Nurturing Minds Healing Hearts

Kerala is the only state who has implemented Psycho socio counselling programme exclusively for its student community. It is a project implemented in the government schools of Kerala, by the Department for Women and Child Development, to better the mental health of adolescent children. Approximately 1200 schools benefit from the project started in 2009. The chances are very high to fall into treacherous and difficult situations for adolescent children who face vulnerable situations even inside their homes.

Psycho socio counselling program aims to guide children by providing constant and frequent interventions to find out and analyse the problems they face in their day-to-day life. This project also intends to give shelter to many helpless children who face mental and emotional traumas. Many children who are the victims of mental, physical, or emotional abuse are brought back to normal life and boosted with confidence. Teens, being in the prime phase of their life, face stress due to ‘fault finding’ and blaming nature of the parents and elders.

Such frequent maltreatment consequently makes them rebel and drug addicts. Identifying and providing them with individual counselling, group counselling, and referral measures if required, is one of the prime responsibilities of this project. It also coordinates various resources together to face the issues which are beyond the control of mere counselling programmes. This project also conducts parent awareness classes and parenting clinics on a weekly basis in panchayaths in cooperation with ICDS projects.

There are other types of counselling that provide legal support and aid to the victims of domestic violence and exploitation. In POCSO-related cases, the children are given legal and emotional support with much care and attention. During the covid pandemic, the psycho socio counselling community gave unique support by interacting with the quarantined individuals and addressing their stress during quarantine days. This project’s staff also took part in the rescue operations during the flood and landslides. This project has been drawing wide attention from the experts and common public alike as it caters to the most important need of our society,- the comprehensive progress of our children. It may be even defined as an attempt to re-invent the ‘lost child’ and inculcate in him the positive aspects of personality to make him or her a worthy member of society.