Behavioural Counselling

CONNECTIONS (Because... Everyone Matters)

A sound mental health always contributes to the holistic development of the individual. With this thought in mind the counselling programme CONNECTIONS (Because... Everyone Matters) was started at our school. The objective was to enhance the mental health and psychological well being of the students. This is the platform for both the students and their parents enabling them to manage the specific behavioural, emotional and/or academic concerns.

The counselling needs survey form was created by the team of school counsellors with the purpose of identifying the counselling concerns and needs of the students and their parents. The data thus collected was analysed and interpreted. This survey form revealed that the major concerns prevalent among the students are difficulty concentrating, distracting easily, finding difficulty in establishing and maintaining a daily routine, declining interest in attending the virtual classes, feeling anxious or nervous and difficulties in managing emotions. The more specific concerns among the students of senior classes were peer pressure, low self esteem, and clarity regarding stream or university selections and setting goals.

Based on the specific concerns individual counselling sessions were provided, where parents and students were encouraged to think about their problems and come to a greater understanding of the causes in order to enable them in taking appropriate action. Some of the counselling sessions specifically focussed on grief counselling related to covid deaths in the students families.

The individual counselling sessions include taking case history and behavioural observations. Certain psychometric assessments are also being conducted to screen for different psychological aspects. Counselling interventions like CBT, IPT, SFBT, ACT etc. are provided to the students and their parents who are identified with major psychological issues. Some students identified for learning and emotional support were referred to the special educator and the external agencies.

Face to face counselling sessions

Career Counselling

CAREER COUNSELLING GRADE IX AND X

To make an effective choice, an understanding of the individual is required. One needs to understand his/her personality, interests and aptitude before making a career choice. Our school had tied up with Cogito Hub for classes 9 and 10 to aide and assist students to make informed career choices. Cogito Hub is a Career Decisions Platform that empowers students and young professionals to succeed by making the right decisions about subjects, college courses and careers. They give personalized recommendations on everyone’s strengths through an online assessment of behaviour, aptitude, motivations and interests. They use predictive analytics and advanced algorithms to create these contextual outcomes, envisioning a world where everyone is empowered to realize their true potential and make decisions that are relevant and right for them.

The entire process of Career Counselling with COGITOHUB has helped students immensely by ensuring that they select appropriate subject stream. Initially the students were asked to assess themselves through an online test. Students received personalised recommendations based on individual strengths in the form of detailed profile of their personality, aptitude, motivations and interests. This was followed up with a group offline and online post assessment sessions for all the students of classes IX and X.

These sessions helped the students understand their personalised reports and solve queries about stream selection. These sessions were an insightful experience full of information for students. These sessions highlighted the critical aspects involved in selecting specific subjects of study and making an informed decision in choosing the right career in future.

CAREER COUNSELLING GRADE XI AND XII

School had a tie up with Univariety for classes XI and XII. UNIVARIETY, is India’s foremost Career Counselling, Guidance and College Planning platform. It helps students across India to be better equipped to make Career choices, because Career Planning matters more than anything else. Univariety Platform also helps students in finalizing colleges in India as well as abroad. Through this platform students are able to explore information about scholarships, get connected to alumni go through the psychometric assessments and explore various research tools like Career Deep Dive and course fee calculators etc.

Online career counselling sessions with Univariety for parents and students of class XII were conducted on 29 – 30 October 2020, and 9-10 November, 2020 for Grade XI. Students and parents were oriented to complete Student’s Profile and PACE form for the career counselling process. Online individual counselling sessions for the students were conducted later the basis of the completion of student’s profile and PACE form to provide further support and guidance in Career counselling guidance and college planning.

ICDAW Centre at DPSG

ICDAW Centre is an initiative taken up by Delhi Public School Ghaziabad in technical collaboration with Expressions India – The National Life Skills, Value Education and School Wellness Program. The objective is to bridge the gap between special needs and existing resources so as to address all aspects of children’s mental health and wellbeing. The centre works not only for the special needs but with every child to promote and hone their individual vocational and professional skills.

VISION

To curb the existence of discriminatory attitude and develop communities which are welcoming every one irrespective of their individual needs

COMPREHENSIVE REFERRAL UNIT

The centre is functioning as a comprehensive referral unit for

Observation, Identification, Diagnosis and Management of Child Developmental Issues,

Special Needs

Adolescent Mental Health Problems.

PROFESSIONALS

Services of the following professionals are provided at the centre:

• Clinical Psychologists
• Counsellors
• Special Educators
• Speech Therapists
• Occupational Therapists
• Paediatricians
• Other related professionals

INDIVIDUAL COUNSELLING SESSION

These experts facilitate inclusion for every child whose learning needs are different. They also work in association with school & parents by integrating the school curriculum along with a specially designed remedial programme that takes care of child’s strengths & weaknesses. This facilitates the learning experiences of the learners and their progress becomes evident through increased level of performance and positive self-image.

A team of well qualified and experienced in-house school counsellors and special educator work in close collaboration with each other to assess learners’ skills to determine their needs, and to develop individualised education plans. Dr. Sumedha Lamba (Ph.D in Psychology, Delhi University), the school counselor, is proficient in dealing with the behavioural, emotional and learning issues of children. She is adept in providing one to one as well as group counseling to the students and conducting life skills sessions and developing strategies for assisting students with learning difficulties, mental health and behavioural issues. Ms. Sujata, the special educator (B.A. Hons. and Diploma in Special Education from Institute of Rehabilitation). The special educator takes care of the children with special needs by providing remedial education and special education and honing their abilities. She develops and designs Individual Educational Plan according to student’s needs and collaborates with parents and school staff for their academic progress.

The operating model of the ICDAW Centre

STEP 1. Identification of the child by the school

STEP 2. Informal observation and screening

STEP 3. Interaction with parents

STEP 4. Comprehensive psycho educational assessment

STEP 5. Development of Individualized Educational Plan

STEP 6. Integration of school syllabus in the Individualized Educational Plan

STEP 7. Interaction with primary educators regarding the transaction and implementation processes and techniques

STEP 8. An adequate follow-up to ensure consistent and uniform progress of the child

STEP 9. Periodic feedbacks from school and parents to stay motivated

STEP10. The child meets his goals

STEP 11. The school is empowered

STEP 12. Together we celebrate inclusion