The Department of Psychology and Counselling of the University has always been devoted to the practice of psychological counselling with a view to promoting community mental health and psychosocial competence in order to foster cohesion in society. In collaboration with the Department of Social Work, the Department of Psychology and Counselling has initiated a Community Counselling Cell for the communities which surround the campus of the University to render mental health services to the university students, employees and neighboring communities of the campus. Since its inception, it has initiated various intervention programs to spread awareness inside and outside the campus.

Objectives

Objectives of the Center are the following:

• To spread Mental Health Awareness.
• To spread awareness about the relevance of counselling and its benefits.
• To identify the psychological and mental health problem areas existing among the University community and communities in the surrounding villages of the University.
• To provide counselling services and mental health consultancy to the University community and communities in the surrounding villages of the University.
• To facilitate necessary referral.

The Cell has conducted Awareness Programs on Substance Abuse and Child Development, Mobilisation for awareness program on Cancer, Life skills training to University Café staff, Student initiated awareness programs on Stress, Suicide prevention, Substance abuse, Emotion Regulation and Relationship management. The Cell has been actively rendering Counseling Services to the University Community since its establishment. Through this Cell, the Department of Psychology and Counseling aims to provide free counseling services specially to the youth and adults inside and around the campus. This in turn can aid them in handling their personal or professional problems, which otherwise may be very adverse for them. The service will help them to cope with frequently reported issues like stress, substance abuse, aggression, violence and other mental health issues. The Cell is also capable of assistance through family interventions like marital counseling, premarital counseling, parenting etc.

In 2020, the Centre took initiative towards promoting mental health during the Pandemic, by providing tele-counselling sessions through DHARA HELPLINE, to COVID-19 front liners, the general public, and the students. Along with this, they collaborated with other Departments/Unit like Unnat Bharat Abhiyan and Department of Mass Communication, Assam Don Bosco University to release students led initiatives like creating awareness through the Official YouTube Channel, ADBU Guwahati. These multimedia based initiatives included tips/tactics on self care and workload management during the Pandemic.

The Community Counseling Cell in collaboration with Center for Developmental Studies and Initiative initiated Life Skills Workshops for the DBU Café staff on the life skills: self-awareness, emotion management and self esteem from 13th November 2018 to 15th September 2019.

Parenting and Parent Child Relationship Awareness in Kamarkuchi

An initiative on 8th November 2019 on Parenting and Parent Child relationship was led by Udisha Sarma, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology and Counseling and Sampreeti Das, Department of Psychology and Counseling on 8th November 2019 as a one day approach.

The students of the Department of Psychology and Counseling led an interactive session for students on 6th March 2020. The theme of the session was Relationship Management. The session began with ice breaking activities followed by introduction to basic concepts like interpersonal relationship dynamics, toxic vs healthy relationship, role of emotions in relationships, coping etc. Self disclosures were an essential part of it. The session ended with distribution of handmade bookmarks as a positive take away note to the participants.

“Svasti”-Online Counselling Initiative

In light of the increasing need for mental health counseling, the Community Counseling Cell of the Department of Psychology and Counseling launched an initiative named ‘Svasti’ in 2021, to provide mental health counseling to the Assam Don Bosco University community- students and staff in telephonic mode.

The Department of Psychology and Counseling conducted a lecture series by field experts for the students of MSc. Psychology (Psychological Counselling) 3rd Semester from 15.02.2021 till 19.02.2021. This lecture series was held in lieu of the regular study tour program which due to the pandemic situation wasn’t be possible, however, the department aims for the efficient learning of the students.
On 25th of November, 2020, the Department of Psychology and Counselling conducted a workshop on ‘Enhancing Emotional Wellbeing’ as a part of Personal Growth. It was conducted by Ms. Sandeepa Kaur, Clinical Psychologist, currently working in California, USA. Students of MSc Psychology (Psychological Counselling).