DAV School, BRS Nagar trains its teachers to be teacher-counselors
Event Start Date : 13/03/2018 Event End Date 13/03/2018
CBSE has been raising the moot point of having counseling service provided by the educational institutions. Keeping this in mind DAV Public School, BRS Nagar, Ludhiana, took the lead by organizing a first ever week long Psychological First Aid training program for teachers by experts of ReFocus Foundation - a registered NGO dealing with behavioral and mental health experts.
Dr BL Dubey President of Somatic Inkblot Society USA delivered the valedictory address and conferred the participation certificates. In his address Dr Dubey reiterated the importance of psychological first aid for every person as advocated by the World Health Organization (WHO) consistently. He especially congratulated the School and the ReFocus Foundation India to take lead in the state for spreading awareness and knowledge concerning psychological first aid both at educational and societal levels. Speaking on the occasion Dr. DJ Singh Founder President of ReFocus Foundation gave a detailed presentation on psychological first aid and said that for imparting psychological first aid it is not compulsory to have formal qualification of psychology, rather anybody with basic training concerning knowledge of emotional well-being can impart psychological first aid during any life-settings. In her welcome address Mrs JK Sidhu Principal of the school discussed about importance of psychological first aid for teachers as well as peers in schools in view of the psychological imbalance being created by over-indulgence of children in technology and communication devices coupled with loose control of family members over them.
Twenty one teachers including Principal, Mrs. J.K. Sidhu participated in the training program. During deliberations the participants were of the strong opinion that there is an urgent need to sensitize parents as well as peers also about psychological first aid techniques in order to deal with aggression and violent aberrations taking place in various schools as well as home settings supported by better child handling strategies. Psychological first aid should be made a compulsory part of the curriculum in order to deal with mental pressure and emotional well-being of students as well as teachers. Proactive initiatives in this regard will prove quite effective and positive in checking any threat to the safety & security of children and teachers in the school as well as parents at homes. Schools should take immediate help of qualified and experienced mental health experts in order to professionally deal with identified students, teachers, parents as well as other supportive school staff who display any symptom of abnormality like significant aggression, distress or depression through their body language, actions or words without any delay. Prominent among those who addressed the participants were Dr. Tarlochan Singh Clinical Psychologist cum Secretary ReFocus Foundation India and Ms Harsh Vardaan Kaur Chahala mental expert from Bangalore.