Making a counselling session plan...

Making session plan is indeed a task.. it requires patience and creativity at its best... session plans must be focused on a particular goal which  needs to be met ...

The first few or atleast the first session are targeted towards rapport building. ..making the child comfortable with the counsellor and the counselling process. ..

Like i mentioned in the previous blog.. DAP ( draw a person test ) is something that i like to start with... the child not only enioys doing the test but a lot of basic information regarding the child can be extracted...

When a child comes in for counselling. .he comes with a mind set that the counsellor would do some voodoo science magic on him and he would be fine.. but its the jjob of the counsellor to clear such notions and make the child understand the cohnselling orocess whichnincoides input majorily from the child and also the counsellor...

A session plan is a systematic layout ... the format goes something like this

Session number :
Name of the child :
Activity name :
Goals:
Time :
Strategies :
Materials needed :
Procedure : (step by step format )
Homework assignment :
Debriefing :

As you can see below i have attached a sample of how a session plan looks like... the activities that i have taken for my counselling session plans are available on various school counsellors blogs.. websites for the same,  i have mentioned in earlier blogs...

These activities are  fun and the child feels involved whichnis a very important factor.

Keep reading 😊

Play therapy

We all know that children love to play... they enjoy playing with toys..colors..clay and various other games... through play children explore various areas of life.. they develop and grow aswell through play...

Play therapy, according to me is a method through which the child feels safe and comfortable opening up ... because children love to play ..this method of therapy is very effective as child can work through his challenges and issues by using toys and play to revel their inner feelings and emotions...they feel safe and supportive in such environment and feel free to explore themselves..their abilities, issues, problem areas...

In my experience i love using play therapy simply because the child loves it.. there is more flow of thoughts and feelings. .. also the relationship between the counsellor and the child is easily formed...usually child feels that is not able to control his life.. in play therapy the child feels he is in control.. this feeling of control is very vital for their growth and development.. its not only with children but adolescents too enjoy this method of therapy...

Play therapy can be used with individuals who are suffering from emotional, social,behavioral and learning problems like
●anger management
●low self-esteem
●vocabulary building
●grief and loss
●divorce
●autism, ADHD
●academic development and many more

Sometimes children find it difficult to express their complex feelings and emotions through words.. at such times play therspy proves to be very useful...
I have used play therapy for individual and group  counselling aswell...and trust me it turned out amazing... let it be 1st standard children or 12th standard children.. they all love and enjoy Play therapy. .. only because they feel much more comfortable with play in comparison to other methods of counselling therapies...

To start with basics.. i feel the DRAW A PERSON TEST is very interesting and can be used for building rapport with the child... it not only an interesting activity but is very information yielding aswell. CAT/TAT test on the other hand uses picture cards and the child narrates stories... the unconscious motives, emotions, feelings surface up through this....

There are various blogs and pins on pinterest which has activities related to play. .
Here are some links

http://www.creativecounseling101.com

http://www.elementaryschoolcounseling.org/marissas-blog

http://www.schcounselor.com

http://savvyschoolcounselor.com

Ill post activities which i used in my experience in my next blog... keep reading 😊

Students vs counsellors vs parents

In my experience being a school counsellor.. when students are referred to a counsellor, they are firstly very much unaware  of the term counselling and a counsellor to them is someone who wants to fix them and visiting a counsellor is like a punishment...

I have had clients who missed school just because they were afraid of me .ie. a school counsellor.. not because counselling is a scary process but because of the misunderstanding and misconceptions they have towards a school counsellor...

When a counsellor calls a child in for counselling .. he is teased by his peers... i have heard students saying " counsellor teacher has come to take you to a punishment room" and " you are mad and hence counsellor mam has come to scold you". But what they dont know is that school counsellors are not at all scary people who give punishments..rather they are here to help you..guide you..

Even parents, sometimes misunderstand the counselling process.. in my previous blog i had given an example of a parent who was against this counselling process...the reason being that they were unaware or had incomplete knowledge about the role a school counsellor plays..

The movie "Tare Zameen Par" has beautifully shown the role of a teacher and a counsellor. I sometimes use this example with the parents to give a basic idea of what counselling process is. As filmi it sounds but this actually works..

I read this post somewhere a few months ago that indian parents expect their child to be a combination of Tom cruise, Aishwariya Rai, Lata mangeshkar, Einstein, Picaso... but what they dont realize is that their child is a superstar in himself.. he is  unique  on his own... not necessarily he would have all the qualities of these personalities. . But his personality is special in its own way... parents pressurize kids to a level where the child forgets to who he actually is... and this ultimately results in the child feeling inferior and dissatisfied with himself and his life...

When such kids come in for counselling they are almost lost and broken. They lack self esteem..self confidence. .. and are confused because of which their performance goes down.. parents put them in a number of classes like drawing, art-craft, dance, phonetics ets... but not once the parents ask the child about his interest... the child feels asif he has no say in his decisions of life...

