Counselling Cell
More About Counselling Cell
The Counselling Cell was constituted with the aim of providing counselling services to students to remove barriers that hinder their growing potential and to make them better equipped to deal with challenges and stressors.
Objectives
- To conduct workshops, seminars and activities addressing mental health concerns of the students.
- To provide individual counselling to students in need by expert psychologist as appointed by the institution.
- To undertake activities that will create awareness about issues and problems related to mental health.
With the intent to address the above and to help resolve emotional and psychological issues of the student community the college started the “Counselling Cell” in the college premises with the help of a trained team inclusive of the chairperson/co-chairperson of the cell having specialization in Psychology from Department of Psychology for conduction of various activities and also appointed in-house practising psychologists available on call.
The appointed psychologist are trained experts to assess, diagnose and treat students struggling with academic stress, anxiety, depression, social addictions and other problems they face. The facility is available to all students and is arranged based on student’s requirement.
Overall incharge : Dr. Kailas Aute, Vice Principal
1. Ms. Sitara Raghavan, Chairperson, Counselling Cell
M.A. (Clinical Psychology)
Work Experience as Consultant Clinical Psychologist with expertise in Psychodiagnostics & Psychotherapy
Assisted by:
1. Ms. Sana Khan, Member, Counselling Cell
2. Ms. Varsha Chugh, Member, Counselling Cell
3. Ms. Prachiti Garud, Member, Counselling Cell
4. Mr. Akshay Jamdade, Member, Counselling Cell
Our Experts (available on call as per requirement):
Mr. Moazzam Khan, Counselling Psychologist
Ms. Upasana Showkeen, Counselling Psychologist
| ACADEMIC YEAR | PROGRAM/ACTIVITY | OBJECTIVE | OUTCOME |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016-17 | Talk on “Importance of Mental Health” on 6th January,2017 by Dr. Vivek Chincholkar, Psychiatrist in CSM Hospital, Kalwa | Building awareness about mental health | 100 students attended the session and also benefited from getting queries answered from the psychiatrist. |
| Personal Counselling by College Psychologist Ms. Gayatri Bapat on 22nd March,2017 | Counselling for academic and personal issues | Seven students benefitted by the counselling session. | |
| 2017-18 | Lecture on “Like…Share…Aur…Dhoka”: A Social Media Wellness Awareness Program on 17th January,2018 by Mr. Moazzam Khan, Psychologist. | To build awareness about social media overuse and problems of addiction. Educating about the coping mechanisms and strategies to deal with the addiction. | 48 students attended and interacted with the resource person. |
| 2018-19 | A Talk on ‘Coping with exam stress’ conducted by Counsellor Mr Moazzam Khan on 1st March 2019. | Effectively dealing with stress related to examination. Reducing exam performance related anxiety. | Students benefitted from the relaxation exercise and tips for coping skills. |
| Individual counselling sessions were arranged on 9th March 2019. | Counselling for students who reported academic or personal issues. | A total of 8 students received counselling. | |
| On the occasion of suicide prevention day, a seminar and poster competition were organized titled as ‘Dear Zindagi”. Speaker: Mr. Moazzam Khan on 10th September,2018 | To create awareness among students on depression and suicide. | 125 participants attended the talk. 69.6% rated the talk as excellent, 21.6% as very good. | |
| A talk on mental health awareness “End the stigma…change lives” on 10th October 2018 by Mr Moazzam Khan. | On account of World Mental Health Day. To create mental health awareness. | 135 students attended and benefitted from the talk. | |
| 2019-20 | A talk on Suicide Prevention on 24th September,2019 by Mr. Moazzam Khan. | The talk aimed at spreading awareness on the causes and factors associated, dealing with the loss and coping skills. | 68 students attended. |
| Counselling cell organized Intra collegiate personal counselling cell session on 16thJanuary,2020 for Degree and Junior College students. The In-house Counselling Psychologist Ms. Upasana Showkeen conducted the sessions. | Individual counselling for students with personal or academic difficulties. | 10 students attended the sessions. Feedback was taken. Students reported positively. | |
| Dept. of Psychology in association with counselling cell organised a workshop on Stress Management for all students (Degree/Junior) on 18th January,2020. Resource person – Mr. Arun Naik, Senior Psychologist. | To equip students with better stress management skills. To educate them about coping skills during stressful situations. | Total 160 students attended the session. Feedback was taken. 140 students reported that they have learnt to identify stressors. 150 students reported that they can use the skills discussed in the workshop for stress management in future. | |
| 2020-21 | An online talk on soft skills was conducted on 23rd March 2021 by Mr Sanket Karkhanis Psychologist, Co-Founder of Manasvi Psychologist Centre. The talk was jointly organized by Arts forum, Department of Psychology and Counselling Cell. | To educate about the importance of soft skills in the long run for Professional Life as well as for other aspects in future. It was conducted to prepare the students for Group discussion and Personal Interview. | The students were able to learn new skills and strategies to face the upcoming job opportunities. This program received positive feedback from the students. |
