Children’s mental health and wellbeing- Understanding counselling practices at schools (Part 1.1)

- There is a strong need to balance academic excellence and quality of life at school. Currently, due to various factors, the schools and parents are focused more on academic than the quality of life. Various studies are being undertaken to understand ‘holistic development’ of children at school as well as home.

A field research was undertaken titled 'Children’s mental health: Towards an understanding of school counselling practices’, and soon after that, another study was done on ‘Wellbeing policies’. This field intervention was done in five schools of Mysore, Karnataka, India. And the mentor for the field research (first study) on children’s mental health was Mrs Rajashree, a faculty member and Education program head at Azim Premji University, Bangalore.

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The child’s wellbeing and mental health are very crucial for the child’s success at school as well as life. In today’s scenario around the world, particularly in urban centres, children are not getting adequate care- due to many factors such as nuclear families, both parents working, and social media etc. We were very curious to understand how a counsellor in a school can help children to overcome any hurdles they might face in their school life and outside school life. In this field research, I engaged in a mix of schools who had appointed counsellors, and also schools who had not appointed counsellors. This way we had an opportunity to understand the child’s mental health support in both kinds of school settings.

According to (American school counsellor association, N.A), school counsellors are certified/licensed educators who improve student success by implementing a comprehensive school counselling program. School counsellors are vital members of the education team and maximize student success. School counselling program entails counsellors, to apply academic achievement strategies, manage emotions and apply interpersonal skills, guide and plan for higher education, one to one counselling to all the students, and many more.

How does counselling support benefits students- it is an effective source of support for students, enabling them to function better both in and outside of the school, enhancing their resilience and giving them resources to manage challenges life throws at them, students gain a better understanding of themselves and the situations facing them and strategies to cope with change (Cathedral school, N.A).

The purpose of this study was to understand how school counsellors are helping the schools and parents to empower children’s wellbeing and mental health. During this study I spent a full day at schools, looking at the day to day affairs of the counsellors. Few schools had full-time counsellors, and few had part-time counsellors.

The period of study was from August 2015 to December 2015, the study tools were designed at Azim Premji University, and the field engagement was from 17^thNovember 2015 to 24^th December 2015. After the study, a comprehensive report was submitted as a student work for the course of M.A Education, Semester: III (2014 – 2016 Batch) at Azim Premji University, Bangalore. The final report was submitted on 20^th March 2016.

We are starting an article series on wellbeing and we would love to share with you the entire study in bits and pieces. This is our first article on this series.

Written by: Maaz Mohammed AQ

(Note: This work was done as a student course work. We do not entertain to use this data for professional or legal use. The founder of Credence Learning Foundation himself is a general counsellor trained at Banjara Academy, Bangalore. During this time of the study, the researcher himself was a certified counsellor. Additionally, the researcher worked at an American MNC before joining the MA Education course. This research work is being referred for the series on wellbeing).

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ಪ್ರೊ. ಕೆ. ಎಸ್. ನಿಸಾರ್ ಅಹಮದ್ ರವರ ಜೀವನ-

- ಪ್ರೊ. ಕೆ. ಎಸ್. ನಿಸಾರ್ ಅಹಮದ್ ಪ್ರೊ.ಕೆ.ಎಸ್.ನಿಸಾರ್ ಅಹಮದ್ (5 ಫೆಬ್ರುವರಿ 1936 - 3 ಮೇ 2020) ಕನ್ನಡದ ಪ್ರಮುಖ ಸಾಹಿತಿಗಳಾಗಿದ್ದರು. ಅವರ ಪೂರ್ಣ ಹೆಸರು 'ಕೊಕ್ಕರೆಹೊಸಳ್ಳಿ ಶೇಖಹೈದರ ನಿಸಾರ್ ಅಹಮದ್'. ಅವರು ಬರೆದ 'ಜೋಗದ ಸಿರಿ ಬೆಳಕಿನಲ್ಲಿ ತುಂಗೆಯ ತೆನೆ ಬಳುಕಿನಲ್ಲಿ' ಎಂಬ ಪದ್ಯವು ಬಹಳ ಜನಪ್ರಿಯವಾಗಿ ಅವರು ನಿತ್ಯೋತ್ಸವ ಕವಿಯೆಂದೂ ಕರೆಯಲ್ಪಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದರು. Image source: Online typing ಜೀವನ- ಪ್ರೊ. ನಿಸಾರ್ ಅಹಮದ್ ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು ಜಿಲ್ಲೆಯ ದೇವನಹಳ್ಳಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಫೆಬ್ರುವರಿ ೫, ೧೯೩೬ ರಲ್ಲಿ ಜನಿಸಿದರು. ೧೯೫೯ ರಲ್ಲಿ ಭೂವಿಜ್ಞಾನದಲ್ಲಿ ಸ್ನಾತಕೋತ್ತರ ಪದವಿ ಪಡೆದರು. ೧೯೯೪ ರ ವರೆಗೆ ವಿವಿಧ ಸರಕಾರಿ ಕಾಲೇಜುಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಅಧ್ಯಾಪಕ ಹಾಗು ಪ್ರಾಧ್ಯಾಪಕರಾಗಿ ಕೆಲಸ ಮಾಡಿ ನಿವೃತ್ತರಾದರು. ಜನನ 5 ಫೆಬ್ರುವರಿ 1936 ದೇವನಹಳ್ಳಿ, ಮೈಸೂರು ಸಂಸ್ಥಾನ, ಬ್ರಿಟಿಷ್ ಇಂಡಿಯಾ ಮರಣ 3 ಮೇ 2020 (ವಯಸ್ಸು 84)[೧] ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು ವೃತ್ತಿ ಸಾಹಿತಿ, ಪ್ರೊಫೆಸರ್ ಭಾಷೆ ಕನ್ನಡ ರಾಷ್ಟ್ರೀಯತೆ ಭಾರತ ಪ್ರಕಾರ/ಶೈಲಿ Fiction ಸಾಹಿತ್ಯ ಚಳುವಳಿ ನವ್ಯ ಕಾವ್ಯ ಪ್ರಮುಖ ಕೆಲಸಗಳು ಮನಸು ಗಾಂಧಿ ಬಜಾರು(1960) ನಿತ್ಯೋತ್ಸವ ಪ್ರಮುಖ ಪ್ರಶಸ್ತಿಗಳು ಪದ್ಮಶ್ರೀ (೨೦೦೮), ರಾಜ್ಯೋತ್ಸವ (೧೯೮೧) ಕೆಲವು ಸಾಹಿತ್ಯಗಳು : ನಿಸಾರ್ ಅಹಮದ್ ಅವರ ಸಾಹಿತ್ಯಾಸಕ್ತಿ ೧೦ ನೇ ವಯಸ್ಸಿನಲ್ಲೇ ಆರಂಭ. 'ಜಲಪಾತ'

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CBSE manual for mental health and wellbeing:

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5 points- Why you need counselling support at school (Part 1.10):

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