Some good thoughts from Helene to follow up on at your convenience Mario, and once again I can't say enough on your detailed follow up/response.
The Sadhana Institute plan is excellent. One question, is the choice of candidate/s based on their faith or lack of it ? as one of the pre requisites for admission is a letter from a Superior/Bishop. Either way it does not make a difference to me as the goal is to help the family with the main focus on the child and no strings attached. Thanks Quentin ________________________________ From: Helene Derkin <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Mon, May 10, 2010 5:23:05 AM Subject: Re: [SALIGAONET] Saligao-related issues Just a thought, and some funds would be needed but NGO's like Sangath and Sethu are already doing this work in schools. As you say the schools themselves have to be willing or there is no point at all but perhaps a poster campaign in schools would be a start. Sethu do a great 'good touch bad touch' session for kids and do familly counselling too. They will do bespoke courses etc They also offer many training courses and are of course Goa based...they are in high demand but the fees are reasonable. To educate teachers/parents etc is going to be a struggle as you have said, the focus for children these days is not their 'welfare' it is 'how well they fare' academically instead of a balance of both. Dr Nandita of Sethu can be contacted at [email protected] Best, Helene ________________________________ From: MnM <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Mon, May 10, 2010 2:18:32 PM Subject: Re: [SALIGAONET] Saligao-related issues 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> ''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' muriel & mario, c/o "FULKAR", 6/22, sonarbhatt, saligao. bardez. goa. 403511. tel: 0832-2278276 / 2409999 <anothergoa AT gmail.com> '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' -- This message comes via the Google Groups "Saligao-Net" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/saligao-net?hl=en Please post regularly to keep the e-village active! -- This message comes via the Google Groups "Saligao-Net" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/saligao-net?hl=en Please post regularly to keep the e-village active! -- This message comes via the Google Groups "Saligao-Net" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/saligao-net?hl=en Please post regularly to keep the e-village active!