| A talk was arranged on life skills by Mrs. Swati Parab (M.S.W), Senior Counselor Younique Counselling Centre ON 27th February,2021. | 1. Better Self -awareness 2. Better understanding of innate skills & qualities for future goals attainment | 96 students attended and benefitted with demonstration of exercises on self-realization and a strategies dealing with life changes. | |
| 2021-22 | Conducted a workshop “Mental Health First Aid” for teachers on 30th November,2021 | Recent studies on teacher’s mental health during covid pandemic have reflected increasing stress dealing with the ‘new normal’. It is also seen teacher’s mental health is directly related to the quality of teaching and learner’s mental health. So, it has become imperative to consider measures addressing mental health wellbeing of teachers. This workshop will thus address the following: 1. Identifying mental health concerns 2. Avoiding burnout 3. Maintaining positive wellbeing & positive work attitude 4. Finding Joy & Satisfaction | Expected Outcome: 1. Better sense of psychological wellbeing 2. Better equipped to identify burnout and handle it 3. Positive work attitude & sense of satisfaction The feedback form shared at the end for participants to fill were analyzed. The analysis indicate that the expected outcomes were attained. |
| Conducted an awareness building activity “SAY NO TO SUICIDE” | According to an article in Indian Express dated 12 th December, 2021, Suicides in India rose 10 per cent from 2019 to an all-time high of 1, 53,052 in the pandemic year of 2020, with student suicides seeing the highest percentage increase at 21.20 per cent, according to the latest data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). This increasing trend among students is worrisome and this activity aims to build awareness on suicide prevention. | The survey got a exuberant response from the student community of the college where 841 students participated in the activity through Google form across the streams of Arts, Science and Commerce from both Degree and junior colleges. Approximately 98% students answered that they clearly understood the warning signs of suicide given in the brochure and can identify it if they encounter anybody with the same bodily or psychological trends or in themselves. | |
| Conducted a workshop for students on “Stress Management” on 27th October,2021 | Objective of the program:
To educate and give practical training to students on stress management
Expected Outcome: 1. Student will able to identify signs of stress and differentiate stressful conditions 2. Student will be aware of the importance of managing stress 3. Students will learn handy techniques for stress management 4. Students will have better coping skills during stress | The participants enjoyed the entire session as they wholeheartedly participated in the interactive workshop and asked a lot of questions to the resource person related to stress. Dr. Kaneenica answered all the questions with enthusiasm. The participants very much benefitted by the talk of the resource persons as the feedback form circulated at the end of the event showed very positive remarks. | |
| Conducted talk on Gender Sensitization on 29th January,2022 | To sensitize students about Transgender community and build empathy and acceptance. | A Total of 58 students attended the talk and reported that they understood many new aspects about transgender population and realised the many issues they face in their lives. | |
| Conducted a talk for teachers explaining the mechanism for counselling of students on 21st April,2022. | Considering the govt. orders for reopening of college campus for regular offline teaching, students may experience difficulty readjusting to the blended approach and coming back to classrooms after a long phase of online classes. With this vision, in order to be more prepared to handle these issues that may arise and also to prepare teachers identify these issues as preventive measure, the Counselling cell aims to organize this talk for all teachers with following specific objectives: 1. To educate about identification of early warning signs of mental health concerns in students. | The feedback received after the session from the teachers indicates positive attainment of the expected outcomes. | |
| 2022-23 | “Looking within” – a talk by Consultant Psychiatrist Dr. Rueeta Athalye on 22nd November, 2022. | The talk was arrange in order to create mental health awareness with the following specific aims: 1. Educate students about mind-body relationship 2. Bring awareness about early identification of mental health issues 3. Make them understand the importance of Mental health | As per the feedback given by student,the following was indicated : 1. Gained knowledge about mind-body relationship 2. Got awareness about the early warning mental health signs |
Venue: Room no. 114, First Floor, Main Building
- Ms. Sitara Raghavan: sitarachm@gmail.com
- Ms. Sana Khan: sana.shehnaz2910@gmail.com
- Ms. Varsha Chugh: chugh_varsha@yahoo.in
- Ms. Prachiti Garud : prachid1234@gmail.com
- Mr. Akshay Jamdade : akshayjamdade1689@gmail.com
- The students in need may directly visit the counselling cell room (Room no. 114, First Floor, Main building) or may contact any of the counselling cell team members.
- The first intake interview session will be conducted by Ms. Sitara Raghavan, and necessary help will be provided.
- In case of a crisis situation or severe mental health issues, the counselling cell will organize a session with the college appointed expert psychologist.
- Strict adherence to right to privacy and confidentiality clause will be followed. The information will be disclosed to the concerned only under certain conditions:
- a. Threat/ Harm to self
- b. Threat/ Harm to others
- c. With permission (if the students want the shared information to be disclosed)