion were more important than
the children themselves, who were daily being affected
by the way they were being treated in school.
Not too many people in authority see the need for
a general counsellor/therapist for the village.
But our experience is different. We constantly get people here
at home who
need counselling for their children, their personal problems,
their family strife, marital conflict or neighbourhood relationships.
[And of course we M&M also sometimes need to talk to some one,
if only to ask: "Where did we go wrong with our 2 teenagers?!!"]
Besides not having the time to respond to this need,
counselling is not part of our skill set. The best we can do is
refer them to individuals and institutions who provide these
services...all outside the village and often expensive: a minimum
of Rs. 200-300/- for an hour's session for a child with a
behaviour/development problem.
The parish clergy do provide some 'general advice' or spiritual
direction, but because they are not trained counsellors/therapists,
problems are not addressed at any appreciable depth.
Any parish priest will testify to the fact that because
they are overloaded with other work, they have neither the actual
time nor the skills to handle the counselling needs of their flock.
Counselling sessions are not a quick 'confess and absolve'
situation. They need at least 30 minutes per session, over a
period of weeks
or months, depending on the need.
We are in touch with Sadhana, a Jesuit institute in Lonavla,
founded by the famous, late Fr. Tony de Mello, s.j.
See <http://www.sadhanainstitute.org>
Specialising in psycho-spirituality, the institute trains
priests, nuns and some lay people
in a wide range of psycho-spiritual skills. One of the
programmes they offer
is a residential, 2-year, masters level course is counselling.
See <http://www.sadhanainstitute.org/curr1b.htm#spicp>
Sadhana is a modern, state-of-the art institute, with highly
trained and experienced faculty...and expensive courses!
But the good news is that, some time ago,
they had asked us to recommend a deserving *lay person* or two,
who they are open to sponsoring, provided that the person will
use her/his skills for the benefit of the community back home.
It would be ideal for us to find a suitable person
in Saligao who will be willing to spend a demanding 2 years
(it is no picnic, we assure you!) at the institute
in Lonavla acquiring counselling/psycho-therapy skills
and then come back and start helping the village.
They want mature people - between 35-50 years
- capable of the responsible role. So we will have to be fairly
selective.
This done, we have to find a way of subsiding the services
provided by the newly trained counsellor. Services have to be
charged for at a minimum rate, like they do at the medical centre
at Krist
Raj Home for the Aged, sponsored by the Saligao Union, Bombay.
But the counsellor also
has to live at a reasonable standard, so the rest of her/his
compensation for
sharing this important skill with the village, has to come from
somewhere.
This is where we are out of our depth! Finding sponsors, funding
agencies etc., is just not our strong suit, so someone else will
have take over
from there.
Yvonne Ezdani (Gordon Vaz' sister) from Arrarim, is a
student/career guidance
counsellor. She never refuses to assess a student's aptitudes and
guide someone towards the right career.
She also has been doing some general counselling in Lourdes Convent.
But we do not how trained she is to play the role of general
counsellor/therapist for the village.
Yvonne, we know you are in Australia at the
moment. If you are reading Saligaonet,
please give us your inputs on this. Guidance from other
Saligaonetters
involved with counselling or allied fields is also welcome.
Warm regards and solidarity.
M&M.
--
................................................................
there *is* anOTHERgoa
at <http://www.anothergoa.blogspot.com>
& <http://www.youtube.com/anothergoa>
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muriel & mario,
c/o "FULKAR",
6/22, sonarbhatt, saligao.
bardez. goa. 403511.
tel: 0832-2278276 / 2409999
<anothergoa AT gmail.com>
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