Sometimes parental session becomes very important before starting the sessions with the child. Knowing about the parents, home environment, members, expectations helps formulate a base for the counselling process. The counsellor gets the basic idea about the childs background.

As a school counsellor i not only address  issues like anger management or stress management but also issues like vocabulary building, building up self-esteem, encouraging positive self-talk, identification of appropriate feelings and emotions...

Play therapy is a  very useful method that i have come across.. not only do students enioy them but so do i... they include paper pencil activities.. colours... craft...clay..sand and many more. 
i prefer play therapy because the child attention is caught by these activities and its fun as well. The child doesnt feel as if the counselling process is something  scary rather they want to do more and more activities ...

So my next blog will surely be aboutnplay therapy... finally.. so keep reading... 😊

Computerized "Comprehensive Career Planning Assessment"

BEAUTIFUL  MIND'S  PRESENTS

☆COMPREHENSIVE  CAREER  ASSESSMENT☆

》ABOUT  THE  ASSESSMENT 《

First ever Indian comprehensive and standardized computerized assessment for career planning.

●It is online, user friendly and time saving.
●It takes approximate 40 minutes to complete our assessment.
●it gives an instant online 22 pages personalized and comprehensive report about the students Personality, Career Interest and Values, Skills & Abilities, Education and Career Road-map.

●Test can be administered on students, graduates and professionals. The assessment would automatically adjust the difficulty level.
●Test can be taken anywhere because it is online. One needs an access code to instantly activate and generate a personalized career report after test completion. Please note, access codes provided have no time-validity.

-●The report can be accessed anytime and anywhere, using the same access code one can generate multiple reports to explore different career paths and its related details.

》Benefits from our assessment: Know about 《

●Suitable career clusters.
●Career paths that match with their personality, interest and skills & ability.
●Careers to pursue, explore, avoid or develop through relevant skills & abilities.
●Gaps between the desired career path and interest & skills required. Work environment and knowledge required.
●Fees, salary, demand, level of preparation etc.
●Career road map –a detailed execution plan.
●Counseling: Interpretation of career report.
●Recommendations - career advancement courses and certification required.
●Training & development to develop suitable skills & abilities for student’s career.
●Career interest, career values, personality, skills & abilities –all in one report.
●Strengths, weaknesses and abilities to give right direction/support for further skills training.

Here is the link to the CAREER  ASSESSMENT

http://www.edumilestones.com/login/beautiful-minds

For any questions and queries kindly contact

Shailja Chowdhary

#8082664513

JIVA ... The Indian Culture Friendly Approach To Career Counselling

JIVA The Careers Education Programme

The word Jiva means 'life' in most of the Indian languages. In today’s scenario we often find career counselling services offered by many professionals that are based on western ideas and beliefs and thus they may not always be culturally relevant to a diversified country like our country India.

The term 'career counselling' is often heard today and is linked mainly to the urban context. Jiva interprets career into the Indian economic context, drawing from the roots of our culture to support the career development and livelihood planning of all Indian young people.

Since contemporary economic development has dramatically altered earlier notions of work and career, the young person is presented today with a bewildering array of occupational possibilities.Jiva has been designed to support the career and livelihood planning needs of young people through culturally relevant career counselling services.

The Jiva program is based on the premise that a healthy career is integrally connected to one's life.These values are embodied in the Jiva logo.

1) The Jiva ‘spiral’! --Career and livelihood development occur in a spiral! Over time, one returns to where one started, but in qualitatively different manner. Developing upon previous development, one learns from the past and looks to the future.

2) Mental ‘tick’ marks!-' Healthy development means saying ‘yes’ to advantages and disadvantages. It means skills to adapt and be flexible. It means skills to face barriers with a positive spirit.

3) The changing and the unchanged. --Healthy careers and livelihoods are in tune with a dynamic and moving worldand at the same time grounded in values that are constant and unchanging.

4) Green and blue! --Development is healthy when it is sensitive to planet Earth and sets the sky as its limits!

》Methodology :

The Jiva workshop is a 3 day journey that takes the children through a set of 31 paper-pencil activities which follows the career discovery path which has the following key elements

Self understanding 》understanding world of work 》 developing career alternatives 》 career preparation

The program  targets self-discovery and helps the student identify personal talents and aptitude through:
- achievements and accomplishment questionnaires
- interest inventories
- group activities
- psychological games.

The second part of the program focuses on the world of work. Participants are introduced to:
- a wide range of careers
- courses and institutions
- entrance procedures
- eligibility criteria.

The workshop culminates with the student learning to generate career alternatives and developing career plans for which he or she is best suited.

All students will be supplied with a Work Book in which they  would attach their activity worksheets of the Jiva Journey.

All Jiva workshops are accompanied by a free parent workshop.

