Ahmedabad Women’s Action Group (AWAG) is committed to working with women and adolescents, especially those exposed to violence of any kind. AWAG’s work with women from the underprivileged sections of society, especially post riots, brought to light the psychological distress experienced by women and their children and the urgent need to provide psychological counselling to them. The vulnerability to mental disorders was found to be closely linked with the quality of life, the risk being greater in cases of those exposed to violence. On an average each year the project provides individual counselling support to 400-450 adolescents from one to two semi-government schools from these areas. The said areas are economically backward areas wherein parents of these children are predominantly labourers. Majority of the parents are illiterates and do not have the capability to understand or guide their children during mental distress. The common adolescent issues known are adjustment problems, relationship issues, educational issues, low self-esteem, family issues etc. which seemed to be very difficult to cope with both for the adolescent and the parents. This leads to high drop-out rate and weak academic performance.
To start with, the Counsellors conduct orientation sessions and reach out to adolescents from Class 9 to 12 of the selected school. The entire Class is educated on types and symptoms of mental illness. If the child is experiencing any of the symptoms, she/he is encouraged to enrol their name for individual counselling session. In addition, teachers also assist in identifying children who need extra psychological support. Following this, each child is allotted time for one-to-one counselling. The sessions address children’s emotional needs and equip them with relevant coping mechanisms.
Adolescents studying in municipal schools usually belong to a low socio-economic background. They often lack attention and guidance from parents, which causes severe mental trauma to the child. From our experience of working with adolescents of municipal schools, we noticed students often struggle coping with depression, anxiety and self-harm leading to less concentration in studies. Financial constraints and lack of awareness on mental health limit them to seek help from counsellors.
This project introduces counselling sessions in these schools. The counsellor screens students who need counselling and provide individual or group therapy depending on the individual’s need. Counselling addresses the student’s emotional needs and equips them with skills to overcome their trauma and become strong and independent.
Guidance in the form of counselling and extra support reflected on better academic attendance and grades. This project also provides emotional resilience and assists children to have a brighter future. The case below substantiates AWAG’s inputs and intervention in this regard.
The Problem:
Meena (name changed) is a 15 year old girl studying in Class 10 at a school in Ahmedabad. As per the counselee student, due to financial constraints she and her parents were living at her maternal uncle’s place ever since she was four months old. As time passed by, her parents moved out to live independently, but she continued to live at her uncle’s place. She meets her parents often and keeps in touch with them, but she does not get along with anybody at her uncle’s place. This leads to frequent fights between her and her uncle and aunt. To add to matters, she had taken a liking for a boy, but he committed suicide. Her uncle and aunt raise objections in her dressing and do not permit her to go out of the house much. They have even beaten her in the past. She has shared all this with her parents but they do not tell the uncle anything. As a result of all this, the counselee expressed the following complaints to AWAG’s counsellor:
- Feeling that she has no one
- Susceptibility to crying
- Unable to concentrate on her studies
- Feeling regretful
- Easily forgets what she has learnt when the exams approach
- Harbours thoughts of dying and has even attempted suicide
The Outcome:
Meena was provided assistance through periodic counselling sessions by AWAG’s counsellor. At the end of these sessions Meena was very much relieved and mentioned that, “Nobody has heard me out without any criticism and judgement. The counsellor rested so much faith and confidence in me that my outlook towards my family and life has changed. My concentration in academics has also improved immensely.”