The Workshop activities are supported by visual aids like:
Learning cards
Student activity worksheets
Flip charts
Career information materials.

Jiva is based on The Promise Foundations 15 years of research and field experience. A national survey on work, youth and careers informed the development of Jiva. The survey was conducted in 13 different parts of India in 8 languages. The findings of the survey were discussed at the first National Consultation on Career Psychology held in the year 2006, in Bangalore, India.

School counselling... what is it actually???

Lets start with an simple example, a child learning to walk, falls down repeatedly but still tries again and again till he can actually walk. This shows that the child wants to learn... now a days parents have this notion that till the time they dont sit on the child's head and make him learn he wont.. but this is certainly not true..

Normally children show excitement and thrill when they learn something new, they are eager to show it to others about their new learning. This happens only when they learn willingly and when they enjoy it, not when they are forced upon. When children are forced on learning their enthusiasm disappears.

In school/college, awarding marks, grades, are often confused with the real outcomes of learning. If the student fails to achieve these marks and scores then this becomes a source of humiliation which leads to the feelings of inferiority and inadequacy. 

It is necessary to adress the fact that besides textual learning, the learning of self-expression, confident, cooperation, etc are more important for the development of a wholesome personality. The course of an individual's life depends upon the quality of choices he makes.

Today’s students face a lot more issues and challenges . They are often left with little or no support. They live in a very dynamic world that presents constant change and increased demands for them to be self reliant .

Student feelings of anxiety and depression are intensified by peer pressure; bullying; unstable family environments; drug, alcohol and tobacco use; and increased teen suicide rates, all of which create barriers to learning.

This is where the school counsellors steps in.. they are employed to provide specialized support to students.  They collaborate with teachers, parents and other sources relevant to the child...major roles of the school counsellors are

》encourage and support the child
》encourage and foster academic,  career, social and personality development
》work with staff and teachers to meet the students needs
》provide parents with resources and information on child development,  specific topics, etc
》 developing and implementing career awareness

Counselling... simplified...

Now a days the defination of counselling is wrongly used... ill give an example ... few months back.. when i was interning at a school as a Trainee School Counsellor... i had this child who was assigned to me... in the counselling process with children..we tend to involve parents ... when i asked the parent of the child for a home visit... all i got was a  blunt  no... i explained  the nature of my visit and how important it was ... but the parent did not allow the home ... instead they got so furious that they insisted that their child should be left alone and not be taken in  for counselling..,

When the matters were discussed with the parent .. why they abruptly stopped the counselling of the child... the parent told me that their child isnt mad... and he doesnt need help... their child was a normal child like others and hence needs no special attention... this is where the parents usually go wrong... counselling isnt just for children with special needs... counselling is a service which can be taken by anyone who needs guidance and advise. ..

To counsel  means to advise... individual seek advise in various situations...the ultimate goal of counselling is to help individuals overcome many of their future problems...for some people changes in life and surroundings are too fast and which creates serious problems of adjustment...

Counselling can be started early in school and should continue in order to enable individuals to meet vocational and personal problems of adjustment in later life...since problems can arise at anytime in life, counselling must necessarily be a continuing process concerning persons of all age levels and placed in different life situations.

Counselling aims to help individual become self-sufficient, self-dependent, self-directed and better at adjustments.  Individuals arebprovided assistance to wnhance their oersonal, social, emotional and intellectual development... therefore the  counsellors service's are preventive, developmental and therapeutic in nature...

To continue with my example... other children assigned under me.. i must say i enjoyed more ...building a rapport with them.. getting to know them.. gaining their trust... guiding them.. activities..sessions... it was wonderful experience ... for me.. that was my first step into play and art based therapy...

In  my next blog i plan to write about the activities based on play and art therapy which i have used uptil now as a School Counsellor... so keep reading... hope u enjoy...

A new start...

Now a days everyone is talking about going online and being an onliner... i thought to myself....doesnt sound that bad... lets give it a try... so here i am finally...trying to be an onliner...

A little something about me... I am a Psychologist , School and Career Counsellor... i am also a certified JIVA facilitator... besides being a counsellor , i am also a teacher for english and psychology...

Teaching and counselling... its a really good combo.. it gives me insight into the problems which are faced by the children in their educational and personal life... expectations of the parents, pressure to excel, score amazing marks, all these things pile up ultimately to be a burden on the child... when he is unable to deal with such burden thats the time where a role of a counsellor or a guide needs to be played...

At such situations i feel lucky that i can help and guide the child not just from a teacher's perspective but as a counsellor as well.. i get to play 2 roles at once,.. how exciting !!!

Hope i am able to blog some real material and useful too at the same time.. ill try my best to keep it simple but to the point...

But i must confess... it feels really nice to just pin down your thoughts... i enjoyed my first blog thoroughly. ..  ;-)


visit me at

Beautiful Mind's